Free The Wedding Planners of Butternut Creek by Jane Myers Perrine Page B

against the counter as if he didn’t have a concern in the world. “Do you want to choose a bedroom?”
    “All of these people are staying here and you have extra bedrooms?”
    “Yvonne and Henry rent a house a few blocks away. Gussie stays with them on the weekends but spends weekdays in Austin.” He gestured overhead. “Janey, Hector, and I each have bedrooms upstairs, which leaves two small, unoccupied ones on that floor.” He shrugged indifferently. “Your choice.”
    Fortunately, as smart as Hannah was, she’d never figured out his ploy of feigned indifference. His supervisor in clinical pastoral education would have said she had an oppositional personality. True, but not the whole story. She barreled straight through life without regard for anyone or anything that interfered with her goal of saving the world.
    “Okay.” She wiped her mouth with the napkin, tossed it on the table, and stood.
    “Y’all go on,” Henry said. “Janey and I’ll bus the table.”
    “Hey, people.” Bobby shoved through the front door and slammed it behind him.
    Hannah cringed at the noise. She’d suffered from headaches as long as he could remember. All the pushing and stress and sheer stubbornness brought on headaches, and the trip probably hadn’t helped.
    “Hannah, this is Hector’s friend, Bobby.”
    She nodded at him.
    “Bobby and I are going to shoot some hoops,” Hector said.
    As the two young men headed outside, Adam shepherded his sister toward the back stairs, knowing that the less elegant flight would be more acceptable to Hannah than the beautifully carved and curved front steps. Besides, it was closer and he feared she couldn’t walk any extra distance. Not that he’d ever say that.
    Once on the second floor, he said, “Hector and Janey share a bathroom between their rooms.” He pointed down the hall to those two doors. “I have the big bedroom because, when I got here, no one else lived here.” He pointed toward that door. “I have a bathroom that also opens to the hall.”
    “I’m not taking your bedroom,” she stated.
    He knew that. Without responding, Adam gestured to his left and right. “These two rooms at the back of the house are still up for grabs. They’re quiet but a little smaller. You’d have to use the half-bath upstairs or share mine.”
    She shivered as if sharing a bathroom with her brother bothered her. Maybe as kids she’d had a reason, but he no longer left underwear or wet towels on the floor.
    “What’s upstairs?” She turned toward the narrow door next to the stairs.
    “It’s sort of a storage room or a play area.” He opened that door, turned on the lights, and led her up the steep steps.
    Running both the length and the breadth of the house, the area was huge and open, with storage built in to the eaves. At one end a window seat was built in the curve of the tower. A little dust covered the floor and surfaces because he never used it, but Janey often cleaned it because she loved to sit on the window seat and daydream.
    “There’s a half-bath in that corner.”
    Hannah nodded. “This will do.”
    “Hector and I’ll bring up a bed and dresser.”
    “No, no. I’m fine. Just bring me a blanket. I’ll sleep on the floor.”
    “You are so full of it.” Adam shook his head. “I’m not going to allow you to sleep on the floor. Who are you attempting to be? Mother Teresa? Or one of those mystics who whip themselves and wear hair shirts?”
    She glared at him, but he didn’t budge.
    “You’re not going to repudiate all earthly comforts. We will bring up a bed,” he stated in the tone he used to get Chewy to do everything the dog didn’t want to. Never worked with Chewy.
    “Oh, all right.”
    Surprisingly, it worked with his sister.
    He called Hector and Bobby inside, and they disassembled the bed in one of the unused bedrooms. Adam joined them to navigate it up the staircase to the third floor. They found Hannah asleep on the window seat, her face peaceful