“Please, call me Abbie, unless you want me to call you Miss Thornton.” As my mother takes in Evelyn her eyes twinkle. “Now tell me, what were my boys fighting about?”
Before I can intervene, mom drags Evelyn into the house. She calls out over her shoulder. “You boys get cleaned up in the barn while Evelyn and I get to know each other.”
Well, fuck.
Brody laughs beside me. “Damn that was quick. She got her claws in your girl in two-seconds flat. You’re so fucking screwed. She’ll have you married with five kids before breakfast begins.”
“Asshole,” I say.
“Asswipe,” he replies.
“Come on, fuckers,” Cage says. “You know she’s not letting us inside until we’re cleaned up.”
We’re three grown-ass men trudging out to the barn to wash our hands before our mother allows us back inside my house. The irony is not lost on me.
I’m more reluctant than my brothers because Cage is one hundred percent correct. Our mother is a meddler and I need to get to Evelyn as fast as I can.
It’s too late.
By the time we return, my mother’s sharp gaze sweeps the three of us. I feel like I’m five again, caught with my hand in the cookie jar. Brody and Cage bow their heads. They know we’re all about to get dressed down by our mother in front of a guest.
“I know I taught you better than this.” She draws me into a hug.
My eyes grow wide because this is not a dressing down. She hands me off to the table, pointing to the spot next to where Evelyn sits. I’m silent as shit as she gets toe to toe with first Brody and then Cage. Her finger shakes inches from their noses.
“Now you two will apologize to Evelyn.” She gives a shake of her head and makes a tut-tut-tutting sound. “Teasing her like that.” Her attention swings to Evelyn. “I swear my boys have been taught better than this.”
I don’t know how my mother does it, but she never fails to draw out the truth from someone. She had Evelyn alone for how long? Five minutes? How did ‘Hello, nice to meet you’, turn into your sons pranked me and I accidentally fondled them?
Does my mother know what Brody and Cage did to Evelyn?
From the look in my mother’s eye I have no doubt Evelyn either told her, or she figured it out other own.
I reach over and grip Evelyn’s hand. “I’m sorry. I should have told you. In my defense, I was otherwise preoccupied.” This is the truth. We’d been going at each other like two horny teenagers. The last thing on my mind was my brothers.
“I suppose we’re still learning about each other. I’m sorry I got mad at you. It wasn’t your fault.”
“Well, I should have mentioned my brothers were staying here. They’re usually out of town. It honestly didn’t occur to me. In hindsight, I can see how it would’ve been very confusing, not to mention embarrassing, although…”
“Although, what?”
I lower my voice. My mother’s dressing down of my brothers continues not ten feet away.
“I kind of like where your head—and hand—was at.”
The first smile of the morning lights up her face. “I guess no morning special is on the menu.”
“Maybe a nooner?” I’m hopeful.
“Probably not.”
“Why not? We could head to the barn, try out a little rope work.”
Her flush is enough to melt my heart. “As much fun as that sounds, that was Prescott on the phone. They’re on their way from the airport and should be here soon.”
“Damn, that sucks.”
“Yeah, in light of this morning’s events, there’s something you need to know about Prescott.”
I’m all ears, but my mother’s dressing down is winding down. I thread my fingers with Evelyn’s and pull her hand up where I can kiss the backs of her knuckles.
“Tell me after breakfast.”
“Okay.”
Brody and Cage take their seats opposite us and my mother pulls platters off the stove and out of the oven. She didn’t cook the meal, but she’s going to serve it. That’s our mom, smothering every chance she gets.
“So, you live with your mom?” Evelyn says teasingly.
“Not at all, hun.” My mother answers for me. “It’s just temporary until we can get my cottage fixed up after the fire damage.”
Ah shit. Talk about a failure to communicate. I’ve yet to tell Evelyn about the damage La Rouge Vineyards sustained after that fire. It, along with the farms next to us, are what will take her arson arrest and make it a felony charge if she’s