Our Chance (Los Rancheros #4) (4 page)

I nod and pull the bowl towards the kitchen sink to wash the veggies. After putting the bowl in the sink, I look around for a colander, until Brody leans over the corner of the island and pulls a cabinet open on that side. I glance at him quickly, then snatch it up and close the cabinet. As I wash my hands, I ask, "So are there any power tools in that garage?"

Brody's eyebrows go up as I watch him watching my reflection in the window above the sink. "Yeah, there's all of Gramps’ old stuff, plus what I have."

I nod and he asks, "Why?"

"Well this is California, and if there's one thing I know, between here and Alaska, is the damage earthquakes can do. I want to put good baby locks on all of the cabinets so those Pyrex don't come crashing down one day."

"You're worried about the dishes?" he asks drolly.

I look over my shoulder at him. "Those are worth a ton of money, especially the rare prints, not to mention they were Gran's. What happened to all of her plants, anyway?"

"Everyone took some, to keep them alive. I have some at my place. I imagine everyone will use it as an excuse to come over and see you guys," he explains to me.

I turn the water off and start cutting everything as I talk. "They don't need an excuse. Everyone is welcome, whenever."

He watches me with questions in his eyes, but doesn't get to ask them. Jet, Harper, and Trigg burst into the room like Tasmanian devils.

"Mom, mom, mom, mom." I look at Jet the whole time and don't even try to answer until he pauses for a breath.

"Yes?"

"My bed squeaks so loud! It's awesome. And there was a spider in my closet."

"Did you kill it?" I ask him. He shakes his head no. "Did you eat it?" He giggles and shakes his head no. "Did you put it in your sister's bed?"

Harper shrieks and glares at him; he shakes his head no faster. "I put it outside, silly."

"Very good! Don't touch spiders, though. Just come get me. They could be poisonous. We live in a warmer place now, okay?"

He nods and I tell him to go wash his hands again. Harper is next. "There's no Wi-Fi here, Mom."

I nod again. "Okay, start a list. We're going to have to make a trip to the store, anyway." Harper starts opening drawers and slamming them shut, looking for paper and pen. I hand over a salad spinner and cutting board full of veggies to Trigg.

"Put all of that in here and spin it around to get the water out."

As he does that, I turn to the fridge and take out the gallon mason jar from inside. I grab glasses from the cabinet next to the fridge and set out four cups, before hesitating over a fifth. I look over my shoulder at Brody to find his eyes on me again. "Are you staying for dinner?"

He nods slowly, so I grab another glass quickly, trying not to think about why he hasn't left at all since we got here. I look at the milk and notice the cream that has settled on top and walk into the butler's pantry to get an old Pyrex juice beaker and lid that I saw earlier.

The hairs on the back of my neck stand up and I spin around, once I find it, to see Brody standing with his hips resting against the counter, hands on either side, gripping the lip. "You want me to go?"

I ask desperately, "Why are you here Brody?"

He shakes his head, looking at me intently with eyes that are more green right now than brown. "Where else would I be?"

I don’t have an answer, so I turn and leave the room with him trailing me. I get a turkey baster and suck out the cream, putting it in the beaker before securing the teal lid on top. I hold it up and speak to the kids.

"This is cream, nobody drink it." I put it back in the fridge then pour five glasses of milk halfway full before putting it back, too.

I go to the upper cabinet that always had the plates in it and stare at the beer mugs in their place. Brody points to the other bottom cabinet by the colander and I pull it open to see a drawer stacked with big plates and small ones, pegs holding the dishes in their place. I look around the room and say under my breath, "Gran had her house redone for kids." Thinking about the little drink fridge, it was very clear.

"Yeah, she did," Brody confirms.

"When?" I ask him.

"About five years ago," he says quietly, but the kids hear it anyway.

They all freeze, so I take a deep breath and instruct Jet, "Take one plate at a time and put them on the table, please. We need five. Harper, you take the cups of milk and put them by the plates. Trigg, whoa, that is a dizzy salad kid."

