The Fix (Carolina Connections #1) (12 page)

“Um, I guess so you can find it
later?” I didn’t know how to answer. My wardrobe consisted solely of jeans,
cargo pants, and crappy t-shirts, none of which required much care.

“I guess so.” She sighed and
sounded so disappointed I didn’t understand how laundry could be such a downer.

“Is laundry really that
depressing?” I asked as I finished gluing a floorboard in place.

She seemed to shake herself out of
whatever mood had overtaken her and emitted a small laugh. “No, I guess I got
stuck in my head for a minute there.” She shook her head again and smiled at
me. “So, what’s it like working as my indentured servant on your days off?” she
asked.

“Well, I’ll tell you, working
inside like this has its advantages. It’s air conditioned for one, and I don’t
have to hear passersby saying stupid things like, ‘Hey, when you’re finished
there, why don’t you come over to my house and fix a few things?!’” I mimicked
an idiotic hillbilly tone complete with a fake-ass chuckle.

Her face fell. “I say that all the
time…It’s friendly.”

She looked so disheartened I was
without words for several moments. “Hmm, well, this is awkward.” That’s all I
had.

We looked at each other silently
for several beats. Then, finally, thank God, she broke out into the fucking
cutest fit of giggles I’ve ever heard in my life. It was impossible not to
respond with my own laughter and pretty soon we were both doubled over. The
situation may not have warranted the extent of our hilarity but it felt so damn
good to share this with her that in that moment I felt ten feet tall.

***

Since there’s never an ideal time
to humiliate yourself, I chose the moment right before I was leaving Laney’s
house. I gathered my things and walked into the kitchen where she was at the
counter mixing something in a bowl. “Whatcha making?”

Her head turned to me and she had a
bit of what looked like flour on her cheek. “Chocolate chip cookies. I figured
if the doughnuts didn’t put us into a diabetic coma this would finish the job.”
She smiled and turned back to her task.

I approached from behind and stuck
my finger in the bowl. I got the dough to my mouth before she could smack my
hand. “Psoo gwood.”

“Hey! Taste-testing is only for the
baker!”

I swallowed the pilfered bite. “It’s
just payment for today’s work!” I then pressed myself into her back, forcing
her closer to the counter. I could hear her breath catch. I leaned down close
to her ear and whispered, “You have flour on your face,” just to watch her
raise her hand to her cheek in that way I found so endearing. I wasn’t
disappointed.

“Why didn’t you say something
sooner.” She was flustered and started to squirm a bit which did nothing for
the situation in my pants, considering my body was anchoring hers to the
counter. I had no doubt she could feel it so I went in for a soft kiss under
her ear. She melted into me a bit and I managed to turn her around so I could
gain access to her mouth.

Our kisses were wet, hot, and
fervent. Neither of us could get enough and when my hand found its way to her
breast she arched her back and pressed further into me. I rubbed her tight
nipple with my thumb and she let out a small moan. My other hand caressed down
her back and gripped her ass pulling her in even tighter to my groin. It felt
infinitely better than I’d imagined, and I’d spent a lot of time imagining it.

I was dying to get her out of this
skirt and replace my hand with my mouth. Her arms wrapped around me and one of
her hands descended to my ass as the other gripped my t-shirt. I was starting
to lose control and was ready to prop her up on the counter and splay her out.
I knew I had to slow down or I’d scare her away for sure. I pulled back reluctantly
with one last squeeze of her ass and we were both breathing deeply. She raised
her hand again, but this time it was to touch her lips which were swollen from
our kisses.

“You still think it’s a bad idea to
go out with me?” I asked.

She smiled and her cheeks remained
pink as we both continued to steady our breaths

“I’ll tell you what,” I said, my
hand caressing up and down her side. “You don’t even have to be alone with me
for our first date. As strange as it sounds, I’d like to ask you and Rocco to
come over for dinner at my parents’ house tomorrow.” I held my breath and hoped
for the best.

A perplexed look crossed her face.
“I’m sorry, did you just ask me to meet your parents tomorrow?”

“It’s not what it sounds like. My
mom’s a terrible cook but she wants to have people over to hang out with my dad
and I have trouble saying ‘no’ to her. Don’t overthink it – just say ‘yes.’”

“Um, okay then, I guess we can
come.” Then she quickly added, “Can I bring Gavin?” It seemed she wanted to
make sure this wasn’t a date. As long as she was coming though, I didn’t care
who she brought with her.

