“I figured her being my ex meant people would know how I felt about her. I feel nothing. And what’s the big deal about meeting someone’s ex? If you, Kasper and she actually date for a while, I’m sure she’s going to meet some of your exes as well.”
I rolled my eyes. “The difference, you ass, is our exes are not psycho bitches. Camille is.”
Before he could come up with a clever comeback, my phone buzzed. Wiping my hands on my jeans as I made my way to the bay area, I picked up my phone. It was a text from Kasper. I swiped across to see what he wanted. After reading, I looked up to see Damon finishing the car I was working on. Which was great because he’d remind me later how he’d finished my work for me. Brothers.
He must have felt me staring at him, because he barked out, “What? Quit looking at me like you’ve got a crush on me and spit it out.”
“Shut up. Dickhead, I got a text from Kas.”
“What’d he say?”
“Yeah, he said, ‘why don’t we have movie night at our house instead of at Kelly’s? You know, something different.’ ”
After setting his tools down and closing the hood of the car he’d just finished, he folded his arms in front of him and glared at me. I glared back. Maybe if I was someone else it would’ve worked, but he’d been giving me that glare since we were five. “Our house, we don’t bring women to our house.”
Exasperated, how did he not get it yet? I thought when he kissed her hand at the movies, it meant he was finally going in the right direction. “It’s not some girl, it’s Kelly, you know rules don’t apply to her.”
“Which I still don’t understand. How do all the rules we have just fly out the window with this girl?”
He acted like he wasn’t holding her hand last week at the movies. I decided to make this easy on him and not bring up the hand holding and the kiss. Because something told me this was his last push at fighting this relationship thing. “It’s Kelly. It’s that simple. She breaks the mold, so it breaks the rules.”
“Why her though?” I believed he was actually sincere, that he honestly didn’t know why.
“Well, when you understand why, you should probably tell Kelly why, too.”
Confusion fell across my brother’s face. “Why?”
He really didn’t get it. “When you understand that, then you’ll know why to tell Kelly.” Trying to get the conversation back on hand, I asked again, “So, our house, movie night?”
Throwing his hands in the air, he went to stand by the door. “Hell, why not? She’s broke the mold right? Let’s just toss everything out and start from scratch.”
Smiling, and hoping that he was finally getting it. Slowly, but he was getting it. “See, I knew you’d get it eventually.”
I picked up my phone and texted Kasper back. “I’ll just let Kasper and Kelly know.”
He tapped the front door as he left. “Yeah, I’m sure you will.”
Fifteen
Kelly
1. I hated red, and that had nothing to do with a certain woman who shall remain nameless at the time who happened to wear it last Friday night.
2. Leaky faucets sucked, but I had managed to fix the problem without said man or said plumber. Albeit a little wet afterward.
3. I got a dog and loved her! She was a Great Dane mutt, and I called her Duchess. Potty training, not her forte.
“Duchess!” That damn dog. I had a mantra in my head that had been going since the day I got her. It kept saying I love you, I love you, I love you just in case I needed reminding. After the many things she’d already destroyed.
I had picked Duchess up on Wednesday, which happened to be the same day that Dean texted me to let me know that we were going to have movie night at his and Damon’s house. I was a little surprised because it had almost been a month and no one had mentioned me going over there. I had even begun to think they didn’t want me over there. I wouldn’t admit that it made me feel a little self conscious. I had wondered what their house looked like, but I didn’t want to push. I had wanted to see Kasper’s also, but there was something about Dean and Damon living so close but not being able to see it that made me more curious. So now that I was going, I had to admit I was a tad nervous.
