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  She shrugged her shoulders, smiling at her new-found wealth. “Okay,” she quickly agreed as she grabbed her Grandmother’s hand.

  Alex motioned to Eve, encouraging her to bend down to her level and then stated matter-of-factly, “He took it better than I thought.” Eve threw her head back and laughed as they turned toward the barn. “I’m sure it won’t be the last you hear of it, Sweetie.”

  “Wait!” Alex blurted. She spun around and sprinted toward her uncle. He squatted down opening his arms to her. She threw her arms around his neck and squeezed with all her four, almost five, year-old might.

  “Don’t worry, I will always love you and Daddy more,” she whispered.

  Two

  Trey watched his niece bounce up and down, dragging her grandmother along as they headed toward the barn. Something inside told him he might never find his Lauren, but he was okay with that because there was a confident little girl who already owned his heart.

  And speaking of that, he turned to face Jamie and Lauren who were still standing on the porch.

  He rested his hands on his hips and pursed his lips together.

  Jamie lifted his hands up in defense as his brother closed the distance between them. “Now hold on a minute, let’s talk about it,” he laughed.

  Trey marched up the wooden steps as he shook his head. “Talk about what? Maybe how you two are royally screwing up this parenting thing?”

  Lauren laughed and swung the dishtowel she’d been holding onto in Trey's direction.

  Trey pointed at her, “You get a pass because you’re so cute and my niece looks like you.” He swung his arm over her shoulder, giving her a quick, brotherly kiss on the side of her head and led her back toward the kitchen door. He changed his voice as if he were talking to a child, “Plus, you’ve already proven you’re not the most intelligent person by marrying my brother.”

  She shoved him, but he spun around to face them, walking backward toward the door as he pointed at his brother, “But you, you are just a horrible father! And as soon as I’m done kicking Adam Baker’s ass, I’m coming for you!”

  Jamie lunged at his younger brother just as Trey threw open the door and ran into the kitchen. “What does a guy have to do to get some breakfast around here?” He yelled into the empty house as the door slammed behind him.

  “You need to make it your damn self since you were so late,” Lauren yelled back as her husband grabbed the door and held it open for her.

  Trey was already waist deep in the refrigerator by the time Jamie and Lauren joined him.

  “One more thing, on a serious note,” Lauren said to Trey’s backside, “Please don’t forget to pick up the cupcakes for tomorrow.”

  Trey spun around, standing as straight as he could, eyes looking forward, “Yes, Ma’am. I mean, no, Ma’am. I will not let you down. At exactly eleven a.m., I will retrieve my niece’s birthday cupcakes from the bakery, decorated in half Frozen and half Ironman,” he risked a glance down at Lauren and whispered, “because she is the most awesome girl ever.” He straightened back up again, mimicking a soldier standing at attention, “And I will deliver said cupcakes directly to this farm to be eaten by a bunch of crazy animals in little kid suits.”

  She gently patted his chest as she walked passed him, “You’re so strange.”

  Jamie smirked at his brother. “One of these days she’s going to lay you out.”

  Trey slid a plateful of cold cuts, leftover from yesterday’s lunch, onto the table and turned to grab a gallon of milk. He shoved a piece of cheese into his mouth, looking at his brother like he was nuts as he slammed the refrigerator door. “No way, she loves me. Grab the bread for me, will you?”

  Jamie turned and grabbed a loaf of their mama’s homemade bread from the bread box and slid it in front of his brother.

  Trey’s eyes twinkled with mischief as he grabbed the package. “Why don’t you go out with Andy and me tonight? Just come out and have a couple of beers. You can leave before any of the fun starts.”

  Jamie shook his head, “Are you crazy? Lauren would have my balls on a plate if I even thought about going out the night before Alex’s birthday party.” Trey laughed and went to work making a man-sized sandwich. He knew before he even asked there was no way his brother would go and would’ve probably kicked his ass himself if he tried, but sometimes he liked to have ammunition for future insults. Not being able to go out with the guys because your wife won’t let you is classic stuff.