“Sure. The more the merrier. That
way we’ll have more people to hang out with at the hospital when we all get food
poisoning.”

Her face fell.

“Kidding. But, seriously, you may
want to eat before you come.”

I offered to pick her up but she
assured me that they could get there on their own, so once I gave her the
address it was time for me to leave. We walked to the door together and I
couldn’t help but pull her to me for one more short kiss. She tasted like
cookies.

“I’ll call you later,” I said and
walked to my truck, afraid if I didn’t leave now I never would.

Once I got to my car I called
Bailey and told her that the Monroe troop was coming tomorrow and she’d better
get her ass on the phone and invite someone too in order to keep things as
casual as possible. I could tell right away that she was going to try to bail,
so like any good brother would, I employed blackmail to get my point across.

“Oh, did I forget to tell you that
I gave Vance your number?” Vance was the creepy electrician we contracted with
on occasion and he had a serious thing for Bailey. “I said you would be waiting
for his call and were really looking forward to getting to know him better. I
think he mentioned dinner at his place – I can’t recall all the details, but
I’m sure it won’t involve any lotion on the skin or anything.”

“I hope you choke on your own dick.
You didn’t actually do that, did you?”

“Not yet, but I do have his number
on speed dial.”

“Fuck you. What time do we have to
be there?”

We’ve
All Got Our Own Brand of Crazy

Laney

“I
got an email today that I know was from you but the sender was ‘Mommy
Butt-lover’? What the fuck?” That was Fiona’s greeting when I called her to
fret about Nate that afternoon. She was trying not to laugh and doing a
piss-poor job at it.

“Christ
on a cracker – I know. I'm going to
kill
Gavin. No one will recognize
his body. He had Rocco tell Siri to call me ‘Mommy Butt-lover’ from now on
instead of ‘Laney’ and it changed my outgoing email identifier! I replied to
just about everyone in my address book today about a birth announcement. Everyone
is going to see that ‘Mommy Butt-lover’ thinks the baby looks just like his
daddy. God, how embarrassing!”

“Not
to mention confusing.” She was cackling by this point and I couldn’t help but
smile a tiny bit.

“I
hate my life,” I managed.

“No
you don’t. Your life is great – awesome kid, cute house, sadistic brother…what
more could you ask for? Except maybe…hot construction guy?” I could see I
wouldn’t have to introduce the real reason for the call. She knew me too well.

“I’m
starting to think hot construction guy is going to be a part of my life whether
I want him to be or not.”

“I
knew it, I knew it,” she sing-songed loudly in my ear.

“We
totally made out again in my kitchen and he asked me to have dinner with his
parents tomorrow.” I blurted out.

Silence.

“It’s
weird, isn’t it?” I stated more than asked.

“Well,
the making out part isn’t weird at all – in fact that part is dreamy – and
please tell me you got to touch his butt and it was as perfect as it looks.”

“Yes,
and
hell yes
”

“I
knew it!” The song was back.

“Okay,
shut up. The make out session was so hot I can’t even begin to describe it
accurately. My breasts physically swelled – I didn’t even know that could
happen. But the dinner thing is stressing me out!”

“Alright,
calm down. How exactly did he ask you? Was he like, ‘Hey Laney, since we made
out a couple times and we’re clearly getting married why don’t you come meet
Mom and Dad tomorrow and then we can make beautiful babies together?’ or was it
more like, “Hey, I’m going over to my parents’ to grab a bite. Wanna come?’”

“I
guess it was more like the second one. He invited Rocco and Gavin too.”

“Then
what are you stressing about. I think it’s sweet.”

“You
do? You’re sure?”

“Yeah.
You worry too much. Go and have fun and then report back to me. Now get back to
Nate’s ass – I need more details!”

“Why
is it we never talk about your love life?”

***

After
the whole Siri debacle, it wasn’t too hard to guilt Gavin into coming to dinner
at the Murphy’s. It did involve free food, after all, but I neglected to warn
him about Mrs. Murphy’s supposedly horrific cooking.
Can you blame me?
I
fed Rocco a sandwich before we left so he would be all set – Gavin could fend
for himself.

