work at St. Luke’s in infectious disease.”
“So do you spend more time in the hospital or in an office?”
Neil’s eyes narrowed. “You just laid claim to my fiancée’s ring and now you want to make polite conversation?”
His cousin only had it half right, but then he’d always been an idiot. Garrett had no idea how the guy had managed to fumble his way through medical school. “I said we’d wait for Nana Ruby to help decide. It’s about time she got involved in this anyway, don’t you think?”
“She says she doesn’t want to get involved,” Uncle Gene said. Everyone looked over at him in surprise. He wasn’t one to give his opinions. Obviously the beer had loosened his tongue.
Aunt Debra frowned. “Yes, Mother says we need to work it out ourselves.”
Garrett loved his mother, but she was one of the most stubborn women he’d ever met. His Aunt Debra was a very close second. Nana Ruby was no fool, so it was understandable why she’d tried to extricate herself from the situation.
“Is anyone going to tell me what the hell is going on with this ring?” Blair demanded, fire in her eyes.
He’d expected the question minutes ago, but the Curse Kitty and the hard lemonade must have distracted her. That, or she’d wanted to wait for her drink before dealing with the mess.
Neil shot Garrett a glare and gave her a condensed version of the story.
“Why am I just now hearing about the controversy over this damned ring?” she asked, her jaw set.
“It wasn’t something you needed to worry about, dear,” Aunt Debra said, then lifted her jar and shook it. “You owe the jar a dollar.”
Blair shot Neil an exasperated glare, then dug out a dollar before flagging down the waiter so she could order another hard lemonade.
“Give me another one too,” Debra called after him. “It’s really very good.”
Their food arrived, and Debra became more and more uninhibited. Garrett had a hard time hiding his snicker, but Neil looked worried.
Neil got in multiple digs at Garrett over the course of the dinner, but it was easy to ignore him, particularly because Blair was at the table. He was dying to find out more about her life. He thought about waiting, but it would be considered normal for him to ask a new acquaintance questions about her career.
“So, Blair,” Garrett said as she cut her pork with a knife and fork. “When did you start at Sisco, Sisco, and Reece?”
“Blair is a career woman,” Debra said, slurring her words. She leaned her elbow on the table. It slipped on the surface, and she nearly fell face first into her baked beans.
Garrett grabbed her upper arm and helped her upright. “There you go.”
She gave him an exaggerated look of confusion as she patted the top of her head. “I’m feeling a bit dizzy.”
Neil shot daggers at him across the table. “I blame you for this, Garrett.”
Neil’s mother shook her head, almost falling out of her chair. “Garrett’s being a perfect gentleman, Neilson.” Then she added, “For once.”
His cousin looked furious.
“Blair doesn’t like to keep house or cook,” Debra continued. “She hires someone to clean.” His aunt spat out the sentence as though she’d just declared that Blair drowned puppies for sport.
“After watching Blair in action, I’m certain she’s exactly where she needs to be,” Garrett said.
Blair’s eyes widened at the compliment, but Neil’s eyes narrowed with suspicion. “And where’s that, Garrett?”
Blair tensed, confusion flickering in her eyes.
“As a practicing attorney, Neil. What else could I be referring to?”
Blair took a deep breath and released it, her resolve returning. “I love what I do and have no intention of giving it up.” She gave Garrett a withering glance. “And while Mr. Lowry is trying to appear gracious, I have no doubt that this is just a tactic to throw me off before our depositions tomorrow.” Her upper lip curled. “But I can assure you it won’t work.”
Is that how she saw this? An elaborate attempt to sabotage her strategy? She should know better than to think he’d employ such tactics. He’d always preferred a fair, equal match. It was the only way he could know he’d won fair and square. But he’d let her down in almost every way possible, so maybe she didn’t believe him capable of anything good.
He suddenly felt like he was fighting a hopeless battle.
Chapter Seven
Garrett backed off the rest of dinner, and Debra got more and more inebriated. When she ordered her third hard lemonade, Garrett