He cracks a slight smile and I kiss his cheek before taking the spinner from him, dump it into a green and white Pyrex bowl, and stick tongs in it.

The timer goes off and I take out the casserole from the oven. When we sit down, Brody goes to sit at the head of the table before looking up to me and hesitating. I look at the kids already in their spots, and seeing that they didn't take offense, I nod my head. We sit with me on Brody's right, Harper to his left, Trigg beside her, and Jet beside me. I dish out plates and then hesitate again before putting my hand in Brody's to say grace. His skin is rough, like it used to be, callused from working on a farm. His hand is so big it swallows mine.

I take a shaky breath and look at Harper. "Your turn."

She closes her eyes and I watch my kids all with their dark heads down, eyes closed, Trigg's spindly arm stretched across the table to reach Jet's. Harper's hand, so trusting, in Brody's. Brody moves his eyes around the table, too. I watch his breath hitch, then his eyes close and his head goes down.

"Dear God, thank you for the food we're about to eat. Thank you for getting us from Alaska safely. Thank you for our granny's house and the bunnies and cows. Thank you for Mommy and Grandpa, Grandma, Aunt Darcy, Uncle Will, Aunt Dez and baby Annez. Thank you for Brody, for picking this salad that looks so good. And thank you for Angus, who's the best dog ever. Amen."

We all say amen then dig into our food. Trigg takes a sip of milk, then goes back and drains it. "That's good milk, Mom."

I smile brightly at him. "Isn't it? It's the best."

Trigg turns to Brody. "So what do you do, Brody?"

"Let him eat. You don't need to be asking questions when everyone's mouth is full."

"It's alright, Jules. I'm a farmhand right now."

"What were you before?" Jet asks.

"I was in the Navy for a while," he says slowly.

All of our heads swivel to him, but Trigg is the one who asks, "What did you do in the Navy?"

He looks at the kids then locks eyes with me before admitting just as hesitantly, "I was a SEAL, actually."

My fork drops with a clatter and I collapse back in my chair. My eyes wander around the room before checking the kids’ expressions. Harper looks scared, Trigg looks mad, and Jet looks confused. Brody sees it too and tells Jet, "I used to go places and take care of bad guys."

Jet's expression clears, "Oh, like my dad?"

Brody nods and says chokingly, "Yeah, kinda."

Jet turns to Trigg. "Isn't that cool, Trigg!? He did the same thing dad did."

Before Trigg can answer, Harper asks Brody, "But you don't anymore, right?"

"No, I don't, Harper," he tells her softly.

Trigg and Harper go back to eating slowly and Jet opens his mouth, but I cut him off. "Eat, Bubba. You can talk to Brody another time, and he can tell you if he wants to."

I take a deep breath and push my food around until everyone is done eating. They loved their grandma's King Ranch chicken casserole, and even had seconds. When they are done and take their plates to the sink, I tell them to leave them on the counter and take showers. Harper asks me, "Can we watch TV?"

I tell her yes, then start scraping the scraps into the compost bucket before loading the dishwasher, completely ignoring Brody.

He sets his cleared plate in the sink before leaning against the counter, facing me.

"Jules—"

I slam a plate down into the washer. "I can't talk about this right now."

"I got out a few years ago," he tries again.

I turn to him. "How could you do that? You were supposed to go to college."

I slam the door on the dishwasher and turn away as he fires back, "So were you!"

I shake my head as I put the glass cover back on the casserole dish and put it in the fridge. I fill up three water bottles and walk out. My hands shake as I go up the stairs. A freaking SEAL, are you kidding me? What would I have done if something had happened to him? Too, I belatedly add. I'm a terrible widow.

I get the kids ready for bed and change the sheets on the mattresses before tucking them in. I take a bath in the clawfoot tub in the master bathroom and change into a racerback sleep shirt that has a banana on it tossing its peel that says, “I work out to look good naked.”

