Page 83 of While the Sun Shines

“Surprise,” he says.

“What the hell, guys? It’s my day off. Are you making me work?”

“We would never.” Drew throws the Jeep in park. “But yes. But also no. C’mon, let’s go.”

When was the last time Drew was here? Winter, it must’ve been, because there had been piles of dirty snow hemming in the driveway and now there’s green grass. Yeah, that’d be right, because that was when Cooper had moved back, and Drew and Penny had made themselves scarce from the house for those first few weeks. They’d spent hours here together, playing a month-long game of war that had strung out until they’d mixed up their piles of cards and called it a draw.

And then calving had started in earnest, and the newness of Cooper’s return had worn off, and Drew had been so excited for the summer. The thrill of all of the ideas Cooper had brought to the farm, the number of cheese orders coming in, the sight of the herd growing by leaps and bounds and he’d…he’d stopped coming, hadn’t he?

God, no wonder she’s been alone.

Enough of that now. Forever.

“For you,” he says, opening the door and ushering her inside.

Penny takes in the chairs that have been pushed aside and replaced with two sets of tables butted up against each other, each one laden with bottles of liquor, cocktail glasses, a bucket of ice, and a small pile of lemons and limes.

Cooper throws his arms out wide. “Welcome to the first annual Battle of the Bartenders!”

Deb, standing in the door to the kitchen, shakes her head even as she laughs. “You think I’d let you do this twice?”

“Cooper?” Penny asks, looking from him to Deb and another woman behind the bar.

Courtney, Drew thinks. Who he hasn’t met yet and should have, a while ago now.

“Here we have our first contender, Penny Morales,” Cooper says, speaking into a ketchup bottle like a microphone.

“What the actual hell?” Penny asks.

Drew touches her shoulder lightly, nudging her forward. “Fun, like I said.”

“I’m only complicit in this if you like this,” Abelardo says, adding an orange to each of the two tables. “Otherwise, I was forced to help and had to be polite as a guest.”

“Covering his ass already. He’s clearly one of us,” Cooper says into the ketchup bottle. “And that introduces my co-judge, who also very helpfully moved all the furniture around, Mr. Abelardo I-don’t-know-your-last-name. Now, Ms. Morales will be up against fearsome competition in the form of the handsome, charming, most wonderful boyfriend in the world: Whit.”

“Wait, wait, I’m not getting roped into this,” Whit says.

“Overruled,” Cooper says.

“Make Courtney do it,” Whit says.

“Courtney’s working,” Deb says.

“She can be your barback,” Cooper says. “But this, our first—hopefully annual—competition, is strictly cousin versus cousin. C’mon, I made you a sign and everything, see?”

Cooper really did, on a scrap of cardboard with his untidy writing, and when he holds it up, Penny covers her face with her hands.

“You didn’t. What the hell, Cooper? Oh Deb, I’m so sorry.”

“Deb’s super into it. And don’t get mad at me. This is all Drew’s idea.”

Penny peeks at him through her fingers. “What?”

“To be fair, I didn’t specifically ask Cooper to completely mortify you,” Drew says. “But…yeah, I thought it might be fun.”

“Oh my God.” Penny’s shoulders are shaking. She’s laughing, he realizes. His chest warms. “Oh my God, Drew. Cooper. Really?”

“Really, really,” Cooper says. “Now, if Whit gets Courtney, I’ll make a ruling to allow you help by way of Drew.”