Should’ve Known It’s You (Not You Again #7)

Chapter 21

CHAPTER 21

AUSTIN

S late was back in the city for business and he grinned at me from across the table, sipping his beer and boasting nonstop. “She’s already such an incredible mom. You should see her, man. She talks to the baby and she sings to it all the time. She’s never missed a vitamin and she’s at the point now where she’s actually putting her feet up for a few minutes when she needs to.”

I tore into my fish with my teeth, savoring the juicy meat without interrupting. I was more than happy to listen to him brag about my little sister. We were at an old Irish pub near Logan and Mira’s house, where Slate was staying again, and the basket of pub food we’d ordered kept me busy while he spoke.

“She’s all about making sure the farm and the house are good to go when the baby comes, so she’s in overdrive trying to get it all organized.” He grinned. “Meanwhile, yours truly has been overseeing the construction, doing most of the chores, and working on the expansion plan.”

I chuckled. “It’s good to hear you’re pulling your weight.”

From the sounds of things, he was pulling more weight than just his own, but that was life on a farm. Regardless of the amount of farmhands that were hired, a true farmer never had a minute to catch their breath.

Slate was becoming a true farmer for sure. I was relieved he didn’t seem to miss the city at all and that he was adapting to the small-town life so well. I was also glad my folks had him around now that they were getting older.

It had been giving me immense peace of mind recently, knowing he was there to help Jess take care of everything. The reality of life on a farm was that people needed to look out for each other, and the older my parents got, the more they were going to need someone to keep an eye on them.

Jess had been doing an amazing job all these years I’d been in the city, but with a child running around soon as well, an extra set of eyes and hands on the property was a blessing I was truly grateful for.

Slate snorted. “I’m pulling my weight, bro. Don’t you worry. I always have, but things have been so crazy recently that I’m starting to wonder if we’ve bitten off more than we can chew right now. We’re getting it done, but jeez. We could’ve made life easier for ourselves and spread things out a bit more.”

I laughed. “Have you met my sister? When she gets an idea in her head, nothing can stop her from seeing it through. Provided there’s money to make it happen, of course.”

“We’re all good on that front,” he said, grinning before he grabbed a loaded fry and popped it into his mouth. After washing it down with a sip of beer, he focused on me again. “How about you? Have you had Jude look into making some investments for you with your share of the oil profits?”

“I have, yeah. Thanks for putting me in touch with him. He’s a fucking wizard.”

“Tell me about it,” Slate said, shaking his head as his eyes rolled toward the ceiling. “I don’t know how he does it, but he definitely has the magic touch.”

He wasn’t exaggerating. Jude Olson was one of Logan and Slate’s friends, and the guy seemed to have made a habit of turning his clients into millionaires. As an investor, he had taken me on as a client a couple of months ago, and already, I was seeing returns I never would’ve imagined.

I’d even tried poaching him for the firm, but he wasn’t interested. A lone wolf professionally, he preferred to handpick his clients and work on his own time, which I was definitely starting to understand.

After Slate had first told me what he’d managed to do for him, I’d taken him up on the offer to put me in touch with the guy, starting small since I was skeptical about his true capabilities, but I’d already reached out to him about setting another meeting. It was thanks to him that I could do things like pick up the bill for the cleaning of the hotel without flinching, and although I’d been getting accustomed to a certain lifestyle for the last few years, this was next level.

“Everything he touches seems to turn to gold,” I agreed. “How are the plans coming along for Thanksgiving this year? Mom said she’ll be cooking her usual dinner, so I’m assuming you’re having it at the main house, but is there anything I can do to help? Should I come up there early for the prep?”

“Nah.” He waved me off as he sipped his beer, shaking his head and swallowing before he gave me a pointed look. “I’ve been getting the feeling it’s best if we just stay out of their way and do what we get told to do, when we get told to do it. Your mom and Jess are on some kind of holiday crusade. I’ve just been carrying out their orders on demand.”

I’d reached out to my mother to let her know that the only way I could join the family for Thanksgiving was if we pushed it back into December. I’d assured her that I didn’t mind missing it this year. Truth be told, I was certain Kennedy and I could have celebrated on our own in the city and had a great time. But Mom had gushed with excitement that I could come home on the weekend, and she’d muttered under her breath so Jess, lurking in the kitchen with her butt sticking out of the fridge (according to Mom) didn’t hear, that the weekend would be easier to cook because Jess was moving a bit slower these days.

So we were having a belated Thanksgiving at Merrick Meadows.

I laughed. “Welcome to the family. They tend to get that way around this time of year.”

“Obviously, you can drive up whenever you’re ready, but I doubt they’d let you help. You could come and help me , though. We can milk some cows together.”

I scrunched up my nose. “Hard pass.”

Pausing as I wondered how to say this in a way that wouldn’t make him—or my family—make a big deal about it, I finally decided to just rip off the band-aid. “Will you ask them to set an extra place? I’ve invited a guest home with me for dinner.”

