It Started with a Snap by Piper James

Chapter Six

Ethan

“Hey, what are you guys doing here?”

I moved aside to give Ryder and Chase enough room to walk inside, then shut the door behind them. Chase plopped down on my couch as Ryder shuffled into the kitchen, grabbed three cans of beer from the fridge and a bag of pretzels from the pantry. Coming back into the living room, he set everything down on the coffee table before picking up one of the beers and popping it open.

“Please, help yourself,” I deadpanned, catching the can he picked up and tossed to me as Chase pulled open the bag of pretzels.

“We just came from Glowing Embers,” Ryder said.

My body heated, and my back teeth clenched tightly together. Why was it so hot in here? And why did my brothers stop by unexpectedly just to tell me they went to the little western shop? And, fuck, it was hot in here.

I got up and went to the thermostat. The temperature was set at seventy-two, but I clicked it down a couple of degrees anyway. Then I walked back toward my brothers and plopped down into an oversized chair, chugging half my beer in hopes that it would cool me off.

“What were you doing there?” I asked.

I’d gone in there a couple of times to look around before Ember and I had our falling out, but I hadn’t been there in months. I didn’t know why Ryder and Chase would make the trip over here just to tell me they saw Ember. It didn’t make any sense.

“Belle called me, saying it was an emergency, and Chase came with me because he knew Sage was with her.”

“An emergency?” I asked, bolting upright in my chair. “What kind of emergency? Is everyone okay?”

“They’re fine,” Chase said, motioning for me to bring it down a notch. “The boutique? Not so much.”

“What’s going on?” I asked, relaxing a bit now that I knew no one was hurt.

“It’s falling apart,” Ryder said with a sigh. “Water damage to the ceiling—which is also the floor of her apartment upstairs—non-working HVAC system, broken locks and hinges on various doors, the boards on the old wood floor are lifting and causing a hazard, and there’s a termite infestation bad enough that a support beam snapped and crashed through the ceiling.”

My eyes grew wider and wider as he spoke. When it seemed like he was done, I asked, “And why hasn’t she gotten any of this fixed?”

“No insurance,” Chase said. “She let it lapse a few years ago, and has been paying some kid to patch up any problems that arise. She didn’t want to tell anyone how bad things were, and the only reason we know now is because Belle, Sage, and the baby were there when the termite incident happened.”

“Jamie was there? Is he okay?” I asked quickly.

“He’s fine,” Ryder assured me. “They weren’t anywhere near where the beam broke through.”

“They could’ve been, though,” I said, feeling my anger rise. “Parts of the ceiling could’ve collapsed, and people could’ve gotten hurt. What the fuck was Ember thinking, not renewing her insurance? And why wouldn’t she tell anyone? She knows we would repair everything for her. She’s practically part of the family, being so close to Belle, Sage, and Dakota.”

The words poured out of me in a rush as I grew angrier. I knew she was loud and a bit wild, but I never thought she’d be so careless. She could’ve been hurt, especially if she was up in her apartment, walking on a floor that could collapse beneath her. Not to mention Belle and Sage. And the baby. Or one of her customers, who could end up suing and force her to shut down completely. Ember would lose everything.

“So, obviously, we volunteered our services,” Ryder said. “But with Noah out of town and Daniel’s surgery coming up, it’s up to you and me.”

My head whipped toward Chase. “Surgery? What’s wrong with him? Is he okay?”

A pained look crossed his face before he shook his head. “Shit, I forgot to tell you. He’s fine. The doctor called earlier, and he finally decided to take his tonsils out. The surgery is on Thursday.”

I nodded, my body relaxing a bit. Surgery on a kid his age was scary, but necessary. Daniel had missed a lot of school with tonsillitis last spring. The new school year just started two weeks ago, and he already missed two days for a sore throat and a fever. Poor kid was miserable, and a tonsillectomy would be the key to fixing him right up.

I looked up at Ryder. “Weren’t you planning on spending as much time as possible with Jamie while we’re shut down? Something about a baby-bonding leave of absence?”

He’d just told us at breakfast this morning about his plans to take over most of the baby duties for two weeks to not only bond with his son more, but to give Belle a little break. She’d refused to hire a nanny when he was so young, so she’d been taking the baby with her to work every day. She loved having him with her, but he had the worst timing. Crying when she was on an important call. Farting loudly when a client came into the office. Screaming for her boob every forty-five minutes while she was trying to work.

Ryder just wanted to give her a couple of weeks to recharge, catch up on her work, and maybe get some decent sleep. She already had a stockpile of milk in the freezer and had been working on getting Jamie to readily accept a bottle.

“Yeah, well, Belle all but ordered me and Chase to get everything fixed, ASAP. And since he’s going to be busy prepping Daniel for surgery and being there for his recovery, we stopped by here so I could ask you for help.”

“I’ll do it,” I blurted out before my brain registered what I was saying.

“You’ll help?” Ryder asked, his tense shoulders relaxing. “Thanks man, I appre—”

“No,” I cut in. “I mean, I’ll do the repairs. You do your baby-bonding thing. I can handle the job on my own.”

“Are you sure about this?” Chase asked, his expression skeptical. “I know you have issues with Ember. Ryder would be a good buffer.”

“I can handle it,” I repeated, my voice firm.

I was the only one with nothing else going on. I was almost done with the renovations on the house, and taking a week or two to work at the boutique was no big deal. I could paint the porch and exterior of the house when I finished making sure Glowing Embers was a safe environment for everyone.

“I’ll head over there in the morning,” I said, and my brothers nodded.

“Okay,” Ryder said, “but if you need help with anything, don’t hesitate to call.”

“Will do,” I said.

They finished off their beers and ate half my bag of pretzels as we talked about everything they noticed in their initial assessment of the place. It sounded like a lot, but in actuality, I could have most of the repairs and the a/c installation done in a couple of days. It was the termite situation that was going to cause the most trouble. We were going to have to have the place tented and fumigated, then I was going to have to tear out the walls to find the damage and fix it before installing fresh drywall and painting. And I was probably going to have to tear out the floor of her upstairs apartment.

Fuck. It was going to be a lot of work.

And it was going to be a lot of time spent around a woman who hated my guts.

And I’d volunteered to do it all on my own. Great.