I stiffened at the mention of our half brothers.
"And yes, they’ll be at the party too. You're going to have to have an actual conversation with them. If you’d actually bother to get to know our brothers, you’d like them. We do," Gabe said.
"I’ll be civil," I assured him.
"You better be," Cade said. His voice was sharp. "It's not their fault."
"Jesus, do we have to have this conversation every time, Cade?"
“I think we should.”
“I know it's not their fault.” It wasn't their mother's fault either. The whole story came out soon after I discovered our father’s infidelity. The woman had worked with him years before he married our mom, then moved to Maine. He continued a relationship with her, unbeknownst to anyone. Back then, there was no social media where you could track someone's every move. It had been easy for my father to keep his other family hidden. She’d never known about Mom. He'd always told her he couldn’t marry her because his parents wouldn't approve. For some reason, she didn't question that.
There was a single person responsible for all this: Ryan Whitley. But that didn't mean I was going to be best friends with my half brothers. I didn’t want a daily reminder of what a fuckup my father is. Cade and Spencer were on good terms with them but not friends—as far as I knew. Gabe was closest to them.
"I vote for you to move to Boston for a while," Spencer said.
“So do I,” Gabe said.
Colton nodded. “Count me in.”
“As much as I’d love to be around the family, this is not up for vote,” I interjected.
"That way we'll be around to give you shit,” Cade went on as if I hadn’t said anything.
“It would be a shame for the advertising branch to go bankrupt," Colton said.
"Me taking up the role is not even an option." I didn't want anyone raising their expectations. "I have my own company to run, as you do yours. Finding a CEO quickly is all we can do."
"All right. Well, Grandmother usually gets what she wants, one way or the other," Spencer said, and he was right.
"Is anyone slightly concerned that she seems intent on having great-grandchildren?” Gabe asked no one in particular.
We all turned to stare at him.
"She hints that her friends are bullying her for not having any. And she's even more insistent than usual," Gabe continued.
Colton waved his hand. "That's just Grandmother thinking if she nags us long enough, we’ll do her bidding.”
“Which sometimes does happen," Spencer said slowly, as if he was thinking out loud.
There was a beeping sound, and Colton quickly checked his watch.
"I need to get back to the lab."
"Jesus, dude, Jake just arrived," Cade said.
"I don't want to miss a possible breakthrough."
"See, that one has two jobs," Spencer said, pointing at Colton. "He's a CEOanda scientist. And he does both full-time. I have no idea how."
Colton looked very smug. “Bye, Jake. I'm going to be in New York next week. We'll catch up, okay?"
"Sure." I shook his hand before he left. Some days, I still couldn't believe my brother studied biotech. Growing up, all he talked about was soccer. When Mom passed away, he completely changed his career.
"I’ll never understand him," Gabe said. "Then again, I'm the complete opposite. Take Colton's brain, flip it, and you'll get mine."
We all chuckled at that, mostly because it was true. Gabe was the creative mind in the family—he’d taken the craft distillery to unparalleled heights by coming up with new recipes.