I had gone to the local shelter Wednesday morning before Dean had texted. I was serious when I told Kasper that I wanted to get a dog. When I had first got married I wanted one, but Trevor was like Kasper’s family and thought them to be dirt. Not knowing exactly what kind of dog I wanted when I went to the shelter, I felt the best way to find out was to go to the source. You wouldn’t believe the amount of animals people had just left or didn’t want anymore. As I went down the rows of dogs I wished I could take them all. But I knew I couldn’t. Trying to find a dog that called to me hadn’t been easy until I saw Duchess. She looked so sad with her big drooping ears. Everyone had passed over her I bet just because of her size. And she was big. When she saw me, her little eyes raised up, and I was lost. I had to have her, though the workers there did let me know she was slightly rambunctious. I realized later, slightly was an understatement.
“Drop it. Drop it!” I said this as I creeped closer on all fours. I reached out quickly as I tried to pull the bubble gum pink converse shoe out of her mouth. Of course I had just bought these last week and it was the first thing she went for. I should have remembered this from Moomoo. What was it with dogs and shoes? Maybe her favorite color was bubble gum pink, too. I held on tightly and began the tug-of-war of my life. Middle schoolers had nothing on my seventy-pound giant puppy. Just as I thought I was destined to lose the war, she let go. And there I went, tumbling head over feet holding my pink converse shoe, which was still intact. A little wet but intact.
“Not nice, Duchess, not nice.” I grumbled, but she had already left to lay on her gigantic size bed. Which happened to be the last one the pet store had. Going to sit on the couch, I watched as she fell back to sleep, and I finished thinking about this week.
I had been really busy, besides moving all my red clothes, for no reason, to the back of the closet. There was really no reason, I just hated red now. It was an evil color—the little red devil on my shoulder told me so.
I had fixed a leaky faucet, or more like a spraying faucet, all by myself. The kitchen sink had decided on Monday to spray me in the face and let me know it was defective. I would’ve taken a note or text, but I guessed it wanted to get the point across. Anyway, I figured how to shut the water off, and went down to the local hardware store and asked around for the parts I would need. I had gotten a lot of offers to come “help,” but I wanted to put on my big girl panties and try myself. In Alabama, I would’ve just called a plumber to fix it, and Trevor wouldn’t have even noticed it was broken. But I wanted to learn the basics of things around my house. To take care of myself.
So, after a week of fixing faucets, getting a dog, and removing red, I thought I might have been finally ready to see the exclusive Timber brothers’ house. It wasn’t really elusive as much as me building up parts of all the guys lives. The parts that I didn’t know about. With my imagination running wild I would drudge up what it would be like inside their house. Maybe the brothers kept their room the same as it was in high school. With porn under the mattress and Kasper sleeping over so they could sneak out to the party down the street. Okay, maybe they didn’t do that anymore. My mind could run a little wild. Norman Bates anyone?
After feeding Duchess and letting my imagination run wild, I went upstairs to get ready. It was not like I was getting dressed to the nines to go over and watch movies, but I wasn’t dressing in my sweats like I would going to a girlfriend’s house either. I really needed to get a girlfriend. This would be so much easier, if I had a girl to talk things over with. I just knew I couldn’t show up there looking frumpy after meeting Bitchy Snow-White Friday night. Truth time. No woman could pull off wearing sweats unless you got full coverage makeup on and your hair styled. Plus, after seeing Camille in her club get up at the theatre I figured I didn’t need to be a slouch. N
o matter how comfortable I wanted to be.
I paired black leggings with a classic top, and my pink converse that Duchess had sweetly found for me earlier. In fact, I thought Kasper would appreciate my shirt very much. Going to pick up my purse and keys, I headed to the living room to wait for Kasper who was supposed to pick me up any minute now. Duchess followed behind me becoming my shadow like she knew I was going somewhere. Guilt bubbled up inside me. I sat on the couch and called her to me. “I won’t be long, I promise. Mama is just gonna go and watch movies with the boys. Then be back home before you know it.” Huffing and nudging her head with mine, she acted like she was losing me forever. I rubbed her head, wondering how hard this was going to be, leaving her here.
About the time Duchess tried to climb in my lap, the doorbell rang. Kasper. I tried pushing her off to get the door. Tried being the operative word. Seventy pounds of dog didn’t budge well. Not going like I planned, I hollered, “Come in! I can’t get to the door right now!”
