Beauty and the Mustache by Penny Reid Page A

her
family.”
    He narrowed his eyes at me
then looked to my brother. “There are seven of you. You’ll each
take a one-night shift a week.”
    Before I could object,
Jethro nodded and said, “We’ll make a schedule.”
    I closed my eyes briefly
and fought the urge to say, You boys have
a gift for making schedules.
    “ So, you’ll be staying for
the duration?” Drew pressed me. “How is this going to affect your
employment in Chicago?”
    His question stunned me to
the point that I was bereft of words. He sounded like a father
asking his daughter to justify the soundness of her decisions. He
almost sounded like he cared. It was unnerving; especially since my
father was the least responsible and caring man I’d ever known and
had never made a sound decision in his life.
    An honest, guileless
response—likely because I was so taken aback by the
question—tumbled from my lips. “I’m part of a union. We have
insurance that covers taking time to tend to critically ill family
members. They have to hold my job for three months.”
    He considered this and
nodded. “Of course there are other issues, like house upkeep, bill
paying, groceries, incidentals, and the like.” Drew stared at me
for a moment—actually, he stared through me—and I could tell he was
re-tallying and considering all that would have to be done. “You
should return your rental car and drive your momma’s car while
you’re here. And I’ll give you access to her checking account for
household expenses, but I’ll take care of the monthly
bills.”
    Drew’s pragmatism
surprised me. I hadn’t thought of who would be paying the
bills.
    I nodded and stuttered,
“That…that makes sense.” Because it did make sense. In fact, I was
grateful. I didn’t particularly want to be the one having to think
about paying bills and related logistics. I wanted to focus on
Momma, on taking care of her and spending time with her.
    “ I also suggest we hire a
house cleaner. Your brothers aren’t up to the task, and you
shouldn’t be bothered with it.”
    I nodded again. “O-okay,”
I stammered, again surprised.
    A long moment passed. At
first, the atmosphere in the room grew lighter as Drew and I
watched each other. But then his stare grew increasingly intense,
sharp, heated. My neck began to itch. I didn’t know him well enough
to guess at what he was thinking, so I sat very still and waited,
trying not to blush under his obvious scrutiny.
    “ Right.” Jethro said,
breaking the moment.
    Drew blinked as if he were
coming out of a daze and turned his focus to my brother.
    “ This plan sounds solid,”
Jethro said, and he put his arm around my shoulders and squeezed,
then stood and nodded like everything was settled. “I’ll tell the
others how this is going to work. I can start putting together a
schedule.” He looked down at me and added, “Roscoe will be here
with you all day; he can help you take your rental car back, and
he’ll be here when Momma arrives.”
    “ Okay, sounds good.” I
stood as well, crossed my arms over my chest. Everything was
happening so fast.
    “ I’m fixin’ to put my
coffee in a travel mug, then we can head out.” Jethro gave Drew a
nod and walked back to the kitchen.
    I stared at the carpet and
thought about the order of things to accomplish. Dress, eat, drive
to town, drop off the rental car. I also needed to find out
Elizabeth and Sandra’s arrival time. Maybe I could pick them up at
the airport.
    I felt the heat of Drew’s
solid hand on my back just before he spoke. “I didn’t peg you for
the type to surrender so easily.”
    I looked up to find him
standing a foot away. His gray-blue eyes ensnared mine and bored
into me as though he was dually trying to figure me out and will me
into submission. He’d said the words with a low intimacy that I
felt in my knees and hips. The word surrender seemed to echo in the room
and through my body.
    The shift in the
atmosphere was palatable, yet I found myself wondering