chance to catch up with my…” I motioned and glanced over my shoulder and saw my brother’s retreating back.
He’d left without saying a word, which was totally in character for him. He’d always been the strong, silent type. He intimidated most people because he was six foot six and built like a mountain, but if you really knew him, then you knew he was just a big ol’ softy.
A big ol’ softy that had just ditched his little brother.
I turned back to either Madison or Melody, I still had no clue which one. “A ride would be great. Thanks.”
Her smile widened, and after saying obligatory goodbyes to the few stragglers, I followed her to her car. We got into her Honda Accord and no sooner had I shut the door than she said, “Did you know that I had a crush on you all through high school?”
“No.” Since I wasn’t even sure which one of the Turner triplets this was, I could honestly say I didn’t.
“I think every girl in town had a crush on you or one of your brothers.”
I supposed that made sense considering there were eight of us. It was basically a numbers game.
“And I fell for the ‘wild’ one.”
“Wild one?” I hadn’t heard that before. I thought I was mainly known for my photography. I considered my youngest brothers Travis and Trace the wild ones since their nicknames were TNT, thanks to an unfortunate incident with fireworks.
“Yeah, Sawyer is the brooding one. Wyatt is the smart one.”
Well, that was true enough. My second oldest brother had a crazy high IQ. I knew that he worked in the tech field, but had no clue what his job was.
“Then there’s you, the wild one. Beau, the musician.” She continued listing off my brothers by birth order. “JJ the athlete. Cooper the playboy. And Travis and Trace were the troublemakers.”
“Wow.” I had no clue that’s what we were all known for. “Why am I the wild one?”
Her head spun toward me and her eyes widened. “Are you serious? You and Holden were always doing crazy things. You guys used to surf on the top of the church van.”
We had done that. We’d seen it in the movie Teen Wolf and for some reason thought it was a good idea. It had ended with Holden falling off and getting a concussion.
“You guys jumped from the crop duster into the river.”
My mom had thrown a fit about that one. I’d “borrowed” the crop duster from the farm and both Holden and I had taken turns flying and jumping. No injuries with that one, other than my pride when my mom had read me the riot act in front of my entire graduating class gathered at the river.
“On Grad Night you two streaked through the town square and jumped on the wishing well. You guys—”
“Okay, yeah,” I interrupted her. “I can see how I got that nickname.”
My phone buzzed and I pulled it out and saw that it was the flight information for Josie.
“Is that your girlfriend?”
“No.” I shook my head. “It’s Mia.”
“Is there a girlfriend?”
I looked up and saw the hope in Madison or Melody’s eyes. I’d never looked at the triplets in that way. Honestly, I’d never looked at anyone from my hometown in that way. I think it was because I associated looking at someone like that as a death sentence. Because to me, being stuck in Wishing Well was as good as being dead.
“No. No girlfriend.”
“No one tamed the wild one?”
I chuckled. “I don’t think I quite live up to that nickname anymore.”
“Shame.” A flirty smile lifted on her lips. “Are you hungry? We could grab a bite at the Spoon.”
“I can’t. I have to go run an errand for Mia.” I picked up my phone that displayed the text.
“Shame,” she repeated before starting the engine.
Was it? I didn’t think so.
Chapter 2
Josie
“When life hands you lemons, add vodka and make a martini.”
~ Josephine Grace Clarke
My boyfriend wants to have a threesome, but I’m not really into it. What do you think I should do? – Confused in Connecticut
Kick him to the curb. That would be my response. My grandmother, however, would definitely have another take on things. I copied and pasted the text to forward in an email for the show tomorrow.
Hot Tea with Josephine had begun as an advice column for my grandmother’s blog when she started feeling out of touch with “young people”. The first blog post was ten years ago and over the past decade,