After the kids are in bed, I download all of my video clips on my laptop and edit late into the night. After midnight, I go downstairs to let Angus out, finding the door already locked from when Brody left.

The next morning, I'm leaning against the counter sipping coffee, sleepy eyed, when Brody walks into my kitchen. Really, it's too early to deal with all of that hotness. I look at the kids eating their eggs, bacon, and fresh orange juice at the table. They look over at Brody as he sets two milk pails down, along with a wire basket of eggs on the counter.

I gesture with my coffee. "Is this going to be an issue?"

He sighs. "What?"

"I just wanted to know if this is the regular time you come in to bring this stuff. I thought I might be dressed next time."

He looks me over for the first time and runs his tongue over his top teeth. "Do you work out?"

I look down at my shirt and shrug. "Nope. I just like the banana."

Brody smirks and mutters, "Of course you do," before walking out.

I roll my eyes at the kids and they giggle. They finish breakfast as I strain the milk and store it. I rinse the eggs in the sink then put the milk and eggs in the fridge. Slipping the kids vitamins into shot glasses, I slide them on the counter like a bar tender and they shoot them down like pros, chasing the pills with the last of their juice.

The big kids unload/load the dishwasher while I take Jet upstairs to get dressed, then I get ready for the day. I put my hair in a low bun then slip on a straw fedora with a black stripe across it. With my makeup done, I go to the closet and get out white shorts and a black cinched strap tank top that is high up on my chest and loose until it cinches at the waist. Black sandals and white sunglasses and I'm out the door.

I make sure Harper's hair is up in the ponytail she wants. Her hair is thick and long so I have to put in three holders to make sure it stays in all day. It goes to the middle of her back when it's on top of her head, and is so shiny. I love her hair. Trigg wants gel in his hair so he can spike it, and since he tends to be heavy handed, I make sure I do it. That causes Jet to need his done, too. After that, I do breath checks to make sure everyone has brushed and gargled. I finally get them in shoes at nine, and we're off to enroll them in school.

I see Brody riding a tractor to the back pasture as I back up the van and force my eyes forward. He was always the one person in the world who I wanted to kill and kiss at the same time, and I know it was the same for him. Eleven years seems to have changed him, but not that much. He definitely has an edge now. Probably from the freaking SEALs. I can't even wrap my head around him being in danger for years without me knowing it.

The school is brand new, not the falling down heap I went to. Now it's all high tech and guarded, probably because of all the celebrities in town. The receptionist is a girl I went to school with who was shy, which means I probably stuck up for her to the popular kids. I don't remember her specifically, I just know I did that a lot and she greeted me like we were best friends. Brody was always covering for me, giving me an alibi when a bully came out of the bathroom with busted lips. Good times.

We go to Costco and get supplies for school lunches and a fast Wi-Fi router. After, we go to the Farmer's Market. I'm blown away.

Everything is divided by aisle: milks and cheeses, wines and meads, produce, leathers and wools, meats, baked goods, candles and miscellany. We walk through the aisles slowly. I get a couple bottles of wine and the cultures I need to make all of the fermented drinks as Trigg films me.

We get to Glenny's Alpaca Farm booth, and Brody's mom, Glen, spots me right away.

She shrieks, "Oh my God, Juliet. Juliet! Look at these babies!" She's screaming and crying, snatching and clutching each kid before moving to the next one.

She's drawing a huge amount of attention, so when she gets to me, I smile and give her a hug, saying, "Glen, you look amazing, but people are staring."

She pulls away, holding me by the shoulders. She looks me over, ignoring what I said. "Oh, honey, I have missed you so much. You have no idea."

I laugh. "I email you once a week and we talk on the phone."

She waves that away. "It's not the same, you know that! Thank God you're home now! I thought it would be too late if you waited much longer."

I look at her, confused. "Too late for what?"

She looks at me incredulously. "For Brody! Last time they were at the house that Maggie girl was talking about rings and I almost had a heart attack!"

