Love to Believe: Fireflies ~ Book 2 (27 page)

“Well, hey there, Nate! Glad you could make it!” Big Will’s voice boomed from the vicinity of the barn where the men stood in a collective circle just this side of the open doors, except for Grampa Boone who sat in a folding chair in the shade of the wide doorway with one of Maddie’s barn cats curled in his lap.

Rebecca swallowed a sigh and rerouted herself. She couldn’t ignore Grampa Boone no matter how close his proximity to Sean. She flashed a smile and a wave to everyone in general, and leaned down to give her grandfather a hug and a kiss on his cheek. She gave his longish hair, curling from beneath his omnipresent Atlanta Braves cap, a gentle tug.

“Haven’t we already discussed this? How long are you going to grow this silver mop?”

“I’m like Samson,” he growled and flexed his arms. “It gives me strength.”

“Yeah, well, you know what happened to Samson, right?” Her forced smile caused an ache in her jaw, and being hyperaware of Sean standing on the other side of her grandfather’s chair added to her discomfort. She breathed in deep, hoping for a whiff of Sean’s delicious man scent, but instead caught a nose full of Grampa Boone’s peppermint and wintergreen. She sniffed out and rubbed her nose.

“Yeah, a gorgeous woman came along and caused his total destruction.”

“It’s always a woman,” Sean murmured.

“True.” Grampa Boone nodded. He paused, and leaned forward as if sharing a rare secret. “But what a way to go, eh?”

The men laughed and Rebecca took that as her cue to leave. She hugged her dad and Caleb, and threw a smile in Sean’s vicinity because it would look weird if she ignored him. He winked in response which, along with his accompanying smile, had the effect of liquid heat pouring through her veins. She swung around to make her escape into the house, but ran into a solid wall of well-muscled male.

“Hey, slow down, Twizzler,” Dante said, laughing. He caught her by the shoulders and smiled down at her. “What’s your hurry?”

“Maddie promised me a drink with tequila in it, and I’m ready.” She went on her tiptoes to plant a smacking kiss on his lips. “When are you going to get your head out of your ass and marry me?”

“Marry you?” He widened his eyes in horror. “I can’t marry you. You scare the crap out of me.”

Rebecca laughed and patted his cheek. “Such a wise one, you are.”

“One of these days a man will come along who won’t be cowed by your abundance of Freaking Awesome.”

“Aw, you’ve been reading my diary again.” She dimpled at him. “That’s so cute.”

“If you’re in the marriage market,” Nate piped in, “remember that I’m a cop. Freaking Awesome doesn’t scare me.”

Rebecca’s brain whirred through her mental card file for a smart-ass comeback, but Nate’s expression stopped her cold. His mouth curved in a smile but his dark eyes stayed steady and serious on hers.

Time to beat a hasty retreat.

She stole a surreptitious glance at Sean from beneath her lashes, but his attention was on his cell phone, brows drawn together in concentration, the muscle in his jaw tight, his thumbs tapping the screen. She made eye contact with Nate for an awkward moment, then said to the male assembly in general, “Enjoy your sissy beer, gentleman. I’m heading indoors for a real drink. Call me when it’s time for cake.” It wasn’t until her feet hit the porch stairs that she remembered Emma who, since she and her colossal rack were nowhere to be seen outside, must be in the house with the women.

Crap.

Man up, Rebecca. And for the love of God, don’t stare at her boobs.

She straightened her shoulders, drew a fortifying breath, and strode into Maddie’s kitchen.

“Praise be to God,” Brenna said before the screen door had time to snap shut, and thrust a margarita into Rebecca’s hand. She lifted her own glass and bumped it against Rebecca’s in a quick toast. “Finally, a drinking buddy. It’s all teetotalers in here today. Something about this being a kid’s party and how we’re not supposed to get rowdy or drunk.” She took a strong swallow of her beverage.

Rebecca took a healthy taste of her drink as well, and as her eyes welled she sputtered and coughed, gasping through a raw throat, “Good Lord above, who’s the bartender? This thing is deadly.”

Maddie stood at the counter arranging a fruit platter and threw a look over her shoulder at Rebecca. “Too strong? I’m not drinking, so--”

“You pregnant?” Rebecca blurted the first thing that came to her mind.

“Sweet Lord, no.” Maddie shook her head and her dark hair moved against her shoulders. “I’m responsible for a bunch of kids today. No drinking for me until everyone goes home.”

“No worries. Rebecca and I will make sure nothing goes to waste.” Brenna held up her glass and jiggled it. “Drink up. I’m already two ahead of you.”

