Me & Mister Everything: A Romance (Tanner Family Book 4)

  Me &

  Mister

  Everything

  By:

  Brooke St. James

  No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form or by any means without prior written permission of the author.

  Copyright © 2020

  Brooke St. James

  All rights reserved.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Epilogue

  Other titles available from Brooke St. James:

  Another Shot:

  (A Modern-Day Ruth and Boaz Story)

  When Lightning Strikes

  Something of a Storm (All in Good Time #1)

  Someone Someday (All in Good Time #2)

  Finally My Forever (Meant for Me #1)

  Finally My Heart's Desire (Meant for Me #2)

  Finally My Happy Ending (Meant for Me #3)

  Shot by Cupid's Arrow

  Dreams of Us

  Meet Me in Myrtle Beach (Hunt Family #1)

  Kiss Me in Carolina (Hunt Family #2)

  California's Calling (Hunt Family #3)

  Back to the Beach (Hunt Family #4)

  It's About Time (Hunt Family #5)

  Loved Bayou (Martin Family #1)

  Dear California (Martin Family #2)

  My One Regret (Martin Family #3)

  Broken and Beautiful (Martin Family #4)

  Back to the Bayou (Martin Family #5)

  Almost Christmas

  JFK to Dublin (Shower & Shelter Artist Collective #1)

  Not Your Average Joe (Shower & Shelter Artist Collective #2)

  So Much for Boundaries (Shower & Shelter Artist Collective #3)

  Suddenly Starstruck (Shower & Shelter Artist Collective #4)

  Love Stung (Shower & Shelter Artist Collective #5)

  My American Angel (Shower & Shelter Artist Collective #6)

  Summer of '65 (Bishop Family #1)

  Jesse's Girl (Bishop Family #2)

  Maybe Memphis (Bishop Family #3)

  So Happy Together (Bishop Family #4)

  My Little Gypsy (Bishop Family #5)

  Malibu by Moonlight (Bishop Family #6)

  The Harder They Fall (Bishop Family #7)

  Come Friday (Bishop Family #8)

  So This is Love (Miami Stories #1)

  All In (Miami Stories #2)

  Something Precious (Miami Stories #3)

  The Suite Life (The Family Stone #1)

  Feels Like Forever (The Family Stone #2)

  Treat You Better (The Family Stone #3)

  The Sweetheart of Summer Street (The Family Stone #4)

  Out of Nowhere (The Family Stone #5)

  Delicate Balance (The Blair Brothers #1)

  Cherished (The Blair Brothers #2)

  The Whole Story (The Blair Brothers #3)

  Dream Chaser (Blair Brothers #4)

  Mischief & Mayhem (Tanner Family #1)

  Reckless & Wild (Tanner Family #2)

  Heart & Soul (Tanner Family #3)

  Me & Mister Everything (Tanner Family #4)

  Chapter 1

  Olivia Tanner

  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

  Some families did not have a black sheep.

  I had never done scientific research on the subject or even so much as read an article, but I knew enough real-life families to know that some of them escaped having an oddball sibling.

  My father, Benjamin Tanner, was a textbook oddball. He was, no question, the black sheep of the Tanner family. He had extremely successful siblings, but my father could never seem to find his footing. He got stuck in this cycle of taking and then quitting entry-level jobs.

  There was also a lot of changing of girlfriends and several near-marriages. He had two children, myself and my half-brother, Jude, but Dad hadn't ever married either of our mothers. He was a lady's man. It was a running joke between Jude and me that there were other siblings we didn't know about. My father had not made the best choices in his life.

  Meanwhile, his sister was a banker and his brother was one of the most famous professional basketball players of all time who now owned a hugely successful racehorse farm in Lexington, Kentucky. My father's siblings had it all together, but our little section of the family was a little less… predictable.

  Jude and I never had to actively compare ourselves with our cousins, though, because they lived in Kentucky where my dad was born, and we grew up in Philadelphia. We knew they would do anything for us, but we only saw them once or twice a year.

  Our father loved us and everything, but Jude and I had spent a good deal of time with our respective mothers. Jude was a consistent part of my life growing up, but I only got to see him for about five days out of every month when our time with Dad would overlap.

  In spite of the fact that he was my half-brother and we spent so much time apart, Jude and I considered one another to be normal siblings. We didn't know any different, so this was a normal sibling relationship to us.

  He moved to Lexington to be with our dad's family the summer after he graduated high school, and I hated seeing him go. He didn't even wait for fall. He left the day after his high school graduation. I didn't take it personally or feel like he was leaving me, but he sure did get out of Philadelphia quickly.

  I missed Jude, but I wanted the best for him and ultimately wanted him to do what was right for his own future—even if it meant living in the stables with the horses at our uncle's house.

