table, pick her up Richard Gere in Officer and a Gentleman style and march out of here.
“Jackson, can you help me grab more rolls?”
“Ooohhh!” A chorus of oohs rose from the table as several of my siblings pointed at me and laughed.
“Someone’s in trouble,” Harmony, my baby sister sing-songed.
I did what I’d done all my life when my brothers and sister started, I flipped them off.
“Hey!” JJ swatted me in the back of my head as my niece giggled from his lap. “Watch it.”
Shit, I’d have to be more careful. There was a new generation of Briggs coming up and I didn’t want to be the one to corrupt them.
I followed behind my mom knowing exactly what this trip was about. I grabbed the basket to hold the rolls in and waited for the inquisition to begin.
“Sooo?” she said vaguely as she opened the oven and started pulling out the bread.
I had a feeling that I knew where she was headed with this, but I wasn’t about to fill in any blanks. That was a rookie mistake that only someone who hadn’t been raised by Dolly Briggs would make. Actually, that wasn’t true. I’d seen my little brothers and sister make it on more than one occasion.
Mom would speak with a suggestive tone indicating that she knew something, and they would fold like a cheap suit. They’d admitted to things I was sure she had zero knowledge of.
“So, what?”
“You and Josie are going to be going on a road trip.”
“We’re going to be travelling for work by plane and rental car. I don’t think it qualifies as a road trip unless you’re driving the whole time.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Do I?” I planned on avoiding the subject as long as possible.
I didn’t even understand how I was feeling about Josie, the last thing I needed was my mother sniffing it out and drawing her own conclusions.
She closed the oven, straightened and stared at me for a moment. I knew it was impossible, but I tried to make my mind totally blank just in case she actually had mindreading abilities.
Her eyes narrowed as she tilted her head to the side. “Just because I retracted my objection doesn’t mean that you don’t need to watch yourself with her.”
“I would never do anything to hurt her.” I may not know exactly what I was feeling for her, but I did know that.
“Oh, my sweet boy.” My mom patted my cheek gently. “After seeing you tonight at dinner, it’s not her I’m worried about.”
And with that ominous declaration, she carried the rolls out into the dining room.
I stood in the kitchen and, even though I knew better, I was overwhelmed with excitement that I’d be getting so much one-on-one time with Josie, who I feared I would have been thinking about and missing all day even if I hadn’t heard about the trauma in her life.
My mom was right to be worried. I was in trouble.
Chapter 14
Josie
“The secret to confidence is simple, darling. Wear a matching bra and panties and you can conquer the world.”
~ Josephine Grace Clarke
This was it. It was go-time. I was actually about to do this.
My hands were shaking as I read and reread the script I was about to recite.
I’d barely said a word all morning. The predawn drive to DFW, the early morning flight to Savannah. The short car ride to Firefly Island. I’d probably only said ten words to Jackson, and two of them were, “I’m fine.”
He’d asked if I was okay three times. But after assuring him the third time, he either believed me or gave me my space.
“I got some B roll.” Jackson rounded the corner of the estate and set the camera down onto the stand he’d already set up and secured.
He must’ve picked up on how nervous I was because once he’d set up the shot, he’d suggested that he go get some B roll to give me some more time. As much as I’d appreciated the short reprieve, I knew that time was up.
We had interviews scheduled in an hour, so that meant we needed to get this intro done in the next twenty minutes so we could break down the equipment and set up at the next location, which was a coffee shop. Thankfully, since we were operating on a shoe-string budget, we only had a single camera, but that was still cutting it close.
After securing the camera, Jackson came over and double-checked my mic. Once he tested it and was