Rebecca’s eyebrows shot up. “You’ve downed two of these things? Geez, Brenna. How are you still upright?”

“When she first got here she drank sweet tea like a good little auntie, and then she got into it with Dante about something, and the next thing I knew the tequila bottle was empty.”

Brenna narrowed her eyes. “That man is like an itch under my skirt, and I don’t mean that in a good way. If poison oak were a man, it would look like Dante Caravicci.” She slugged back her drink and set the glass on the counter. “That damned Neanderthal was up at three o’clock in the morning working on some stupid hotrod. Who does that? Who works on car engines in the middle of the night?”

“Uh, Dante?” Rebecca ventured and exchanged an amused glance with Maddie.

“Damn right, Dante. He turns the light on in his garage and it shines right in my bedroom window.”

“Why don’t you get blackout curtains?”

“That’s what Dante suggested,” Maddie said, and grinned.

“I don’t want heavy blackout curtains. I like my sheers. They’re light and breezy. Romantic. Not that I ever have a man in my bedroom. Hell’s bells, I can’t even remember the last time I got naked and sweaty with a--”

“TMI!” Edie piped up. “You may be a thirty-year-old woman, but you’re still my baby girl. I don’t need to hear about you doing it with some man.”

“No worries. Seriously.” Brenna huffed and dropped into one of Maddie’s kitchen chairs. “It’s been so long I don’t remember how it’s done, anyway. No wonder I’m so cranky.”

Feet pounded on the porch and the screen door banged open. TJ ran in, followed by Pirate and a dog the size of a pony. The trio ran through the kitchen and disappeared into the dining room, returning a scant few seconds later, but on the return trip TJ clutched swirling black fabric to his chest.

“This is my cape! We’re playing Batman!” He hollered to no one in particular.

The screen door banged open, and TJ, Pirate, and the unknown canine trotted out.

Rebecca ran out and caught TJ on the porch. She assaulted him with a hug, missing the days when she could scoop him off his feet with little effort. When had he turned into this heavy little boy who squirmed to get away from hugs and kisses?

“Auntie Becca, c’mon.” TJ wrinkled his nose and gave her the stink eye. “Lemme go. I hafta put on my cape. Uncle Sean’s playing Batman with me.”

“Fine, you smelly little man.”

She pretended to back away and then grabbed him and covered his face with kisses. He giggled and shrieked even as he squirmed to escape her affections. The dogs, riled up from TJ’s excitement, barked and jumped to join the melee. Maddie appeared at the door and Pirate backed off at her command, but the other dog was either deaf or just ill mannered. She launched herself at Rebecca, and paws the size of softballs connected with Rebecca’s chest. Dog and woman hit the porch deck as one. Rebecca’s breath whooshed from her lungs and she lay crushed beneath the furry behemoth, gasping for breath and turning her head from side to side in an effort to avoid a literal tongue lashing. The dog’s enthusiastic affection appeared limitless.

“Sean! Do something about your girlfriend,” Maddie called, wheezing with laughter. “She’s making a spectacle of herself.”

Maddie’s words hit Rebecca with almost as much force as the dog. Her mind raced. She wasn’t Sean’s girlfriend anymore--had never really been his girlfriend, come to that. Why would Maddie say such a thing? How did she know that they--

Well, they weren’t anymore, but they had been. Dear god, did
everyone
know?

Humiliation burned and her face heated as if powered by a million suns. How had they found out? Did Sean say something? Did they guess? Nate had figured it out. What if--

“Belle, come here, girl!” Sean followed his command with two short whistles.

The monster tilted her head and perked her ears, swiped Rebecca’s face with her tongue one last time, and leapt over the porch stairs in a single bound, racing across the yard toward Sean in a furry blur. Rebecca sat up on her arms and watched as Sean braced himself for the inevitable hit. The dog slammed into his legs and he staggered back, laughing. “Good girl, Belle. Good girl for coming when I called,” and damned if that obnoxious beast didn’t drop to the ground in complete submission, her feet pawing the air, tail beating the dirt. It earned her a hearty belly rub from Sean.

Rebecca watched his hands. God help her, she was actually jealous of the dog. Annoyed and disgusted with herself, she pushed into a sitting position.

“Rebecca, you okay?” he called to her.

Rebecca waved and nodded, and turned away from Sean and his furry beast.

“You okay, honey?” Brenna appeared in the doorway behind Maddie, and Maddie reached down to give Rebecca a hand up.