His eyes widened as he stared back at me, quiet for a moment before he quirked an eyebrow up. “A guest?”

“A girl,” I admitted begrudgingly. “Don’t get excited. She’s just a friend. Let’s not get carried away.”

“What girl?” he asked, but there was suddenly a knowing gleam in his eyes. “Is it your dream girl? From the wedding?”

I frowned and thought it over for a beat before I nodded. “Why are you being weird about this? It turned out that she lives in New York now too, and she needed some help with her business, so we’ve been working together. That’s all there is to it.”

He stared at me for another beat before he burst out laughing, even doubling over as he cracked up like I’d just said the most hilarious thing he’d ever heard. I had no idea what was going on with him, but my frown deepened as I waited it out.

“What’s so funny?” I asked eventually when his laughter started subsiding. “I really feel like I’m missing something.”

“That’s because you are,” he said, laughter still shining from his eyes as he sighed and lifted his beer as if he was about to make a toast. “You’re done for Austin Merrick. Let’s drink to your final days as a bachelor.”

I nearly choked on the sip I’d just taken. After coughing and banging myself on the chest, my throat was still burning as I shook my head at him. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“The fact that you’ll be getting married soon,” he teased, or at least, I thought he was until he kept going. “She must be the one, man. Congratulations. Hey, you should get married on the farm. She grew up in Firefly Grove, right?”

“I still don’t have any idea what you’re talking about,” I grumbled, bringing my glass to my lips and draining half my drink before I shook my head again. “I like her, sure, and things are definitely more than just platonic, but I wouldn’t go so far as to say she’s ‘the one.’”

I even put the concept in air quotes because it was just so ridiculous. I pointed at his chest. “Don’t go saying any of this shit around my parents when you ask my mom to set an extra place at that table, Spieres. Kenny and I are not getting married. We’re working together, and if that leads to something more, then fine. It still doesn’t mean I’m going shopping for a ring anytime soon.”

He smirked. “Uh huh. We’ll see. You hooked up with her at the wedding, right?”

“Yeah, so? Why are you even asking me that?”

He shrugged. “You’re cursed. Done for. She’s your soulmate, man. Shouldn’t have slept with her that night if you weren’t ready for what it means.”

“You could’ve told me that before it happened,” I muttered and rolled my eyes. “How many beers have you had, anyway? Or maybe all that manure and fresh air on the farm is getting to your head because you’re not making any sense.”

“It’s a curse, but it’s really a blessing,” he explained after signaling the waiter for another round. “Just ask Logan, or Jude, or his brother Flynn, or even Karson and Maverick Neidum. I was the last victim, but there’s no getting out of it. None of us have been able to escape it because none of us believed in it, but look at us now.”

“What on God’s green earth are you talking about?”

He chuckled. “It’s a real thing, man. If the best man at any of our weddings hooks up with a bridesmaid on the night, it’s over. We were all happily single until it happened, and a few months later, we were all married to said bridesmaid.”

“You’re insane.” I grabbed another fry and popped it into my mouth. “Just do me a favor and please don’t tell anyone in my family about this. My mom will start planning a wedding that’s never going to happen.”

“Your secret is safe with me, but it is going to happen, bro. I promise.” Grinning like a loon, he picked up the fresh beer our server delivered to our table. “You really should have it on the farm, though. Your mom is so excited to have everyone at the house to celebrate Thanksgiving that she’s already on all our cases to get the place just right. She had me breaking my back cleaning the porch just the other day. She’d be ecstatic if she knew there was another wedding to plan too.”

“We’re. Not. Getting. Married,” I reiterated firmly. Checking my watch, I was surprised to see how time had flown by. “Shit. I need to get going. It’s late and I have an early morning tomorrow.”

“Is it with her?” he asked with a shit-eating grin on his lips. “It’s with her, isn’t it?”

“So what if it is? I have a surprise for her, is all, but again, we’re working together. It’s not like I’m bending over backward to make her mine.”

He pumped his eyebrows at me, unable to resist making one last joke, it seemed. “She’s your forever, Austin. You’ll see. You might as well just invite her to Christmas now and save yourself the trouble of toiling over it later.”

“Get stuffed.” I laughed as I got up, saying my goodbyes and leaving some cash for our bill before I headed out.

Slate was laughing all over again as I left, that knowing gleam back in his eyes as he watched me go. I shook my head, but as I drove home in the rain with the rhythmic thump-thump-thump of my windshield wipers filling the car, my thoughts drifted to what he had said.

And how certain he had been about his case.

Is it possible that I’m somehow cursed? And what does hooking up at their wedding have to do with it?

I remembered Slate and Logan watching us that night, talking, smirking, and looking all smug like they knew something we didn’t. It was possible this was what that had been about, but I shrugged off the weird feeling.

I didn’t believe in fate, karma, or soulmates. I believed in hard work and freedom of choice—and spending time with Kenny was a choice. I wasn’t about to let any of this get to me, and I definitely wasn’t about to propose just because my brother-in-law and his friend seemed to think it was bound to happen.