I
was a little distracted on the drive over. Charlotte and I had met up this
morning at a nearby park and I’d been hoping Rocco would play with Aiden but he
mostly just asked me to swing him on the swings while Aiden ran around shooting
imaginary villains and mounting attacks from the top of the monkey bars.
Charlotte and I had a nice time talking and I was liking her more and more –
now if I could only get our kids to be friends.

Feeling
a bit down from the park I’d called my mom to catch up and see if she could
offer me some reassurance. She was aware of Rocco’s little idiosyncrasies,
having lived with him since his birth. I filled her in about the nose thing and
his recent behavior.

“I
feel like it’s getting worse since we moved to the new house.” I didn’t want to
say “since you moved away” because it was definitely not her cross to bear –
she’d gone above and beyond as a grandparent. “And now his teachers are
concerned.”

“Sweetie, all moms worry about
their kids. Rocco’s not even going into actual school until next year – a lot
can change in a year. And might I remind you of another person in our family who
has a little habit of her own – someone who rubs her face when she’s stressed?”

Oh yeah, why didn’t I think of
that? Well, poop, it looks like I passed down more of my own issues to the poor
kid than I realized.

“And, besides, kids are just small
adults – have you ever met an adult who was normal? Of course not. We all have
our own brand of crazy. Just love him and that’s all you can do,” she said.

“I just can’t help but feel like
I’ve
done this to him.
I
deprived him of a father by being irresponsible and
I
moved him away from people he loves. And now it looks like
I
gave him a
tic for God’s sake!” It felt both good and awful to say it out loud.

“Laney, all parents second guess
themselves and feel ‘less than’ at times. And we
all
make mistakes.
I've never told anyone this, but I
dropped your brother on his head when he was about two months old – smack on
top of his soft little head!”

“I
know.”

“How
do you know that? Even your dad doesn't know that.”

“Well,
it's a more believable explanation than the possibility that you experimented
with drugs while pregnant with the idiot.”

See?
I knew my mom could make me feel a bit better.

Now
we were on our way to the Murphy’s and I tried to put my worries about Rocco
out of my head and instead focus on (i.e. worry about) the evening ahead. At
this rate, I’d have an ulcer by next week. Good times.

“I’m
still confused about how I got talked into this,” Gavin said from the driver’s
seat of his beat up Jeep. I never argued when Gavin wanted to drive because he
was the world’s absolute worst backseat driver. I was honestly more likely to
run into a tree with Gavin in my car than I would be had I been a blind person.

“Will
they have cookies?” Rocco asked from the back seat where he was taking apart a Transformer.

“I
don’t know, sweetie. Mr. Murphy is on a special diet and I don’t think he’s
allowed to have cookies.”

“But
I’m not on a special diet,” he answered as only a kid can.

“Don’t
worry, Rock, we’ll get you one of your mom’s cookies when we get home,” Gavin
reassured, never one to deny my kid something sweet.

“You
know, Gav. You should be happy I talked you into this. It could be a boost for
your career,” I teased. “It’ll give you a chance to suck up to not just the
boss but the
big
boss.”

“Ha
ha. I don’t want to look like a douche.”

“What’s
a douche?” Rocco asked.

I
gave Gavin the evil eye. “It’s just an adult thing, Rocco. You should never say
that word.”

“But
what is it?”

“It’s
a special kind of soap for adults,” answered Gavin, never understanding that in
a kid’s hands, too much knowledge is too much power.

“No,
Rock, it’s a bad word some adults say. Just ignore your uncle.”

Gavin
came back to the original topic. “I don’t want to suck up – I’m just gonna stay
quiet while Nate spends the evening checking you out.” An overly dramatic
shiver coursed through his body. “I can’t believe you’re dating my boss.”

“I’m
not dating him! And this is definitely not the time to talk about this.” I
motioned to the listening ears in the booster seat behind us.

“Whatever.
I know what’s going on even if you don’t. All I have to say is you’d better not
mess this up for me, Laney,” he warned.

“I’m
not messing anything up. We’re just having dinner at their house.”

“Said
the most clueless human on the planet. Oh, and just make sure to keep it wrapped
this time around.” I had to slap him even if he was driving at the time.

