It Wasn't Me - Lani Lynn Vale Page 0,56
was cool enough that when I poured the beer into the frosted mug, it came out tasting pretty cool.
After drinking about half of it, I said, “I love her.”
Sam snorted. “Knew you did as soon as you called her ‘honey.’”
I thought about that, about how I’d sounded not too long ago, and realized that it did sound like I loved her.
“I’m not quite sure how it happened,” I admitted. “One second I was holding her hand on the way home from Germany, and the next we were married with our fingers inked.”
I didn’t tell him about the other tattoo that was healing quite nicely. The one that was my second favorite.
Because I really did love seeing my ink on her finger. One that was a permanent fixture that would always mean that she was mine.
Needless to say, I was no longer unsure about our marriage. I was going to stay married to her forever. She just didn’t know it yet.
“That’s how these Mackenzie women work.” Sam chuckled. “Her mother was the same way. I was protecting her from myself, and all of a sudden, she wormed her way into my heart, like a goddamn parasite, and she was there. Has been since.”
“Did you seriously just compare me to a parasite?”
I gulped down the rest of my beer and placed the now empty mug on the counter before turning to see Piper’s mother, who looked like a very beautiful older version of her daughter, filling up the door frame.
Sam downed the rest of his beer as well, then placed the empty on the counter next to him.
“I was just sayin’,” Sam said. “That it’s hard not to love y’all.”
She rolled her eyes and turned those eyes that looked so much like Piper’s to me.
“You’re Jonah?”
I stood up, feeling the stiffness in my muscles, and offered her my hand.
She didn’t take my hand.
She wrapped her arms around me and hugged me tight.
I refused to tell her that her doing so hurt, and instead wrapped my arms around her and hugged her back.
“It’s very nice to meet you,” she said as she took a step back. “But if you ever hurt my daughter, I’m going to chop your balls off with a hacksaw.”
I laughed at that, looking to the doorway to find Piper and her sisters standing there. Piper had a toddler on her hip, as did Pru. Phoebe had a baby that looked to be about ten months old.
Not that I really could tell the exact age, I was basing this solely on what my sister’s and brother’s kids looked like when they were that age.
“Mother,” Piper laughed. “What the hell?”
“I’m just sayin’.” She shrugged. “I have to let them know that you’re always protected.”
Piper just shook her head. “Did you let Bayou and Hoax know this as well?”
Cheyenne grinned. “Maybe.”
Bayou was married to Phoebe, and Hoax was married to Pru. And I had no doubt that each man had received much the same treatment.
“Let’s go eat dinner. Hoax and Bayou will be here momentarily, then you can tell me what the hell happened to your face and why you look like shit.” Cheyenne snapped her fingers.
Then she left the room, grabbing both empty beer mugs on the way out.
***
Piper
Later that night, as we were getting ready for bed, I came out of the room with the big box I’d brought from my parent’s house.
“Hey, do you think you could possibly show me how to start the Roomba?” I asked softly. “Or help me figure it out?”
I mean, he was a man. Didn’t all men inherently know how to work shit?
He grumbled a ‘yeah, baby’ under his breath and went to get the box.
I’d gotten it a year ago for my birthday, and instead of taking it to Germany with me, I’d left it here with my mom in my old room. That was where a lot of my ‘unable to ship to Germany’ stuff had gone.
As a single woman, I’d lived on base in a small economy-sized room. There wasn’t much room for anything in it besides a bed, a few personal items, and my television. Hell, I was lucky to fit a snack-sized fridge in there.
“This thing is fancy,” Jonah said as he came back to the table reading the box. “Did you know that you could set it up via the app? And you can even pinpoint a spot and tell it to clean.”
I did not, but I was happy to know that my parents hadn’t skimped on my