  “Where are you guys going? Are you staying here in town?”

  “Just over to Huntsville. They have a live band playing and I’m hoping to catch up with Kelsey again. She was…” he stopped for a second and smiled to himself, remembering all the trouble she had let him get into last night, “fun.” Trey laughed at his own joke but was hoping he would run into her. Last night had been the first time he’d ever seen her and he liked the challenge of someone who wasn’t from around here.

  After a few minutes, Trey realized the weight of the silence in the room.

  Jamie was leaned up against the counter, arms crossed over his chest, one booted foot crossed over the other.

  Trey looked around the room, confused and wondering what he had done to get the “Dad stare” from his brother. “What?’ What did I do?”

  His brother cleared his throat and ran his hand down his face. “Look, Mom and Lauren are worried about you.”

  Trey sat up straighter in his seat, the last bite of his sandwich hanging halfway out of his mouth. “Me? Why the hell are they worried about me? I’m fine.”

  “Maybe we’re worried because all you seem to do is hang out with sleazy women in dive bars and drink until you can’t remember where you are,” Lauren added as she walked back into the room.

  Trey raised his arms out to the side and lifted his shoulders to his ears, sandwich in one hand, a glass of milk in the other. “Yes…and? I’m still waiting for the part you should be worried about.”

  Jamie shook his head. “I think what my lovely wife is trying to say is, they are worried because you don’t show any signs of slowing down. They, Mom and Lauren, think maybe your drinking is getting out of hand.”

  Trey’s chair screeched as he stood. “So, you think I’m a drunk.”

  “No,” both Lauren and Jamie said in unison.

  “So, you think I’m a loser?”

  “No,” Lauren said again. Jamie tipped his head to the side, lifting his eyebrows like Trey might be on to something.

  Trey punched him in the chest.

  “Ouch, Dickhead. No, I don’t think you’re a loser, but I do want you to be careful. You have no idea what these girls want from you.”

  Trey let out a sarcastic laugh, “I know exactly what these girls want.”

  “Stop with the joking, Trey. We’re serious. Don’t you ever think about finding a nice girl and settling down?” Lauren looked down at the dishtowel she had twisted into a ball.

  Trey picked up the plate of meat and covered it back up, turning to put it back in the refrigerator and escape the seriousness of the moment.

  “Of course, but right now, I don’t know. Maybe it’s just not in the cards for me.” He shoved the plate back from where he had gotten it and turned to see the caring, almost sad look in his sister-in-law’s eyes.

  “We just don’t want you to be alone.”

  “I know and I’m not. I have you two and my little Firefly and Mom. You’re all I need right now. Not everyone can find their true love at age fifteen. I’m only twenty-four and have a lot of time to find someone. When I’m ready, I’ll find my Mrs. Forever, but right now…I just want to find my Miss Whatever.”

  Lauren threw her head back, growled into the air and tossed the dishtowel into the sink. “You are impossible. You know that?”

  Trey flashed his famous 1000-watt smile. “I do, sweet sister, and that’s exactly why it’s better for me to be single. I would drive some poor girl crazy with all my antics.”

  “That’s the first bit of
sense I’ve heard from you today.” She admitted as she hugged her brother-in-law. “Please be careful,” she whispered as she turned away from the O’Brien brothers and stepped out onto the porch.

  Lauren knew exactly how lucky she had been when Jamie had fallen for her in high school. Her family life had been less than stellar with a dad who hadn’t stuck around and a mother who was more interested in her latest bar fling than the little girl who was home alone, making herself supper, and putting herself to bed.

  But Jamie had saved her from all that. There was nothing comparable to the love of an O'Brien boy. Once Jamie introduced her to his family, she was theirs. No questions asked.

  The O'Brien’s had everything a girl would want. Spitting images of their dad and each other, they stood a head taller than most of the men in town. Sandy brown hair and tanned skin from working outside made them look more like surfers than farmers, but one look at their hands and you knew these men were no slackers.

