"Deep fried fatty goodness. The most unhealthy food you have," Tate said.
Xavier laughed. "It's bar food, so it's all unhealthy, I'm afraid. Typically, drunk people don't tend to go for quinoa salads and sprouted wheat bagels." He headed for the kitchen. "So, burgers, chicken strips, mozzarella sticks, chili cheese fries? I just made the chili this morning so it's nice and fresh."
"Yes to everything," Tate said. "Especially the chili cheese fries."
Xavier laughed again, shaking his head as he entered the kitchen. "One vacation indulgence food spread coming up."
"It's not a vacation," Tate shouted after him. "We're here indefinitely!"
"That's awesome!" he shouted back. "I'll make you both personalized robots as welcome home gifts!"
Aerie was examining the robot. "He seriously creates these? This thing is truly amazing. I can see why people pay fifty dollars for them."
Brock watched the thing toddle around again. "It was Mara's idea for him to sell them, I think. Until then, it was just hobby he had, something to occupy the rest of his brain and his hands while he studied. He had an entire fifty-gallon tub full of them. He literally puts one together in, like, an hour, and then starts on another one. After Mara suggested he sell them, he put up a website, shot some photos and videos of them, and it all just took off from there. Now he collects all the robots he makes during the week, takes photos and videos of each of them, uploads them to his website, and people can claim them. He even has this thing where you can pick from a list of parts and design your own and he'll make it for you."
"Impressive," Tate said.
Brock blew a raspberry. "This is idle-hands stuff for Xavier. The programming is so basic he could do it in his sleep, one-handed. I think he has plans to expand into more advanced stuff, but he needs an actual lab space and better gear and parts, so he's saving every dollar he makes here and from the robots."
Just then a group of people came in, fresh off a cruise ship, and Brock went to take orders, leaving Canaan and the girls and me to ourselves once more.
Tate kept munching on peanuts. "So. How about after we eat, we abscond with that bottle of whiskey and find somewhere to get into trouble?"
"We should probably stop into Grandma and Grandpa's before we go anywhere else," Aerie said.
After eating a ridiculous amount of greasy fried food, we piled back into the truck and headed for the Kingsley's B & B. I'd already run up to grab the whiskey, which was now hidden under the rear bench seat, along with a six-pack of beer and some snacks, and a blanket. The plan was to swing by the Kingsley's so the girls could say hi to their grandparents and drop off their luggage, and then we'd head somewhere out of town to hang out.
Canaan and I carried the girls' luggage inside for them, with the girls preceding us into their grandparent's place. Richard and Ellen Kingsley were in the formal dining room, working together to set the table for the upcoming dinner.
When we walked in, Ellen peeked her head out of the entryway of the dining room to see who was coming.
Her entire face brightened when she saw Tate and Aerie, and she bustled toward the foyer, a stack of cutlery clutched in one hand. "My goodness! Is it really my granddaughters, come to visit?" She pulled both girls into a giant hug, all three of them laughing, and when Ellen finally pulled away, she swiped a finger underneath both eyes, sniffling. "Oh, look at me. I'm just so happy you're here!"
Richard came out when he heard Ellen's exclamation, and took his turn hugging the girls, kissing them each on top of their heads.
Ellen was small, short and thin, and somewhat frail looking, but vibrant and lively, with silver hair, and eyes that matched Tate and Aerie's: amber and wise. Richard was tall, head and shoulders taller than his wife, razor thin and wiry, with silver hair as well, and dark brown eyes and a stern expression to go with his quiet demeanor.
"Good to see you, girls." He eyed Canaan and me, and the pile of matching sets of luggage. "How long are you girls in town for?"
Tate and Aerie exchanged glances.
"Um." Aerie stepped forward. "That's the thing, actually--"
Tate moved up beside her sister. "We've taken an indefinite leave of absence, Grandpa--"
I realized they were doing the back and forth twin-speak thing to charm their grandparents.
"So we're here in Ketchikan for at least the near future. We don't have any set plans--" Aerie continued.
"Which is the entire point of coming here, to figure out what we're doing next." Tate took Richard's hands in hers. "And we were hoping to be able to stay with you for a while."