I'm frozen and I feel like my heart stops. Maggie? Rings? I look down at the kids and see them watching me, so I say, "Trigg, Harper, Jet, this is Mrs. Denton."

Jet asks, "Like, you're Brody's mom?"

Glen nods her head and he asks, "So can I call you Granny Glen then? ‘Cause Brody kinda lives with us."

She looks at me and I shake my head trying to brush that off. "Just in the garage where he's been. He just gave us a tour of the place, that's it. Speaking of that, we have a ton to do today, so I should probably go." I have to get out of here.

"Sunday, we should do dinner. Come to the house at five." She runs off before I can tell her no, and Trigg snickers at me. I turn down the aisle and go to the next, which is the meat aisle, looking for my parents’ booth. My mom sees us and gives us much quieter hugs than a few minutes ago.

"Glen just accosted us. She said we have to come to dinner Sunday."

Mom looks at me with worried eyes, "She's just a little stressed right now. You don't worry about it." She turns to the kids. "Now, how are my lovies doing today?" They keep talking as I go over to her employee in the booth and buy beef bones to make broth.

I come back over to them planning a slumber party already. "Mom, let's get settled in. Maybe next weekend."

She looks over at me. "Definitely next weekend! It's a plan!" She gives us all hugs again and I herd the kids towards the other aisle so I can get the rest of my list.

When we get back to the house, I send the kids to grab their wellies they keep at the back door so they don’t lose them or track mud in the house while I put the bones in the oven to roast and search for a crock-pot. I open all of the cabinets around the island and find mixers, cake pans, loaf pans, cups, coffee mugs, but no crock-pots. Going to the cabinets next to the dining table, I pull open the first cabinet’s door and see rows of different sized crock-pots, going back in time to probably when they were invented. I open the next cabinet and there are more; another cabinet has all different stone crocks with lids for fermenting and huge glass jars. I close them all, grab the biggest crock-pot and put it on the counter, plugging it in. The kids come into the kitchen and I tell them to get glasses of water and sit at the table. There's a bowl of veggies on the table again, so I use them as their snack.

They talk about everything and nothing as I unload the dishwasher. When the alarm goes off, I've been through every cabinet in the kitchen and know where everything is. I place the bones from the oven into the crock-pot, filling it up with water and a splash of apple cider vinegar before shooing the kids outside. I show them what weeds look like and give them all little pails to pick strawberries and set them to it while I use sheers to cut the circular scapes off of the garlic plants.

Halfway through the row, I feel Brody, but ignore it. It's always been like that. I know where he is. If he can see me, it's like a magnetic pull. I tell myself I'm stupid for caring about a girlfriend. I was married for goodness sakes. He could have been married by now, had kids of his own. It's just when I was in school, I knew all of those girls he was with, and I knew they weren't his type. Then I was with Sebastian, and couldn't care anymore. Now what do I do? I've been back a day and we can't even be around each other.

"You shouldn't be out here in white. You're gonna get filthy."

I look over my shoulder, instantly annoyed. "You're not my daddy, Brody. I do my own laundry."

He says caustically, "Oh trust me, I know what I'm not, Jules."

I spin around and point at him with a gloved hand. "Don't go there with me, Brody. You really don't want to do that right now."

Harper says, "Hey, Brody! Are you going to dinner at Granny Glen's house with us?"

Brody looks over at her. "When?"

"Sunday."

He shrugs. "Sure."

I huff a breath, but freeze when Harper keeps going. "Is your girlfriend gonna be there?"

Brody cuts his eyes to me quickly before he sneers and turns back to Harper. "Yeah, she'll be there."

I curl my lips in and bite them to keep the venom from flowing out of my throat. Okay, so I didn't try too hard to come back home, mainly because I didn't want to see Brody when I was with Sebastian. I knew he didn't want to see us together, and I didn't blame him. So why is he bringing her?

