I've Got Summer

T W E N T Y - S E V E N

C H R I S

My idiot of a brother was kind enough to break a decorative shelf in Beth's café, which made me somewhat embarrassed. I brought him in there, and he broke stuff before even sitting down.

As soon as Beth hurried out to grab a new shelf from Bailey's, I slapped the back of Nick's head and groaned.

"Great," I said, "I bring you to get a great cup of coffee, and you trash the place."

"I didn't trash it, you grump," he replied, crossing his arms, "and I offered to pay for a new shelf."

"Yeah, you did," I muttered, my eyes moving to the window to see towards the hardware store. I couldn't see it clearly, not without moving or craning my neck—and I didn't want to raise suspicions with Nick. He already knew something was going on with a girl, but I wasn't ready for them to meet just yet. I had to make sure he knew how much she meant to me first, so he wouldn't make a move, because she was the kind of girl every man would make a move on.

"The coffee is great, though," Nick remarked as he sipped from his cup. "And the woman was sweet, like a fun aunt, kind of."

Beth was like an aunt, alright, but more like an overprotective one who didn't want me to hurt her little niece—but she also had a secretive smile telling me she knew every dirty thought I'd ever had about Summer. Maybe fun was a good way to describe the plump woman after all.

"The town seems pretty cool, too, if I'm honest," he continued, looking out the windows as if he was assessing the Main Street. "A little small, but I guess that suits your wishes."

I nodded. "I like it," I admitted, much to my own surprise.

Nick grinned when he met my eyes. "You like that girl. The decorator. That's why you're staying."

I barely got to sip my own coffee before Beth strode through the doors with a new shelf under her arm, and placed a blue sticky note on my brother's chest. "Summer said you could just come right over and pay her now," the woman stated, waving her arm over her head.

Cringing, I stepped up to take the shelf from her hands, and held it up to the wall. "Thanks," she muttered, eyeing me. Then she turned on her heel, and found a toolbox under the counter.

"Alright, just down the street?" Nick asked, rubbing his neck. "Wait," he added, his eyes turning big, "Summer? As in... Chris's Summer?"

"The one and only," Beth replied as she came up to me with a mischievous smile. She banged in a nail without hesitation, while I held the shelf steady. "Only one Summer in town, and she's working at her dad's store right now, waiting for—"

The bell above the door stopped her from finishing her sentence, and I groaned loudly.

"Thanks," I muttered, echoing her from earlier.

"What, don't you want your brother to meet your girl?" She glared at me, but then her expression softened and she hammered in another nail. Her hand rested on my chest when she finished, and she pushed me away from the wall. "Go, now. Don't want to leave that city boy alone with a pretty girl like her for too long," she said. "I might not be opposed to you dating her, but him? Ha! He ruined my wall within a minute of entering my café, he'll be a disaster."

"I'll tell him you said that," I told her.

"Please exaggerate and say he's banned, too." She winked at me. "Just in case he suddenly wants to stay too long."

I waved at her, grabbing my cup of coffee, as I exited the café.

Hurrying down the street, my mind went to all the different scenarios I could find once I entered Bailey's. Nick could be flirting with my girl. He could be charming her completely, and she'd think she met the wrong brother first.