Daniel and Francesca came in, giggling like school children. Now Jake and I exchanged a superior glance. Not that Jake wasn't guilty of acting like a lovesick fool himself. But Daniel was over the top with his girlfriend Francesca.
It would have made me nauseous even if I didn't have the hangover from hell.
"Morning."
"'Giorno."
Daniel was halfway through his food before he noticed anything was wrong. He insisted on feeding Francesca small bites of food. I rolled my eyes. The man was in over his head with the gorgeous Italian girl who'd come here to breed her horse.
And never left.
I liked her. Just like I liked Jake's fiancé Elle. Loved them even, in a sisterly way. I just hated watching my brother act like a jackass.
Either one of them.
"What's got into him?"
Jake grinned and got up to get more coffee.
"Big brother fell off the wagon last night. And then it ran him over."
Daniel looked surprised and then he seemed to remember the date.
"You okay?"
I nodded.
"I will be. I shouldn't have scheduled so much today. I have to meet with the arborist about the elm trees."
Daniel frowned.
"I can do that Jackson. My schedule is light today."
"No. I've been talking to this guy for months now. I need to be there in person."
"Suit yourself."
"But thank you."
Daniel grinned at me. He knew I had been working on being less of a dictator about running the place. I'd gotten shit from both brothers lately about being a bit too bossy, even if I was in charge.
I was trying to learn to delegate. Just... not today.
Daniel leaned back in his seat as Francesca got them both more coffee, his eyes never straying far from his woman. In fact, it looked like he was ready to pounce on her.
As usual.
"Where's Elle?"
Jake grinned.
"Sleeping. She had a late night."
I shook my head and grimaced. My brothers were both sex-crazed maniacs. I was the only person in the house who had important things on their mind, like running the damn business.
They were lucky to have me. You would think they would thank me daily, and do what I said without question. They did follow my lead for the most part, but they seemed to take a perverse pleasure in challenging me from time to time.
Daniel cleared his throat.
"The Jenkins' Farm sold."
I cocked an eyebrow at him. The Jenkins' Farm bordered our property on the south side. It was a small farm, not even a fifth the size of our land. But it was a long and skinny plot and we shared a lot of acreage with it.
"Any idea who bought it?"
Daniel shook his head.
"Some city people. I haven't met them. Two sisters from what I hear. Going to make a go at farming the place."
"As long as they don't try and build a subdivision, I don't care what they hell they do."
The Jenkins had been a farming family around here forever. They even predated the Delanceys. It had been hard to watch their land fall into disrepair and finally be seized by the bank. The last generation had simply no interest in taking over the small farm.
Not that I blamed them. Farming was hard work and there was very little chance of an independent family farm ever turning a profit. It was harder and harder for small businesses like that to complete against the huge factory farms.
It was a shame though.
A damn shame.
Angelina
"How can there be so many spiders in one place?"
Casey chuckled, handing me a newspaper.
I rolled it up and smashed the spider that was scuttling around the kitchen counter.
"You are getting good at that Ange."
I looked over at Casey, who was in her wheelchair. She didn't need it all the time, but at the moment it was the only clean chair in the house. In fact, it was the only chair in the house at all, other than the porch swing out front.
I'd forgotten to hire a cleaning service to come and clean the place up. So now on top of waiting for workers to come and repair what looked like at least three separate leaks and electricity that went in and out, I had to clean the place myself.
I sighed. It was an old house. I knew that no matter how glamorous it looked on those renovation shows on television, it was going to be a lot of work just to make this place habitable.
But I didn't have much of a choice.
At least the sunroom was leak free and cheerful. It was on the first floor, right off the large, sunny kitchen. It was the perfect place to set up Casey's bedroom. The steep stairs would not work for her.
Not yet anyway.
I'd been cleaning for hours already. So far the kitchen was half done, and the sunroom was spotless. Then I would do the living room and downstairs bathroom.
My room could wait. I needed to get Casey comfortable first. And quickly, because the movers would be here in a few hours.
I lifted the newspaper and brought it down again with a hard thud. Probably harder than I needed to. Then I thwacked it again for good measure.
"I think you got it."
Casey was laughing at me. I couldn't help but laugh along with her. I had been a little rough on the tiny spider. In fact, there wasn't a trace of it left on the counter other than a small dark smudge.
"Angelina, Spider Hunter."
I shrugged.
"I might be a little tense."
"You?"