“Girls,” I waded in.
They ignored me. “For Nina, this Niles guy, he’s boring and clueless and,” she looked at me, “Nina and Niles? That doesn’t sound too good. Now, Nina and Max…” she grinned. “that goes great together.”
“Becca,” I said but she looked back to Mindy.
“So she said yes because she felt safe. Now she realizes safe ain’t all that. For you, Damon is hot and he’s… well, that’s about all he’s got, bein’ hot. Mostly, he’s a jerk.”
“He isn’t a jerk,” Mindy returned.
Becca looked at me. “He’s a jerk.”
I didn’t know if it was the right thing to do but I decided to add, “Max doesn’t seem to care much for him.”
“Max never likes my boyfriends, neither does Brody,” Mindy said to me.
“Maybe because they’re all jerks?” Becca suggested.
“They aren’t all jerks,” Mindy replied.
Becca looked back at me. “All hot. All jerks.”
“Looks aren’t everything,” I advised Mindy
“Easy for you to say,” Mindy muttered. “You’ve got Max. He’s the hottest of the hot.”
She had that right.
“You’ll find um… hot and nice,” I encouraged, though I wasn’t certain I should. It was my experience that those two didn’t go very well together. Niles was nothing to sneeze at. In fact, he was quite good-looking if not powerfully built and amazingly attractive. He was also nice. He was just…
Clueless.
“Easy for you to say again,” Mindy said to me. “You’ve got Max, he’s hot and nice.”
I suspected she had that right too, though the jury was still out on that one.
“Mindy –” I started and she cut me off but before she did I noticed her color had gone high, the light had gone out of her eyes and her shoulders had slumped.
I guessed this was all indicative of a “bad moment” coming on.
“Can we not talk about this?” Mindy asked and I knew from the dead tone of her voice that I was right.
“Girl –” Becca began but Mindy cut her off too.
“I asked, can we not talk about this?”
I looked at Becca who was looking at me. I tipped my head at Mindy and Becca shrugged.
“All right, darling, we’ll not talk about this,” I said to Mindy.
“I need a drink,” Mindy said back. “Let’s go to The Dog.”
“We’re drinking here,” I reminded her.
“The Dog’s more fun,” Mindy told me.
I was supposed to be back at the Mindy-less A-Frame after dinner to meet Max. Max and his hands and his mouth and his tongue and his muscled back and amazing chest and queen-sized bed.
“I could go to The Dog,” I decided.