"If you have a room we can take over," Aerie said.
"We only need one, we can share." Tate bounced up and down, which for sure caught my attention, even from behind. "It's okay, right? Say it's okay, Grandpa."
Richard glanced at Ellen, and then sighed. "What does your mother think about this plan?"
Aerie answered. "Well, that's another tricky aspect to this--she doesn't know we're here. She absolutely hates that we're doing this, and if she knew where we were, she'd show up and try to make us go back to modeling. And we just need a break."
"We need to reassess," Tate added. "The modeling thing was Mom's idea, and we're not sure we want to continue with it. Plus, we've been on the go nonstop for so long we're just burnt out and we need a nice long vacation."
"And we thought, what better way to decompress and relax than to spend some time with Grandma and Grandpa?" Aerie said.
Richard sighed. "Rachel is probably apoplectic about this."
Tate smiled. "You should see the email she sent us. It was in all caps. She's pissed."
Ellen tisked at her granddaughters. "She really does mean well, you know, girls."
"We know, Grandma," Aerie said. "It's just that what she wants for us and what we want for ourselves doesn't always match up, and she insists she still knows what's best for us, and refuses to take no for an answer. She won't even have a conversation about this. We're old enough to be able to make decisions about our futures ourselves."
"I understand what you're saying," Richard said. "Your mother has always been...rather strong-willed. Bullheaded might be a better term."
"Richard!" Ellen scolded. "Don't talk about your daughter like that!"
He huffed. "Am I wrong, Ellen? I love her, but I'm also able to see the reality of her character."
Ellen shook her head. "No, you're not wrong. But she really does mean well."
Richard took a moment to think. "I won't lie for you, girls. If your mother calls us asking if you're here, I'm going to tell her."
"We know, Grandpa," Tate said. "Of course you're not going to lie. We'd never ask you to, you know that!"
Richard quirked an eyebrow. "What about when you girls were fourteen and I caught you sneaking out to go to the movies with your boyfriends? I never said anything then, did I?"
"That was different," Tate said. "That's not lying, that's just not tattling. A lie of omission, if you want to be a stickler about it, but it's not an outright lie. Plus, those weren't our boyfriends, they were just boys...who were friends."
Aerie snorted, attempting to cover up a laugh. "Um, I hate to break it to you, T, but they were our boyfriends. Why else did we always sit at the very back of the theater?"
Tate stomped her foot. "Aerie! You are such a blabbermouth!" She huffed, and then patted her grandfather's chest. "All we ever did was make out, Grandpa, I promise."
Aerie ducked her head, and I think I heard her mutter sarcastically, "Yeah, whatever."
And, knowing how the girls were as teenagers, there probably was a tiny bit more than innocent kissing happening in the back of that movie theater. I mean, I know Canaan and I got into way more than that in those very same seats.
Ellen cleared her throat. "Yes, well. Regardless, if she asks, we'll tell her. If she doesn't ask, we won't volunteer the information. We understand and respect your need for privacy, and to make your own decisions."
"That be
ing said, you can stay here, of course. We can only spare one room for you, since the rest always sells out at this time of year." Richard lifted an index finger. "And, again, we respect the fact that you're adults, but we must set some basic ground rules." He glanced at Canaan and me meaningfully. "This is called The Kingsley's REST, so you can't be loud at all hours. What you do and with whom is your business, but just be...discreet, all right?"
Ellen frowned up at her husband. "Richard!"
He shot his wife a look. "What, Ellen? They're twenty years old--nearly twenty-one--and they travel the world alone. We're their grandparents, so it's not our place to try and police their behavior. I'm merely asking them to be discreet about...things."
Ellen frowned even more deeply. "Tate, Aerie, I'm not going to mince words with you. No loud noises when people are trying to sleep in the other rooms, no smoking inside, and no obvious and disruptive intoxication. You're good girls, and I know this, but these are the basic rules we apply to all our guests, and they apply to you as well."
Tate and Aerie both wrapped Ellen up in a hug.
"Of course, Grandma!" Aerie said. "We came here to get away from the craziness. We'll be good, I promise."
As Richard and Ellen led the twins upstairs to show them their room, Tate twisted around and winked at me.