I heard the door open and waited for Kasper.
“Hey, what’s going—” He stopped mid-sentence when he saw the big gray behemoth in my lap.
I rubbed Duchess’ head while gently prodding her out of my lap. “Kasper meet Duchess, she’s my puppy.”
A confused expression came over his face. “That’s a puppy? You sure?”
Tilting my head to the side to get away from puppy drool, I nodded. “Yep, that’s what the shelter said at least. It was kind of hard to lay down a specific age, but they think around nine months is close to her age.”
He scratched his head and headed further into the living room. Slowly, he sat, as if nervous of what Duchess would do. Once he was completely comfortable he reached hesitantly for Duchess’s head. “Well you said you wanted a dog.”
“I did, and she is the sweetest. Well except for the chewing, and the peeing, and the pulling me with a leash. Those kinda suck.”
Still petting Duchess, he scratched behind her ear one last time, before pushing off the couch. “Well you ready to go?”
I grimaced at the problem at hand. I hated to ask Kasper what he thought, but I didn’t really know what to do. I needed to tell him about our situation. “We might have a problem.”
I could tell he was trying to understand, nodding my head toward Duchess. “Someone, not naming names, is a little scared to stay by herself.”
With a scrunched up face, I suddenly got a glimpse of what an eight-year-old Kasper would look like, which was adorable. “Someone?”
Nodding my head more slowly and exaggerated toward Duchess, I hoped he finally get the clue.
“Oh, oh.” Realization crossed his face. “She’s scared?”
“Yeah, and I hate to leave her by herself, but I don’t think Dean and Damon would appreciate me just bringing her over. If you haven’t noticed she’s slightly big.”
A smile that started small quickly covered his entire face, “Ya know, let’s bring her, the guys won’t mind at all. In fact, Damon loves dogs. He’s a regular dog whisperer.”
A little skeptical of the smile on his face, but relieved to being taking Duchess with us, I decided to not question what he was up to. And he was up to something. Even if I couldn’t figure out what. Though if it had to do with annoying Damon, I could be persuaded to suddenly become ignorant. Testing out my new found theory, I asked, “Are you sure? She’s kind of hard to handle, ya know.”
His smile somehow broadened. “Oh, no, I think it would be great.”
Definitely up to something, but I wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. After all, if that something happened to annoy Damon. Then bonus points for me. I nodded my head to go along with whatever plan Kasper had planned. “Okay then, you talked me into it.”
I had to get Kasper to help move Duchess off me. Grabbing my hand, he pulled me up as Duchess slid to the floor.
“All right, well if you don’t mind Duchess in your truck, then let’s go. I’m excited to see the so-called Damon the dog whisperer.”
Arriving at the house with Kasper, I found I lived really close to the brothers. How had I lived here almost a month and not realized? How could they not tell me? Kasper parked the truck on the side of the driveway like he had done it a million times before. Which I guessed he had. Wrapping his arm around the seat, Kasper turned to check on Duchess. What he didn’t expect was the rough, pink tongue that swiped across his face. Happy to see him. Snorting, which I couldn’t believe I did, I watched as Kasper used the sleeve of his gray shirt to wipe off the slobber.
“I think she’s a little excited.” he said while still trying to make sure all the slobber was gone. Patting Duchess on the head, I smiled.
“I think she likes you, but I could be wrong.”
He pulled the handle on the door and got out, the smile from earlier returned. The one that said he was fixing to have his fun. Somehow, I could believe that he and the boys played these games often. “Well, let’s head inside and show the guys the great Duchess.”
Woof!
“See, I think she’s excited to see them too. C’mon girl, let’s get inside.”
Before I could even get down from the truck, Duchess and Kasper bounded for the door, leaving me in the dust. Taking my time, I studied the exterior of the house. It was an older house with dated windows and red shutters. With an overall cream color for the rest of the house. The pathway to the door had rock stepping stones that after many years of use had been pushed into the ground overtime. A woman’s touch still hung in the flower beds, where tulips were in full bloom. Overall, an older well-loved house.
