Page 4 of After You Returned

My brow wrinkles. “Of course, I made it. The Salty Dip is a Harris family tradition.”

My sister throws her arm over my shoulders. “I thought you might be otherwise occupied.” She wiggles her eyebrows.

I shove her away. “Knock it off or I’ll tell everyone on the island about how you’re falling in love with your pen pal.”

She glares at me. “You’re the one who tricked me into signing up for the military pen pal program.”

“Do you want to go there? Because tricking you was seriously mild payback considering how much the goat you smuggled into my apartment shat. Do you know how long it takes to get rid of thesmell of goat shit?”

“You shouldn’t have called the police on me.”

I roll my eyes. “I didn’t call the police on you.”

She fists her hands on her hips. “Why the hell did they show up at my door at 3 a.m. if you didn’t call them?”

I shrug. “Scarlett’s dating a cop. Ask her.”

“Don’t think—”

“Sadie! Hazel!” Our brother, Thomas, yells as he walks our way with our other brother, Ian.

“Baa!”

I stare down at the sheep walking behind them. “Did you bring a sheep to the Salty Dip?”

“Sheepwreck Sally loves to swim,” Thomas insists.

I blow out a breath. “She’s a sheep. Sheep don’t swim.”

Sadie giggles. “At least they didn’t cause a traffic jam this time.”

I groan. My brothers are sheep farmers. They’re also shit stirrers who thought it’d be funny to ‘test’ Weston and his sheep herding skills by letting the sheep wander all over the island.

“What are you up to?”

My question is met with wide, innocent eyes. As if. Thomas and Ian haven’t been innocent since they discovered moonshine in their teens and decided to race tractors through the fields. I have never seen Dad’s face get that red. And I never want to again.

“Fine. Have your fun. But I am not bailing you out of jail again.”

Ian rolls his eyes. “Are you ever going to let it go? You bailed us out of jailone time.”

“I was in the middle of my final exam for physiology. I nearly failed.”

Thomas grins. “But you didn’t, Sis, because you’re brilliant.”

“Flatter me all you want. I am still not bailing you out of jail.”

“Bailing him out of jail for what?” Weston asks as he and Scarlett join us.

“Our sister had to fall in love with a cop,” Thomas mutters.

“We didn’t do anything!” Ian shouts.

Weston groans. “And here I thought you two were done testing me when you didn’t get up to any trouble last night.”

Scarlett giggles. “Didn’t get into trouble? Did you miss the gossip? These two yahoos raced sheep down Main Street.”

Weston holds up his hands. “Don’t tell me. I don’t want to know. I wasn’t on duty.”