“Come again?” Harry asked, looking somewhat adorably confused.
It was then I decided that Harry was a bit of a goof but I liked him.
“It’s different there,” I explained. “I’m not a litigator. I don’t try cases in court very frequently and when I do they’re usually minor ones, like small claims. Mostly, I write letters and such.”
“Bummer,” Harry muttered, looking crestfallen.
I grinned at him and said, “They’re good letters and some of them are really long.”
Max chuckled, Harry grinned and Shauna was still trying to get her eyes to form icicle daggers.
Suddenly Shauna’s gaze shifted to Max and she asked, “You talk to Dodd?”
For some reason this made Harry’s good-natured demeanor slip a notch and he muttered, “Shauna.”
But at the same time Max answered, “Nope.”
“You should talk to him,” Shauna advised.
“Yeah, you’ve told me that a f**kin’ hundred times,” Max said, his voice kind of scary, not overtly so but the threat was definitely there.
Shauna ignored it, looked at me and announced, apropos of nothing, “Max’s Dad gave him that land.”
“Really?” I asked, puzzled at the turn of conversation.
“It’s great land. Beautiful,” Harry tried to lighten the mood again. “Thirty whole acres of God’s country.”
“Yeah,” Shauna answered me, foiling Harry’s attempt to lighten the mood. “He didn’t buy it or anything.”
Max’s arm tightened around me, bringing me closer as I murmured the only response I could come up with, “Oh.”
“No way, considering it’s worth millions and he doesn’t have that,” Shauna went on.
I blinked at her in surprise, not only that Max owned millions of dollars worth of land but the nasty way she shared that fact as Harry whispered, “Shauna.”
“Can’t afford the taxes on it, that’s why he rents the house,” Shauna went on and I stared.
Max’s entire body tightened, I sat up straighter in the curve of his arm and Harry hissed, “Shauna!”
She shrugged, her gaze skittered over Max as if afraid of catching his eye and she muttered, “Just sayin’, she’s with him, she likes that house, she should know.”
“Maybe we –” I started to change the subject but Shauna plucked up her courage and looked at Max.
“Saw you with Becca today.”
This was an accusation. I knew it because her gaze slid to me to catch my reaction.
And, frankly, I’d had enough. Shauna wasn’t kind of a bitch, she was a bitch. I didn’t think I’d ever met a bigger one.
“Yes, Becca’s lovely,” I announced, curling into Max’s body but not taking my eyes from Shauna. “I met her this morning, she came by when Max was making me breakfast.”
When I mentioned Max making me breakfast, the cold snap emanating from Shauna reduced the temperature of the entire restaurant by a whole ten degrees. It was a wonder I didn’t shiver.
I ignored it and the frosty look on her face and looked up at Max. He was scowling at Shauna so, to get his attention, I placed my hand on his chest. I was interrupted from feeling the fact that his chest was as hard as his bicep and fortunately also interrupted from the instant impulse to explore that feeling further when his chin dipped down to look at me.
Yes, his face was dark and scary. He was angry, maybe even furious.
I ignored that too and said quietly, “I don’t want to seem ungrateful but my oatmeal was kind of… too sweet.”