We
arrived ten minutes later at a beautiful two story brick home in an elegant
community with big lush lawns and gorgeous crepe myrtles dotting the tree-lawn
all along the street. Rocco and I got out first and headed to the door while
Gavin grabbed some things I’d brought along from the back. I carried a bouquet
of flowers as well as a tin of heart-friendly muffins I’d baked for Nate’s dad,
and I let Rocco ring the bell. The door immediately opened and there was Nate
in all his perfect scruffy handsomeness.
Sigh
. He wore another pair of
faded jeans and a vintage Rolling Stones t-shirt, his hair looking like he’d
been running his hand through it. Maybe he was nervous too.

“You
made it,” he greeted and leaned over to place a hand on my waist and a light
kiss on my cheek. “Come in.” He moved to the side to allow us entry. “Hey
Rocco, how’s it going?” Rocco just gave a silent little wave accompanied by a
nose twitch and stuck to my side.

Nate
seemed to let it roll off his back. “My mom is in the kitchen doing some last
minute stuff or she would have greeted you herself.”

“Oh,
I totally understand. No problem. Gavin’s just grabbing some stuff from the car
– he’ll be here in a minute.” My nerves were eating at my stomach as Nate led
us into a living room and invited us to take a seat. I remained standing and I
could hear some banging coming from the kitchen. “Are you sure I can’t help
your mom with something?”

Nate
looked unsure. Then a loud curse came from the kitchen. “Uh, maybe we should.”
I followed him to the kitchen, flowers and muffin tin in hand.

“Rocco,
go help Uncle Gavin bring the things in from the Jeep, okay? I’ll just be right
in the kitchen.” And that’s when I got my first glimpse of Mr. and Mrs. Murphy.
He was bent over looking into the open oven and cursing a blue streak while she
was slapping at a burning dish towel with a spatula.

“Mom!”
Nate exclaimed and grabbed the towel from her hand, throwing it directly into
the sink and turning the tap on.

“I just
asked if it was overcooking! I didn’t tell you to light your damn self on
fire!” came the gravelly voice from over by the oven.

“I
was just trying to pull it out. It’s not my fault the towel caught on the
heating element! Nate, can you pull the chicken out of the oven for me?” asked
Mrs. Murphy, blowing her swath of blond hair from her eyes and peering into the
sink at the smoking towel.

“I’m
not a cripple, Erin! For Christ’s sake, I can lift a damn pan from the oven.”

“Not
yet, you can’t – not until the doctor okay’s it.”

“Nate,
hand me that towel. No, the other one. I’m pulling this thing out before your
mother burns the house down.”

Nate
shot me a look that said he regretted inviting me over more than anything he’d
ever done in his entire life. I just sent him the brightest smile I had. Oddly,
the chaos in the room served to calm my nerves completely. Turns out my mom was
right – everybody does have their own brand of crazy. And the Murphy’s brand
involved yelling and spazzing out and cussing and I couldn’t have felt more at
home.

“Uh,
Mom, Dad, this is Laney.” Two heads swung simultaneously to me.

“Oh
my word. Laney.” Mrs. Murphy brought one hand to her hair and the other to her
ample hip. “You must think we’re insane. I am
so
sorry!”

“Not
at all,” I laughed. “It actually reminds me of home. It’s lovely to meet you,
Mrs. Murphy. Oh, and I brought these for you.” I extended the flowers and
muffins.

She
came over, grabbed the offerings and shoved them in Nate’s hands and then
proceeded to envelop me in a full body hug the likes of which I’d never
experienced before. “Call me Erin.” In that moment I think I missed my mom more
than I’d realized. “And thank you for the gorgeous flowers and whatever’s in
that tin – I’m sure it will be delicious,” she said, still hugging me.

The
sound of the doorbell caused her to finally release me and she turned toward
the foyer.

“That’ll
be Laney’s son and her brother,” Nate explained as Erin hurried off to answer
the door.

“So,
Laney,” Mr. Murphy began. He was just as tall as Nate and I could immediately
spot the resemblance. They shared the same blue eyes and although the older
man’s hair was peppered with gray and he carried some extra weight, the
similarities were undeniable in father and son. “I hear you’ve been spending
some time with my son. I hope he’s treating you right.”

“He’s
a perfect gentleman.”
Well, most of the time
. “He’s helping me out a lot
around my house. Thanks to him my doorbell no longer sounds like a drowning cat
and I don’t trip over my uneven floor anymore on my way to the kitchen.”

“Good,
well you just let me know if he steps out of line and I’ll straighten him right
up.” He smiled at me and wouldn’t you know it, there was an identical copy of that
damn dimple.