Nick swung his head to look at Aidan. “It makes it go soft?”
“No, you ass. The skin on your feet.” Aidan glared at him. “What’s wrong with you?”
“With me? You’re the one having a pedicure.”
“Yeah, a beautiful woman wants to hang out with me and touch my body. It’s miserable.”
“Hey, she’s only touching your feet.”
That was what Nick thought and Aidan wasn’t about to correct him. He saw Shelby hide a smile as she helped Nick roll up his pants. The other man reluctantly took off his boots and socks, then put his feet in the warm water.
“What’s in this?” he asked, his voice suspicious.
“Does it matter?” Shelby winked. “You’re already committed.”
Nick glared at her, then relaxed back in the seat. “Is this what you two do together? Take care of your feet?”
“Among other things.” She sounded serene as she spoke. “Sometimes Aidan braids my hair.”
“She’s kidding,” he said quickly.
“I’m not so sure,” his brother told him. “Man, now I really have to worry about you.”
“Don’t. I’m fine.”
“You’re not seeing the big picture.”
Aidan sat next to Shelby. She shifted so she could put her feet on his thigh. She handed him the base coat.
“Why are you here?” Aidan asked as he began to paint her toes.
“I wanted to tell you about my trip to Happily Inc.,” Nick told him.
Aidan glanced up. “Yeah? You saw Ronan and Mathias?”
“Uh-huh. They’re doing great. It’s an interesting town. East of Los Angeles, in the foothills. High desert, I guess it’s called. But there’s a hot spring and caves and mountains for skiing. It’s more stark than here.”
Aidan looked at him. “Do not, under any circumstances, start describing the colors of everything, I beg you.”
Nick laughed. “Would I do that?”
Shelby sighed. “You would so do that. Did you like it there?”
“I did. I wasn’t sure. It’s smaller than Fool’s Gold by a lot. The big industry is destination weddings. There are venues all over for them. Houses that look like castles or Southern plantations. You can have any kind of wedding you want, with Roman chariots or cowboys.”
“I like cowboys,” Shelby said.
Aidan turned to her. “You do?”
“Who doesn’t?”
“They smell.”
She laughed. “They don’t smell. They’re nice. Zane Nicholson is nice.”
“He’s married.”
“I’m not interested in him in that way. I’m just saying...” She sighed. “Go ahead, Nick. Cowboy weddings.”
He glanced between them, obviously confused. “You two okay?”
“We’re fine,” Aidan told him. “The town?”
“Right. Like I said, there are a lot of weddings. Back in the 1950s, the town was failing. Some guy who owned the bank knew that if the town went under, the bank would go with it because people couldn’t repay their loans. He came up with the idea of changing the town history.”
“You can’t change a town’s history.” Aidan took Shelby’s other foot and started putting base coat on the nails. “It is what it is.”
“Not for this guy. He came up with this story about how, during the California gold rush, a stagecoach full of brides heading for San Francisco broke down in town. Each of the brides fell in love so by the time the stagecoach was ready to leave, none of the women wanted to go.”