“I’m fine.” She brushed dog hair off her sweater and threw another glance in Sean’s direction, waving again to let him know she was unhurt. “When did Sean get a dog? That is a dog and not a rhinoceros, right?”

Brenna frowned. “I thought you knew about Belle. When I told you Sean was bringing his new plus-size girlfriend you said you’d already met her.” Brenna raised a brow and her eyes lit up. “You didn’t know about the dog. You thought I meant a woman.”

Rebecca shifted with discomfort and picked more dog hair from her sweater. Crap. Now she’d have to tell them about Emma. Maddie and Brenna exchanged a glance.

“C’mon, honey. Dish.” Brenna slid her arm through Rebecca’s and her tone lowered to a persuasive tenor that would have made any one of Satan’s devilish angels proud. “You know you want to. Maddie and I won’t breathe a word.”

Rebecca continued picking dog hair from her sweater and took the time to consider her words. She refused to lie, but telling the whole truth was out of the question. “I saw Sean at Caravicci’s earlier this week with the Nordic goddess. You know, Emma.”

“The one with the gargantuan--” Maddie began, her hands palms up.

“That’s the one.” Rebecca nodded. “I just assumed she was, you know, his new girlfriend.”

Brenna’s smile crinkled the corners of her eyes. Her smile turned to muffled giggles, and she held her stomach, doubled over with uncontrollable laughter at some private joke.

Maddie and Rebecca exchanged a look. “What’s so funny?” Rebecca asked. Laughter tickled in her throat though she had no clue why.

“I can’t believe I forgot to tell you. Oh, my god.” Brenna wiped her eyes and struggled to contain her mirth. “Okay. So Emma comes bouncing into the Lump & Grind a few days ago, looking all gorgeous and perky, right? She gets up to the counter and asks if she can talk to me privately. Of course, I say sure, because she’s a regular customer, and I think maybe she wants to complain about something or make a suggestion about the menu. Anyway,” Brenna’s lips curved again and her laughter began anew. “She tells me a water pipe burst in her yard and she had to turn the water off to the whole house.”

“Why is that funny?” Maddie asked.

“Because she talked Sean into letting her crash at his place until it was fixed.”

“I still don’t get what’s funny. Sean’s a nice guy. So what?” Maddie asked through a bemused smile.

Miserable heat cascaded over Rebecca’s face. This could be bad. The next words out of Brenna’s mouth could hurt, really hurt, and she wouldn’t be able to admit it, not even to her two best friends, because they had no clue she and Sean had ever had an arrangement. She didn’t want to hear anything about Emma, even if Brenna considered it a laugh riot. Did she?

Crap. Of course she did. “So she moved in with Sean,” Rebecca prompted, unable to stop herself. “Then what?”

“This is the funny part.” Brenna cast a glance through the screen door where Edie and Sada sat in deep conversation about the best way to repot houseplants. She looked over at the men, then tugged Maddie and Rebecca closer, and whispered around her giggles. “She asked me if Sean is gay.”

After a moment of stunned silence, Maddie and Rebecca burst out laughing.

“Shh.” Brenna muffled her own laughter. “Listen. I asked why she would think that, and she says, ‘I’ve been throwing myself at him and he’s just not getting the message.’ Apparently--” Brenna used her fingers to make air quotes, “--she’s ‘accidentally’ walked into his bedroom after a shower, wandered the house in her underwear, and--you’re gonna love this--spilled a full sugar bowl in his lap and tried to brush it off him herself.” Brenna grinned. “Even that didn’t work. She said Sean avoided her like she had some dreaded disease, so she figured--hoped, actually--that he’s gay because that beats the alternative, which is that he just wasn’t interested.”

“She’s probably never had a man decline her advances before,” Maddie said. “I mean, really. She’s a beautiful girl, smart. And she’s got those gargantuan--”

“Do you have to keep saying that?” Rebecca frowned.

“She is beautiful, and smart, and she does have gargantuan, you know,” Brenna agreed, gesturing with her hands. “Which is why I don’t understand Sean’s reluctance to engage.” She tapped her index finger against her lips, thinking. “There are only a few possibilities. Either he’s playing games with her just to up the ante, which doesn’t sound like Sean, or she’s off limits because she works for him--that could be it. Or he’s already involved with someone. And if he’s involved with someone, who is he seeing? Any ideas?”

Maddie shook her head and said, “Nope.” Also stumped, Rebecca shrugged. She wrestled with joy, for his lack of involvement with Emma, and misery because he was seeing someone else, only now she didn’t have any idea who her competition might be or what she looked like.