Beauty and the Mustache: A Philosophical Romance (Winston Brothers Book 1) by Penny Reid

Author:Penny Reid [Reid, Penny]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Caped Publishing
Published: 2014-08-28T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

“We were not a hugging people. In terms of emotional comfort it was our belief that no amount of physical contact could match the healing powers of a well-made cocktail.”

― David Sedaris, Naked

After introductions were made, my plans for knit night were derailed, but in no way ruined.

All the seats in the family room were quickly taken, and I felt Drew’s eyes follow me as I claimed my seat on the couch. Jackson sat on my right for about ten seconds before Billy told him to move. Then, Billy sat on my right.

This left Jackson with three choices: stand, sit on the floor, or leave.

He tapped me on the shoulder, told me to call him later, and left.

When Jackson shut the front door, I turned and found Drew looking me. His expression was still stoic, not quite irritated, but definitely withdrawn. Then, Drew also left—the room, not the house. He disappeared down the hall in the direction of the den, leaving me with my brothers and my friends in Chicago.

The rest of the hour passed in companionable conversation except at one point when Jethro shocked the butter off our biscuits by pulling out his own knitting work in progress. He was knitting himself a hat and using a gorgeous merino wool/alpaca blend, a homespun he must’ve picked up from a small shop or artisan spinner. It was brown and white four-ply worsted. I had to restrain my hands from yarn fondling.

My siblings and I all stared at him. He ignored us, instead asking Marie a question about her work as a freelance writer, and the conversation moved on.

Billy’s comment earlier stuck with me, about how they’d all been doing fine before I showed up again. I knew we had some words unsaid between us. Of my brothers, he was the only one who appeared to be bitter about my leaving eight years ago. At some point, he and I were going to have to talk about it.

About two hours into the Skype call, the meet-up was wrapping up, so I stood to stretch and check in on Momma, leaving my brothers with my friends to say goodbye and feeling strangely fine about it. Although, when I reflected on it, it wasn’t strange for me to feel fine about it.

The fact that my brothers and my friends got along so well would have been unthinkable to me a few months ago. But now that I actually knew them—or, at least, was starting to know them—it struck me as completely natural.

My chosen family in Chicago and my biological family in Tennessee were the same kinds of people. In fact, if I reflected on it, I’d actually surrounded myself with replacement brothers in the form of women who knit.

Fiona was Billy—logical and level headed, but hiding a sensitive side. Marie was Jethro—shrewd yet big hearted. Janie was Cletus—sweet and often oblivious. Sandra was Roscoe—a rascal. Elizabeth and Kat were the twins, with Elizabeth bolder like Beau and Kat shyer like Duane.

The personalities weren’t a perfect fit, but they were pretty close.

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