“Arrgh!”
At the loud bellow, I stopped my perusal of the house and ran inside. Since I didn’t know the way around, I followed the laughing, grunting, and growling to what appeared to be a family room.
And in the center of said family room was a very furious Damon, along with a very happy seventy-pound puppy, who also happened to be in his lap.
This had to be what Kasper was waiting for.
With his hands in front of him, trying to keep Duchess from going up even farther in his lap, he turned and glared at me. “Get this thing off me!”
Looking at Kasper and Dean for help, I realized that none was coming from them anytime soon. Dean had fallen into the recliner, holding his sides while tears slipped down his face. Kasper, who I figured would have some kind of control, was leaning against the wall with his hands on his knees laughing. Bunch of overgrown children. I figured I would have to do this myself. Still watching like a hawk, I moved to stand in front of Damon and Duchess. “I think she likes you.”
Huffing and moving his head to avoid another swipe of Duchess’ tongue, he replied, “Well, I don’t like her, so get her off!”
“Duchess.”
“What?”
“Her name is Duchess, not her.”
Doing his copyrighted eye roll, he said again, at least a little nicer, “Okay, get Duchess off of me.”
Instead of trying to move Duchess, I went and sat right beside Damon and scrubbed her ears.
“You know, I just got her Wednesday, and she was scared to be left alone. I thought I could bring her here. You don’t want her to be scared, do you?”
Quietly he stared at me and then back at Duchess. At my question the laughter had quieted in the background. I knew they wanted to hear his answer, too.
Blowing out of breath and still holding Duchess away from his face, he said, “Fine, but can we at least keep her on the floor?”
Smiling, I leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. “Of course.”
Looking at Duchess, I said sweetly, “Mama needs you to get on the floor honey, get on the floor.”
Reluctantly, Duchess slid off Damon while also managing to dog grumble at me. Probably about how life wasn’t fair
After patting Duchess’ head, I was finally able to take a glimpse of the house that I was too busy running through to pay attention to earlier. It was a good mixture of bachelor pad meet
s antique. Antiques that I was sure were their parents’. From the antique typewriter sitting on an antique desk in the corner to the old glasses and pipes sitting in a shadow box on display on the wall. The things that screamed bachelor pad were the giant brown leather couch with recliners, forty inch TV, and large coffee table that had bottle caps epoxied on the top of it.
Letting my gaze wander, I took in Dean who was still sitting in the recliner. Dressed for comfort tonight with sweat pants and white tank top. With bare feet hanging off the side of the chair. I went to check Damon over and noticed he was dressed pretty much the same way. Maybe I had overdressed for movie night. Stupid Snow White made me dress up. Another reason to hate her.
Feeling awkward, not only for my clothes, but not knowing what to say, I went back to my Southern manners. “So I love your house. Can I do anything to help or do you need me to cook or something?”
The epitome of Southern ladies, going into someone else’s house and start asking to clean for them. Next thing you knew, I’d be fluffing the pillows and making them casseroles.
Dean pushed the recliner down and stood up to come to me. Wrapping his arm around me, he ushered me to the couch. “Sit down relax. I’ve got the popcorn on and we ordered pizza. Tonight is about total relaxation.” Sitting down and moving a little to get comfortable, I looked at each guy. Damon was at the end of the long sectional like he wanted to be as far away from me as possible. Roller coaster, that was all. Kasper was moving a giant bean bag in front of me to sit down. After he sat, I ran my fingers through his hair to get his attention. “Hey, handsome.”
Grabbing my fingers, he brought them to his lips, and lightly kissed the tips. “Hello, gorgeous.”
I pulled my fingers from his grasp, to massage his head. Gripping his hair, I pulled.
A grunt escaped his lips, as I tugged a little more on his hair. Oh, I liked this. “So that was why you wanted to bring Duchess over? To aggravate Damon? Bad Kasper.”
Road To Me Page 11