"Come on, boys," she sang, "the luggage isn't going to carry itself upstairs!"
Canaan shot me an eye roll, and I just laughed.
"Yes ma'am! Right away, ma'am! Would you like beverage service as well, ma'am?" I teased.
"That would be mah-velous, dah-ling," Tate said, playing along, using an arch, aristocratic voice. "A dry vodka martini, Grey Goose, extra olives. And a bottle of your best champagne."
"Apologies, ma'am," I said in a drawling Jeeves the butler voice, "but I'm afraid we're out olives."
"Well, I never!" Tate huffed. "I simply shan't be able to stay at this establishment if you can't get a simple thing like a martini right!"
Richard barked a laugh. "You two are funny." He shot her a look over his shoulder. "But, not being twenty-one for another two weeks, I assume you've never had a martini, right?"
Aerie just chortled, and Tate playfully tossed her braid from one side to the other. "Of course not, Grandpa! That would be illegal!"
"In the States, at least," Canaan put in. "Let me just say, our European tour was lit, man."
"You were lit, you mean," I said.
Tate twisted to grin at me. "Did you get a chance to play Amsterdam?"
I cleared my throat. "Um. We...may have, yes."
"Did you go to De Wallen?" She pronounced it with an impressively convincing Dutch accent.
Canaan and Aerie both coughed to cover laughs--De Wallen is the local word for Amsterdam's infamous red-light district.
Richard snorted derisively. "A tip from an old man? You're not the only ones who have traveled the world you know. I have been to Amsterdam, and I am actually familiar with what De Wallen is."
"Richard!" Ellen hissed. "They're just children!"
"Oh, they are not. Not in any sense of the word, dear." He winked at Tate as they entered the bedroom the twins would be sharing. "My point is, you're not pulling anything over on me by using that term."
Aerie frowned up at her grandfather. "You've been to the red-light district?"
He laughed. "Bananenbar? Casa Rosso? Yes, my dear. I have."
Tate tried to cover her laughter, but couldn't, and devolved into hysterics. "Ohmygodohmygodohmygod! I do not need to know about you and Grandma visiting the red-light district." She cackled, and then feigned gagging, collapsing onto one of the beds. "Can we please change the subject?"
Ellen whacked Richard across the shoulder. "I can't believe you!"
He just shrugged. "We weren't always boring old innkeepers. And we do go on vacation once a year. What do they think we do? Sit around watching Jeopardy all day?"
"RICHARD!" Ellen shrieked.
Canaan and I were losing it at this point, unable to cover our laughter any longer.
"Damn, Mr. Kingsley," I said. "Well played, sir."
"Thank you, son." He shot us a look. "Now. If you'll excuse us a moment, I'd like a word alone with my granddaughters."
We piled their suitcases in one corner and exited the B and B, dropping the tailgate to sit and wait outside. While we were waiting, my phone rang, and the screen showed a picture of Bax giving a cheesy grin and two thumbs-up.
I slid my thumb across the screen to answer it. "Yo, Bax. How's it going on the East Coast?"
I heard chatter in the background, placing him at a bar or mall or something. "Corin, my favorite brother. How are you, kiddo?"
I laughed, putting the call on speaker so Canaan could hear. "I'm just your favorite brother because I convinced you to get off your ass and go find the woman you love."
"Exactly! And that's the reason I'm calling, F-Y-I. I figured I'd update you. I crashed the wedding like we talked about, and lemme tell you, it was even more epic than I could have imagined. Best part is? I got the whole crazy shitshow on GoPro."
"No way! You GoPro'd yourself crashing the wedding?"
"Sure as fuck, bro! I clocked that fucker Thomas right in his pretentious mouth, too. Knocked him the fuck out."
"And Evangeline? How'd she react when you showed up?"
"Well, we're taking the long route home, if that tells you anything."
"You're saying she's coming back to Ketchikan with you?"
"That's what I'm saying."
"Awesome! Congrats, Bax. For real. That's great. Hopefully you'll be less of an angry douche-canoe, now."
"I wasn't that bad."
"While Eva was gone? Yes, you were. You were a straight-up cave troll, man." I laughed. "Why do you think I staged the intervention? I couldn't handle you being such a love-sick pussy anymore."