  Jude was seriously living in Uncle Ezekiel's stables, which was also something he and I joked about. It was the truth, but it wasn't nearly as rustic as it sounded. Ezekiel gave him a job working with his race horses and also paid his college tuition. He was working as a stable hand and learning about horse breeding and training while getting his degree in engineering. He lived in one of the groom's apartments that was connected to one of their newer stables. It was just a little one-bedroom place, but it was newer and nicer than the apartment I shared with a roommate in Philly.

  He had been living there for a few years, so I had been to his apartment several times. Each time, I was more and more convinced that he had done the right thing by taking Uncle Ezekiel up on the offer to pay his tuition. As the years passed, I realized that I had probably made a mistake by rushing into work.

  Uncle E would say the offer still stood if I wanted to go to college, but I was settled in Philadelphia. I had friends and had worked my way up to a full-time job at a large advertising firm. The longer I worked, the more I realized that I would have been better prepared for the workforce if I had gone to college first, but I didn't think that it was worth getting off track to go back to school now that I already had momentum.

  I also had a job I enjoyed at a coffee shop, but it was only eight hours a week and I did it because I actually had fun being a barista. I worked the front counter and I enjoyed meeting and talking to people over coffee. I only worked two short shifts a week, but I had regulars. Sometimes it felt like I was at my own kitchen and people were coming to visit me.

  I liked my jobs and my life. I wasn't even mad that I was on my way to work on Christmas Eve. I was
only thinking about all of these things because I had just listened to a message from my brother and I was about to call him back.

  He sounded happy and playful on his message, and I smiled as I held the phone to my ear, waiting for him to pick up. Most of the time, we kept in touch via texts, but sometimes he'd call just to talk. Usually, he told me about his girlfriends (he had just broken up with one), his school, or his job. And I would talk to him about my jobs or friends since I almost never had boyfriends. It didn't surprise me that he had chosen to call today since it was almost Christmas.

  "Hey Liv," was how he answered the phone.

  Jude was one of only a few people in the whole world who called me Liv.

  My father called me Livi, thus our family in Kentucky all called me Livi, but pretty much everyone else in my life called me Olivia.

  This included my mother, most of my friends, and my coworkers. I smiled at the sound of my brother saying my name.

  "Hey, Jude. Merry Christmas, brother."

  "Merry Christmas," he said.

  "What are you doing?" I asked.

  "I'm at Uncle E's. Jordan's friends from the team are coming over later for lunch. Uncle E's got some meat slow-roasting on the grill, so I'm over here hanging out. What about you?"

  "I'm on my way to work."

  "Work? Why? On Christmas Eve?"

  "Yes. The coffee shop is open today, and I don't mind," I said. "I volunteered."

  "I hope you're not working tomorrow."

  "I'm not. We're closed. I'm not even normally on the schedule today. I usually work on Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings. I told them I'd do it today. I don't really have anything going on till tomorrow."

  "What do you have planned for tomorrow?"

  "I'll go to my mom's in the morning and stay through lunch, and then I'll go by Dad's in the afternoon."

  "I wish you were coming down here," he said.

  I smiled even though he couldn't see me. "I'm coming soon."

  "I know. I'm excited. How long are you staying?"

  "Five days, I think. It might be six. I have a week's vacation, and I'll be in Kentucky the whole time, basically. Aunt Rhonda sent me my itinerary when she made the reservation, but I haven't looked at it in a while. She planned it around Jordan and Tanner's basketball games. I think I get to see four or five games while I'm there."

  "Are you staying with me or in the big house?"

  "You ask me that every time," I said.

  "And you always say you're staying in the big house."

  "Yep," I said.

  "But you always crash on the couch in my apartment."

  "Not always," I said.

  "Two of the five nights, you're going to end up sleeping at my place."

  "Yeah, but that's just because we'll stay up late and I'll be too cold and tired to go back to Uncle E's."

  Jude let out a little laugh at that. "I can't wait till you get here. I want to show you this horse I really want to buy," he said. "Mister Everything. He's a yearling."

  "You mean you want to personally buy it, or buy it for Uncle E?"

  "Me personally."

  "Where are you gonna get the money to do that? I thought they were really expensive."

  "They are. And that's the problem. I've got a few ideas about where to get the money. I could probably double someone's investment if I could find someone with that much cash. But it's a gamble. I’m not a businessman or a salesman. I don't know what to promise people or what to say if things go wrong. You know, things happen. Broken legs happen. And lots of other things."

  "I'm surprised you don't just ask Uncle E to help you out."

  "Do you mean with coaching or with money?"

  "Both."

  "He's already helping me out enough. He's giving me advice and everything, but in the end, it's about me stepping up and selling myself and the horse to someone. I can't see myself asking him to help me with the money. Especially since it's something he would want."

  "What's that mean?" I asked.

  "He would buy this horse if I didn't. Anyone would at this price. I've already talked to him about it, but I was vague with the details since I didn't want him to think I was asking him for money. Justin really only offered it to me at that price for helping him and Lindsay out on their farm, and I didn't even want to mention specifics to Uncle E."

  "It's Justin's right now?" I asked.