We finish going over weeds in the garden then throw them in the compost before checking on the bunnies. As we head into the house, I tell them to wash up and get their bathing suits on. They yell and whoop, stomping up the stairs. I take the Wi-Fi router out and set it up before changing into a neon yellow bikini. After getting towels, I grab my computer and the portable boom box thing we have that hooks up to the iPhone. We head outside with the kids bouncing around and running down the grass.

I set up the music and towel on the dock before lying down on my stomach and opening my computer as the kids splash around in the pond. I pull up my video of day one of our trip and watch it again, then post it on YouTube. I pick up my camera and take a few shots of the kids in the pool then start a blog entry of my trip.

When I finish it up, it's been an hour since I started, so I turn off the computer and jump in with the kids, throwing them around and acting like a kid myself. We race and do handstands, goofing around for another hour before I pull them inside for a late lunch. Brody never showed up, that I know of, but the kids took a lot of my attention. They all get showers and come down, wanting to shoot a video. So I take my turn showering, put on light makeup and the same outfit I was wearing before. When I come downstairs, Trigg has the camera on the tripod and is moving it around the room, trying to get the best light, while Jet eats a sandwich at the bar. Brody is behind Harper, attempting to brush her hair as she eats.

I head over to them with my hand out. "Uh uh."

He holds the brush away from me. "It's been a while, but I think I remember how to braid, Jules."

That's a double-edged sword. He used to love to brush my hair. It was waist length back then and he was always pulling my hair ties out. He would always touch it, so it would get tangled and I made him brush it out, since it was such a hassle. Directly behind that thought, I wonder if he brushes Maggie's hair. I need to stop.

I turn and ask Trigg if he's had a sandwich. He nods, so I pull out what I need for the first video. I need to get the kombucha tea going, along with kefir, so I set those up and get out the big fermenting crocks I located earlier.

"Jet, when I look at you, you produce. Okay?" He nods, patting his clapper.

I pull out a dark blue teakettle and measure out the water to boil. I set up the supplies I need for the demonstrations, then I set the water kefir making supplies over next to the fridge so that they’re out of the shot.

Brody and Harper are sitting at the table while Jet is standing off to the side of the camera. Trigg has his camera set up on one of the double oven doors on a tripod so that I can get close ups if I need them. Genius kid.

I point to it. "I like that. Good job, Trigg." He smiles and puts his hand on my camera. I look at Jet and nod.

He holds up his clapper as Trigg pushes the button. "Quiet on the set! Kontuchy, scene one!" He snaps the arm shut and sits down at the table.

I try not to laugh as he butchers the name of the tea. I love that kid. Putting Brody out of my head, I look at the camera and smile, holding my arms out. "Well, we made it! This is going to be the new backdrop from now on. My granny's kitchen got a makeover a couple of years ago, so now I get to play with amazing Viking appliances. Today, we're going to make our first batch of kombucha. Now, you might be wondering 'what is that?' Well, it's a fermented tea that is so good for you. My mom always had us drinking it as a kid. It has probiotics. That means it puts good bacteria in your intestinal track that helps with constipation and candida yeast. It detoxifies the liver, boosts your metabolism, helps with arthritis, gout, asthma, kidney stones. It will give you more energy. I'm telling you, this stuff is amazing."

I look at Jet and he jumps up and yells “Cut” as he snaps his clapper.

I start looking for a timer, which I should have had out already. I look over at Brody as I search a drawer. He's leaning back in his chair at the kitchen table, legs spread wide, arms crossed, watching me. I look back in the drawers and find a digital timer in the next one over.

I switch over all of the kombucha supplies with the water kefir and put more water on to boil. Taking a deep breath, I nod to Jet, and he does his thing. I run through the similar process while we wait on the tea leaves to steep for the first video. Time management is one of the things I got good at with three kids with short attention spans.

“ . . . after that it's ready to drink."

I look at Jet and he jumps up, snaps the clapper and yells, "Cut."

Brody walks over to me and picks up the container. “Where do you want it?"