  But beyond that, there was a presence the O’Brien men carried with them. It wasn’t arrogance and it certainly wasn’t because they thought of themselves as better than anyone else. It was the understanding they had to work hard for everything. They worked hard on the farm, worked hard for each other and worked hard in their relationships. If something wasn’t functioning correctly, they worked until they fixed it. There was power in knowing no matter what happened, your family was always standing next to you, fighting with you every step of the way.

  To every girl in a fifty-mile radius, Trey was the man to get. He had money, looks and security. There wasn’t a week that went by when some gold-digging bitch didn’t buddy up to her at the library, grocery store, or local swimming pool, asking about her handsome brother-in-law. It made her sick to think he might be tricked into a relationship with someone who was only looking to attach herself to the O'Brien name.

  All you needed to do was spend five seconds with Trey and his niece to see the way into his heart. If he got some random girl pregnant, it would all be over. He would marry her without so much as a second thought.

  Back in the kitchen, Trey turned to his brother after watching Lauren walk out of the room. “What’s going on with her?” He asked.

  His big brother grabbed an apple from the counter and took a bite, staring at the apple in his hand while chewing and choosing his next words carefully.

  “We think maybe you’re running too hard and too fast.”

  “What the hell does that mean?”

  “Well, you never just…pause.”

  “Pause?” Trey questioned.

  Jamie set the half-eaten apple down and pushed himself off the counter. “Yeah, pause. Lauren reminds me all the time that I need to stop barreling through life. We do that, you know? You and me, we get our minds set on one thing and we don’t stop until it’s done.”

  Trey understood exactly what his brother meant. They'd been raised to believe there was nothing too big or too much or too hard for an O'Brien. They kept pushing forward until it was no longer an obstacle.

  “She says we are always so hell-bent on what task is in front of us, we forget life is happening around us. We forget to pause and be thankful for what we have. We get so headstrong about building our lives we forget to live life. The pause is so we don’t miss the little things. The important things. The experiences that make up the memories of someone’s life.”

  A comfortable silence stretched out between them as Trey pondered everything his brother was saying. He let out a low whistle as he slowly nodded his head, “Jesus, that wife of yours is something else. You are one lucky man.”

  “You don’t have to tell me, brother. I already know. Anyway, she’s worried if you don’t learn to pause, you’re going to miss all the good things that are happening and possibly, miss the one woman who is meant to be yours. There’s a woman made just for you and she’s out there right now. God help her.”

  Trey let out a small, soft laugh. He dropped a calloused hand onto his brother’s shoulder, squeezing it a little to show how much he appreciated him. Looking him in the eye, he took a deep breath. “Okay. I promise I will pause more often. I don’t want to miss any of this. And I would never forgive myself if I missed my opportunity to have the life you guys have.”

  Jamie smiled, nodding his head. “Good. That’s really good, Trey.”

  Trey slammed his other hand down on his brother’s shoulder and tried to shake him forcefully, “But can I please wait to pause until tomorrow? Because I really want some more of Miss Kelsey tonight!”

  Trey walked across the kitchen and out the door onto the porch where his sister-in-law sat in a rocking chair.

  He turned toward his brother who had followed him outside. “I’m going to go check on the far west fence line.” He grabbed the bill of his cap, squeezed it, and pulled it farther down on his head.

  “Sounds good. Let me know if you need help.”

  Trey bounced down the steps before turning back toward the house and pointing with both hands toward Lauren and Jamie. “I’m giving you guys two days to straighten out this boyfriend mess with my niece. If the boyfriend is not gone, I will have no choice but to take matters into my own hands.”

  Lauren watched as Trey walked backward away from them. “What are you going to do, threaten a seven-year-old boy?”

  “You don’t worry about it. You guys should go read some parenting books or something. What to expect or some shit like that.”

  “Those are pregnancy books, you idiot,” Lauren chuckled.

  “Well, it looks like you guys might be in real trouble here. Wouldn’t be a bad idea to go back, way back, like to conception.”

  Jamie threw up his middle finger in his brother’s direction.

