Free Holidays With the Walker Brothers by Nicole Edwards Page A

said.
    Great.
That would make four. Three to go.
    The
front door slammed shut and once again, Travis was admiring the kitchen door as
he waited for the next one to show up.
    “What’s
up, Bubba?” Braydon announced loudly when he pushed into the room, a shit
eating grin on his face.
    Good
to see him smiling these days. It seemed ever since those two started hooking
up with Kylie’s sister that things weren’t all roses and butterflies in the
land of the Doublemint twins.
    “Where’s…?”
Zane’s question died off as Braydon’s other half made his way into the kitchen,
his cell phone plastered against his ear.
    “Yep,
that’s the one. Uh-huh… No… Got it.” Brendon stabbed the end button on his
phone and turned to face Travis and the others, a giant grin plastered on his
face.
    “Did
you get it?” Braydon asked his twin, obviously the two of them the only ones in
on the secret.
    “All
done.”
    For
half a second, Travis thought about questioning them, but then thought better
of it. The less he knew about those two, the better.
    "So…,"
Zane said, filling the silence. “You get that present, yet?”
    It
took Travis a second to realize his younger brother was talking to him, and
after a double-take, he glanced around the room to see that the rest of his
brothers were looking at him too. “What?”
    “Well?”
    That
seemed to be the theme from the peanut gallery, and Travis was hard pressed not
to answer, especially when Kaleb came through the door, quickly followed by
Ethan on his heels.
    “No,
I haven’t. Fuck.”
    “Haven’t
what?” Kaleb asked as he eased through the group now crowding the kitchen on
his way to the coffee pot.
    “He
hasn’t finished getting Kylie’s present.”
    “Shit,
man. You’re gonna be lucky to have everything set up by Christmas at this
point.”
    No
shit, Sherlock. Travis clamped his jaw shut and tried his best to ignore his brothers.
    “Lay
off him,” Braydon said in a mock sympathetic tone. “He doesn’t need us to tell
him he’s gonna look like a jackass when he doesn’t have a present for his
wife.”
    The
room erupted in laughter and Travis stared down at his phone, noticing he had a
text message, but the phone must’ve been turned to silent.
    Nope.
You know how to use the internet, ya know.
    So not helping.
    “What
about you?” Travis asked Kaleb directly. “You find that heartfelt gift for your
wife yet?”
    The
scowl on Kaleb’s face told him that he wasn’t having any more luck with finding
the perfect present than anyone else in the room.
    “So,
what’s the plan for Mom and Dad?” Ethan asked, always the one to get right to
the point.
    Considering
that was the whole reason they’d all gathered around Travis’ kitchen table
first thing on a Monday morning when they all should be at work, they truly
needed to get this worked out.
    From
the looks of it, Travis was going to run out of time completely, and sitting
around wasn’t helping.
     
    ♀♀♀♀
    Kylie
     
    “I
still don’t know where you put all that,” V said to Zoey as the foursome
finished their breakfast.
    Kylie
grinned, loving the banter between the women. These shopping trips had become a
regular thing with the four of them, and the more they got together, the closer
they became. Granted, Monday mornings generally weren’t reserved for shopping
excursions, but there were a few last minute things they were all looking to
get, which meant they had to make time where they could.
    “I’m
eating for two, don’t you know?” Zoey laughed, grabbing her orange juice and
finishing it off.
    “Exactly.
Two. Not ten,” V said good-naturedly.
    “Sometimes
I feel like there are ten of them in there,” Zoey added, grabbing the last
piece of bacon from her plate.
    “How
are you feeling? Last time I talked to you, you said you were tired all the
time,” Jessie asked, pushing her plate away as she stared over at Zoey.
    “Well,
nothing’s changed on that front.” Zoey’s grin was