The Slow Burn (Moonlight and Motor Oil #2) - Kristen Ashley Page 0,16
made way more money selling them to Macy then it cost me in materials, and I didn’t care about the time it took because I had no TV and that’s what I did when Brooklyn was asleep, I’d take it.
“I should get some of your cards. I’ve got some birthdays coming up. And it might put Charlie’s mother in a good mood if I sent her a special Christmas card,” Deanna replied. “But if I do that, I gotta do it for my momma too. And my sister. So I’ll order up three special Christmas cards and send you an email about the birthday ones.”
This was probably an act of pity couched vaguely in kindness.
I didn’t care.
I’d maybe make twenty or thirty dollars.
Another tank of gas.
And I’d take that too.
“I’ll get on them tonight,” I told her, matching some of Brooklyn’s socks.
“Right then. But before I let you go, with Christmas around the corner, and this going on now for months, it’s high time we had a chat about what you’re gonna be doing about Toby.”
I stopped matching socks.
There it was.
Deanna was open and out there and totally did not beat around the bush.
Hell.
“You know that storm is gonna blow, baby girl,” she told me confusingly. “Might as well have it blow soon, before the holidays, so we can all have a good one without that hanging over our heads.”
Now I was staring at my son’s socks not seeing them.
The storm was gonna blow?
What storm?
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
“You two just gotta get together. Johnny won’t like it, but he’ll deal. And if it doesn’t work out, we’re all adults, including you and Toby, we’ll all deal.”
Now I was holding on to the edge of the dryer and staring at my son’s socks, not seeing them.
“What are you talking about?” I repeated in a whisper.
Deanna was quiet a second before she replied, “What do you mean, what am I talking about?”
“I mean, what are you talking about?” I reiterated with some significant stress on the significant words.
Deanna was quiet for a lot longer than a second before she queried, “You know he’s into you, right?”
No, he was not.
That was what I knew.
“He’s just a good guy,” I replied. “Both the Gamble men are good guys.”
“You’re right about that,” Deanna agreed. “Though one is a good guy who’s gonna marry Izzy and one’s a good guy who’s into you.”
“Deanna, he’s not,” I disagreed.
“Addie, he is. Haven’t you noticed?”
“I’ve noticed I’ve been adopted as like . . . a member of the family.”
“A member of the family whose pants Toby Gamble wants to get his hands down.”
Oh my God.
I wished.
No, no, no.
I could not wish that.
Shit!
“That’s just not true.”
“I don’t believe I’m hearing this,” she said quietly.
“His brother is marrying my sister,” I pointed out.
“Yeah, and I get that might give both of you pause before starting something. But you’re good people, he’s good people, and—”
I cut her off. “I see you think differently, Deanna, but that wall is up. Toby put it up. Honestly, when I met him, outside that meeting being exceedingly humiliating, I was absolutely not in a place I was gonna take up with another guy, that other guy being the mess that might come of him being my sister’s boyfriend’s brother or not. But since then, it’s been friends only. Little sister stuff. Hang. Have a laugh. Do family things together. Get the hell gone the minute anyone else isn’t around.”
“Yeah, that’s because he wants to get his hands down your pants and he’s not real big on what Johnny would think if he did, so he’s removing himself from the temptation.”
Oh my God.
I wished.
But for once, Deanna had something wrong.
It was actually a shock. She was a wise woman, intuitive, observant.
But this one she had not read right.
“No,” I retorted. “Because I overheard him talking to his friend Bryce on the phone, and when Bryce mentioned me, he’d said yes, he thought I was hot. He’d then shared he was never gonna go there, not just because I was Johnny’s woman’s sister but because I was baggage. He avoided baggage, especially since he was probably not going to hang around Matlock. He then went on to say he liked me. I was awesome. And did Bryce want Toby to fix me up with him. Bryce apparently was feeling him out because about half an hour later, Toby asked if I was in for him fixing me up with his buddy Bryce.”