Bonus Kisses - Freya Barker Page 0,71
around me, her wet body drenching my clothes. I bend down and kiss the top of her head. “Do we need to get ready?” she asks.
“Not yet. Kathleen asked us to stay for dinner.”
She lifts her face. “What about Aunt Taz?”
I smile down at her. “She’s out with Grandma and Grandpa. She’ll be home later.”
“Can I go back in the water?”
“Sure. Until dinner’s ready, okay?”
In a flash she’s gone, jumping back in the pool with the other kids.
“Brent?” Kathleen’s head pops outside. “Before you toss the burgers on, could you run out and pick me up some mustard? I ran out and I need it to finish the potato salad.”
“I can do it,” I offer, and she looks me up and down.
“No you can’t, you look like someone hosed you down. Besides, you can keep me company.” She throws me a sneaky smile before her head disappears inside.
“Warning,” Brent mutters under his breath. “My advice? Say as little as possible, you won’t need to. Oh, and nod—a lot.”
I follow him inside and watch him give his wife a peck before he walks out the door with mild apprehension. When I turn to Kathleen she’s staring at me.
“Don’t look so panicked,” she notes, turning her focus back on the potatoes. “I’m not gonna bite. I just feel I need to clear the air.”
I pull out a stool and sit down, taking a fortifying sip from my beer. “Okay.”
“I blamed you for a lot of things over the years,” she starts. I don’t say anything, because frankly I have no idea how to respond to that. Luckily Kathleen needs no prompting. “You made my two friends very unhappy.” She lifts her hand when I open my mouth to protest, and I immediately snap it shut. Best to let her get it out so I nod instead, as Brent recommended. “I get now you were doing what you thought was right, but I’m still gonna tell you it was stupid. Not that you were the only one I was pissed at. I was pissed at Taz for disappearing, and I was pissed at Nicky for stepping out on you. But I already loved them so it was easier to blame all of it on you.” I shouldn’t be surprised she knows about Nicky’s indiscretions, but it nevertheless makes me feel like a chump. Still, I only nod. “I just wanted to tell you I’m not pissed anymore,” she says, pinning with a hard glance. “That is, unless you fuck up with Taz, then I reserve the right to hunt you down and shoot you.”
A pregnant pause follows in which she stares me down, until I finally ask, “Is it okay for me to speak now?”
“Nobody likes a smart-ass, Rafe Thomas,” she snaps, turning back to her potato salad, as I fight back a grin.
“Right. First of all, I get it—no need to explain—and if it’s any consolation, I agree: I was stupid. Hindsight being twenty-twenty. I also need you to know I don’t regret it, because that would mean to regret them.” I look outside where my kids are having fun in the water. “Secondly—and the only reason I’m giving you this is because I know you love Taz—I’m not going to hurt her. I’d rather cut off my dick than hurt that woman.”
Kathleen’s hand comes up again accompanied by a disgusted look on her face. “Fuck me, man. We’re about to have dinner; don’t be talking about your dick. TMI.”
“Best way to illustrate how serious I am about that.”
“I get. Move on, please.”
“That’s it.”
“Hardly,” she fires back. “What about your in-laws?”
“What about them?”
“They find out what’s going on with you two, they’re not gonna react well.”
“Not news, Kathleen.”
“It’s gonna be hard on Taz.”
“I know that too.”
“That relationship is fragile as it is.”
“Maybe you should make your point, because I know all this.”
“You can’t leave her facing them alone again,” she finally says, turning serious eyes on me.
“She won’t have to,” I bite off, more than a little irritated now.
“You say that, but when it comes to—”
My turn to cut her off.
“Listen. She. Won’t. Have. To.”
Just then Brent walks in, shaking his head at me in warning.
“Dude, what’d I say?”
“What exactly did you tell him, Brent McKinnon?”
Chuckling, I grab my bottle and head outside, leaving them to fight it out.
Kathleen is right though. It’s too risky to leave anything to chance, so we need to simply tell Sarah and Ed first chance we get.
“Are they in bed?” Taz asks when I walk outside