  Trey shook his head, laughing at the gesture. “I’m off to own that broken fence. Nothing will stop me today.” He turned toward his truck and pointed one finger to the sky, about to claim his success over the day that had just started, “I’m an O'Brien and I’m going to…”

  “Uncle Trey!” He stopped in his tracks when he heard the small voice coming from the barn.

  “go look at baby kittens,” he finished as he quickly turned away from his truck and started toward his niece. “That’s what I’m going to do. Kiss baby kittens with my little Firefly. Then, I will own that fence.” He said, running toward the barn.

  “Cupcakes! Eleven…in the morning, Trey. Eleven in the morning!” Lauren yelled after him.

  He lifted his hand above his head, giving Lauren an okay and silently praying he didn’t forget those damn cupcakes.

  8:30 PM

  Text message:

  Jamie: Cupcakes are ready early, so if u want to pick them up before 11 go for it.

  Trey: I’ve been so worried.

  Jamie: Dickhead. U out yet?

  Trey: Nope. Just waiting for Andy. Last chance, sure u don’t want to join us?

  Jamie: 100% sure, dude. Have fun, good luck finding Miss STD, I mean Miss Jones.

  Trey: Hey, don’t talk about the future Mrs. Trey O'Brien like that

  Jamie: haha… my bad

  11:00 PM

  Trey: U still up?

  Jamie: Nope

  Trey: I may have a problem

  Jamie: What’s new

  Trey: Seems Miss Jones was actually Mrs. Jones

  Jamie: Oh shit

  Trey: Word has it Mr. Jones is not happy with me

  Jamie: You’re an idiot

  Trey: I know

  Jamie: Need me to pick you up?

  Trey: And deal with Lauren’s wrath all day tomorrow, no thanks. I’ll find Andy and call it a night.

  Jamie: Lauren says you’re an idiot too.

  Trey: I think you guys might be onto something. See you in the morning.

  12:45 AM

  Jamie frantically reached into the dark for his phone, hoping to answer it before his wife woke up.

  “Hello,” he whispered, trying to slip out of bed. He stopped when Lauren flipped on the nightstand lamp.


  “Is he okay?” she asked her husband, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

  “I don’t know yet, baby.”

  “Are you okay?” he asked into the phone.

  There was silence on the other end. “Trey, you there?”

  Jamie waited only a few seconds before standing and yelling into the phone, “Trey!”

  His brother’s voice was hushed. The sound made the hair on the back of his neck stand up.

  “Jamie, I’m in real trouble.”

  Jamie reached for his pants and shoes as Lauren jumped out of bed, scrambling to hand him his shirt.

  “I’m coming. Where are you, what’s wrong?”

  “I’m in the back room of The Flamingo. It’s in Huntsville.”

  “What the hell is going on?” Lauren asks as she handed her husband his wallet and keys to his truck.

  “He’s in some storage room in a bar in Huntsville.”

  “What? Why?”

  “What exactly is going on, Trey?”

  “Her husband showed up and brought a bunch of guys with him. I can’t find Andy anywhere and brother, these guys aren’t here to talk.”

  “Okay, just stay there and stay out of sight. I’ll text you when I’m in the alley. Come out the back door and I’ll be waiting for you.”

  “Tell him to call the police, Jamie.” Lauren raised her voice in hopes her brother-in-law would hear her through the line. “Trey, just call the damn police and stay where you are. Don’t do anything stupid.”

  “Jamie,” Trey whispered.

  “Yeah?”

  “Hurry.”

  “I’m already in my truck.”

  1:15 AM

  911 Call:

  “911, what is your emergency?”

  “Hurry, please! Oh my God, hurry, damn it!! There’s blood everywhere!”

  “Sir, who is hurt?”

  “It’s my brother… he’s bleeding, it’s his blood… his blood is everywhere! Please! Someone stabbed my brother!”

  “Where are you?”

  “NO!! No, you don’t! Keep your damn eyes open! Don’t you die! Please hurry, he’s dying!! We’re in the alley behind The Flamingo!”