  "Yeah. He's a yearling that was born on Justin and Lindsay's farm. I've been helping them out with him. I want him so bad. I asked Uncle E how he would feel if I tried to invest in a horse. I didn't tell him what horse it was how much it cost, but I did mention it to him just to see what he'd say. I would have to use one of his stalls."

  "What'd he say?" I asked.

  "He agreed to it without even thinking about it. I know he would help me buy it if I asked, I just, well, I don't really want to. It's already a big deal that he'd be letting me use the stall and it's just weird to ask him to help me buy something he would buy for himself."

  "How much does it cost?" I asked.

  "Thirty thousand."

  "What?" I asked. "That's a good deal?"

  I sounded amazed, and my brother said, "That's nothing for this horse. That's like less than half of what Justin and Lindsay could get for him."

  "I wish I could write you a check," I said.

  "One day you will be able to," he said. "When you're CEO of your firm."

  "That's right," I agreed even though it seemed out of reach since I was on my way to work at a coffee shop. "I just wish it was today."

  "It's all right. I'll figure it out. I have some ideas. I'm only telling you because I want you to come meet him."

  "Who? The horse?"

  "Yeah."

  "What color is he?"

  "Gray. But he'll be white—mostly white. His name is Mister Everything."

  "I heard you say that," I said. "It's a good name. Hey, I'm not far from my work," I added, knowing I was only a block from the building.

  "You're walking to work?" he asked.

  "Yes."

  "Isn't it freezing?"

  "Yes, but I'm bundled-up. And it's only about a five-block walk from my apartment. It's not worth taking a cab." I looked around. "I thought it would be a lot busier down here, but there's really no one around."

  "Did you say you were going to the coffee shop?"

  "Yeah. My other job's closed today."

  "All jobs should be closed today," he said.

  "Christmas Eve? Nah. I'm only working from nine-to-one anyway."

  "Why are you working at a coffee shop at all?"

  "I don't have to. I want to. I only work there a few hours a week and I get free coffee. It's in the same building as my other job, so I get to stop and pick up a cup every morning before work."

  "Sounds like the life," he said.

  "Living the dream," I agreed even though now that I was out in the cold weather, I felt like I'd rather be home watching Netflix.

  I put my gloved hand over my face and breathed hot air into it since my nose was starting to get numb. "Did you get your present yet?" I asked, somewhat muffled.

  "Not yet. Not that I know of. Did you mail it to the big house or to my apartment?"

  "To your apartment. I sent a box to the big house too, but I sent yours to your apartment. It's something from me and something from Dad. I mailed it for him." (I also bought it, but I wasn't going to tell Jude that.)

  "No, it hasn't come yet," Jude said.

  "Dang. It might not get there till after Christmas. I'm sorry. I doubt mail's running today."

  "That's no big deal," he said. "It'll be fun to get something after Christmas. Did you open your stuff?" he asked, knowing Aunt Rhonda's package got to me on time.

  "I opened one from Aunt Rhonda. I could tell it was a gift card. Everything else I'm saving till tomorrow."

  "Did you give Dad his stuff yet?" Jude asked. "No. It's sitting under my Christmas tree. I'll take it to him when I see him tom
orrow. You know he's dating that new woman, right? She'll be there, too."

  "Yeah, he told me about her. I didn't think about her being there tomorrow. You're not exchanging gifts and all that with her, are you?"

  "I'm giving her a scarf," I said. "It's nice, but it's a re-gift from a secret Santa thing at my other job. I had a similar one, so I just left the tags on and wrapped it again."

  "What's her name?" Jude asked.

  "Samantha. She goes by Sami."

  "Have you ever met her?" Jude asked.

  "Yeah. She's nice."

  "Is she young?" Jude asked.

  "Forties, I think. I’m bad at telling. She's younger than dad, but she's not crazy young. She's not as young as Nina."

  "Well, there's that," Jude said.

  "Yep. I'm just about to walk into work," I said. I had been standing by the door to finish the conversation, and I was cold.

  "Okay. Love you," he said. "Call me tomorrow after you open your gift."

  "I will," I said. "Love you, too."

  Chapter 2

  It was dead in the coffee shop that day. Roxy's Coffee was situated on the first floor of a high-rise on a busy corner of the city, so I expected that it would be business as usual, even on Christmas Eve. I was concerned when I first saw that there were only two of us scheduled to work that morning. But we were so slow that I could have done it by myself.

  I was three hours into my four-hour shift when Brandon asked if he could take his lunch break. He was one of the assistant managers, and he was working open to close. His shift was eight hours today instead of four like me.

  "I have to get a last-minute gift for a party tonight," he said. "I hate to leave you alone, but I'll be, like, not even a block away if you need anything. I wouldn’t ask, but the store closes before I get off work."

  "Of course you can go," I said without hesitation. "I'm fine here. You don't need to worry. Take your time. I'll call you if I need anything."

  Within moments, Brandon was gone and it was just me and the older gentleman who had been sitting in the corner of the cafe on his laptop for the last two hours.