Canaan leaned close to speak into the phone. "You really were pretty fuckin' awful, Bax."
"Well, shit. Sorry, I guess. Women'll do that to you." He said something muffled, ordering a drink it sounded like. "Speaking of women, how're the girls? They're in town for a minute, right?"
"Yeah, they just got in," Canaan answered, "We're about to go hang out with 'em now."
"Just got in?" Bax said. "I thought they were already there?"
I slapped Canaan across the back of the head. "I, uh, may have stretched the truth a little. You would never have sat still long enough to listen to me if I'd just shown up alone like hey bro, I'm worried about you turning into a grumpy old lonely fuck, not without some kind of story to go with it."
"Oh." He laughed. "I think you're right. So...the business about Aerie telling you about the wedding?"
"Oh, that was real. I really did talk to her on the phone about that, which is why I brought the information to you. Figured if anything could get you off your ass, it'd be that."
"I mean, obviously the information was good, for which..." He paused, sounding like he was taking a drink. "I owe you, Cor. For real. Thank you."
"Maybe you can start paying me back right now...with information. When Eva was here, you took off in the truck with her and didn't come back for quite a while--"
"We gotta have the talk about the birds and the bees, Cor?" he teased, laughing.
"Yes, Baxter," I said, oozing sarcasm. "I'm a virgin. Please describe for me the workings of human mating, oh great mighty sex lord."
"Well, you see, Corin, when a man and a woman like each other a lot--well, they don't have to like each other, and it could be a man and a man, or a woman and a woman, if that's what you're into--"
"Baxter."
"No?"
I laughed. "No, bro. Just...no. What I was gonna ask was where you went with her. We're looking to chill for a while, away from the bar and away from both apartments."
Baxter was silent a moment. "Dammit, I'm not sure if I'm ready to reveal my secret just yet."
I glanced at Canaan quizzically, and he just shrugged. "What secret?"
&nbs
p; He sighed. "So, I actually own a little cabin about thirty minutes outside of town."
"You...what?"
He laughed. "Yeah. When I first started the fighting thing, I took some fights on the payroll of this bigwig from the Bay area. He ended up going under because the IRS had him by the balls, but not before he traded me a fight for the deed to this little cabin he had. So then I became the owner of the cabin. I never had any reason to use it, since most of the time I was just bangin' chicks in their rooms on the cruise ships, or in their hotels or whatever. I got it cleaned up and stocked and mostly forgot about it. Then when I met Eva, I knew I needed somewhere more special and private to take her than a shitty hotel or the apartments, where we had, like, zero privacy."
"And you never thought any of us might like to know about this cabin?" I demanded.
"Well fuckin' obviously you guys would want to know, thus the reason I didn't share. It was my little thing, and I wanted to enjoy it at least once before you guys all started whining at me to use it." He snorted. "I mean, come on. Try and tell me you wouldn't do the same."
"Yeah, you're right." I left a long pause. "So, Bax, buddy..."
He cut in over me. "Head north on Tongass toward Ward Cove. There's a little two-track road on the right side as you're heading north, about...eh, a couple of miles north of Clover Pass..." He gave me more detailed directions on how to find the particular little road. "There really ain't much out there, and that shit is remote, son. Like, I'm not even sure how he managed to get plumbing and electricity to the place. The key's under the mat. Make sure everything's shut off and locked, put the key back when you leave, don't break anything, and for fuckin' real, don't drive home if you've been drinking."
"Yes, daddy," I joked.
"Hey, you're my little brothers, it's my job to at least act like I give a shit," he said. "Don't tell anyone about it--I want to dole out the existence of that place on my own terms, okay?"
"Easy enough," I said. "So, you and Eva, you're taking the long way home? What's that mean?"
"Heya, babe, your ass looks amazing in those jeans. Come here and gimme a kiss," Bax said, his voice distant as if he was holding the phone away from himself to speak to Eva. I heard some kissing noises, and then Bax's voice got louder. "It just means we're not in a hurry to get back to Alaska. We're taking a lot of little highways and side roads, kinda just seeing the country from the back of the bike, you know?"
Badd Luck Page 7
