“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
Serena rumpled her eyebrows, and he realized he’d been speaking aloud, but before he got the chance to respond, his cell phone rang in his hand. With another flick of the thumb, he pressed it to his ear and answered, “Hello?”
“Oh darling, I’m so glad I’ve caught you. I know you’ve been so busy since you’ve been home. Is this a good time?” His grandmother’s syrupy sweet voice poured out from the speakers and Q’s warning clicked. Batten down the hatches, the guilt storm was about to blow in.
His granny was as sweet as her voice, it was true, but he could already tell she needed something, and that would invariably mean she was about to lay it on thick. Real thick.
Serena gestured toward the phone and he held up a finger.
“Hey Gran, no, I can talk.”
“Oh, lovely. It’s so wonderful to hear your voice after all this time.”
She was good. The best way to find out what her agenda was would be to bait the hook, though. See if he could get her to bite.
“You too, Gran. I was just thinking I should come over and visit soon.” He cast the reel.
“That would be lovely, dear, but I won’t be home much. You know with Marcia’s wedding and everything. So much to do.”
And there it was. The blood in the water.
“Marcia’s wedding?”
“Yes indeed, dearie. I’m at your Uncle Peter’s barn today helping with the decorating. We’re all pitching in and putting everything together. Your sister is even working on a little picnic for us while we work. Like a family luncheon. Doesn’t that sound nice?”
And there was the trap. Closing his eyes, he said, “That sounds like a lot of fun. Maybe I should come over and help?”
“Oh no, I wouldn’t want to inconvenience you, dear. We’ll see you at the wedding. I’m sure we can manage without you.” The silence blared tellingly over the line, and he blew out a quiet sigh.
“I insist.” He was so used to the non-arm-bending arm-bending by now that it didn’t even faze him. In fact, it was kind of impressive. She took it to the level of an art form. “I’ll be there in an hour tops.”
“This is why I always said you were my favorite,” she crooned, and a loud muttering sounded behind her until she amended, “Of course, it was more like a pair of favorites, with you and your sister tied.”
“Got it. Tell Q I’ll see her soon.” He ended the call and went back to reading his medical journal. Not because he didn’t notice Serena staring him down for details, but because he knew he was driving her crazy by not filling her in right away.
“What was that about?” A familiar pink flush lit her cheeks, and it was an effort not to fixate on where else he’d gotten that sweet color to bloom not half an hour before…
“Well?” she pressed.
“My grandmother wants me to come over and help with my cousin’s wedding stuff.”
“Sounds like a hoot,” she said with a wince.
“You don’t like stuff like that? Isn’t it kind of your job?”
“I deal with the stuff before the marriage.” She chewed on her grapefruit. “You know, the actual fun stuff.”
Silence stretched between them, like they both felt the weight of the rest of this conversation. He knew she wouldn’t broach the topic, and he didn’t know where to start himself.
It was true that they’d spent most of their weekdays apart. Serena had gone to the office, and he’d spent most of his days at the local VA hospital volunteering. Despite his every effort to stay away, his car seemed to steer itself back to her driveway every evening. And every evening, she was there waiting with a smile.
It wasn’t something they’d ever discussed—it just was. They watched crap TV, listened to music, played card games. And, of course, in the times in between, they’d be curled around each other, screwing like carpenters.
Now, faced with the prospect of this impromptu little party, he wasn’t sure what to do. It felt like she should be there with him, but it felt equally wrong to ask.
Like it would make it—and them—official. His obligation was up in another four months, but he had no intention of resigning his commission. Military for life. Bringing her to family functions would only make it harder for them both when he left.
She set her fork on her plate and stared at her own cell phone. They both knew it hadn’t made a sound, but she slid her thumb over the surface like she was unlocking a message. “I was supposed to go to the mall with Grace today,” she said, her tone airy.
“Sounds like fun.” And it let him off the hook. Now there was no decision to be made because she couldn’t go anyway. It was for the best.
“But she canceled,” Serena finished. She was careful not to look at him as she collected her plate and headed for the kitchen. She hadn’t offered to join him, but she didn’t have to come out and say it for him to know what she’d meant.
“That’s too bad,” he said evenly, tamping down the warmth that spread through him at the thought of having her with him all day. “If you don’t have anything to do and want to join me, I think Q could really use the help. It’s the first wedding she’s ever planned.”
“Sure. If Q really needs the help, I’ll lend a hand.” Serena nodded slowly and then shrugged. “But you know and I know that you owe me for this.” A wicked grin spread across her face, and he returned it before closing his magazine.
She could say what she wanted. She knew what it really was just as well as he did. A date. They were getting deeper by the second, and he knew he’d have to pull back soon…but not today.
“Get ready. We leave in ten.”
…
They left in twenty, but with the way Serena looked, it was well worth the wait. She looked like the world’s sexiest Beverly Hillbilly. Daisy Dukes clung to her toned thighs, and a red checkered shirt was knotted the slightest bit below her navel. Just low enough that he could peek at her tanned skin when she shifted from foot to foot in her weathered brown boots.
She stalked out to the truck and he raised his eyebrows.
“That’s your work getup?”
“Nothing that’s worth doing needs to be done in an ugly outfit.” She hopped into the vehicle without another look, then stuck her arm out the window and patted the side twice. “Now let’s get going. Time’s a-wasting.”
They spent most of the ride with idle chat about whatever junk show they’d watched the night before, but midway there, they both went quiet.
Finally, Serena asked, “So, what’s this luncheon going to be like? Lots of family or…?”
“I’m not exactly sure, but I think it will be pretty small. My cousin, Marcia, and her parents will probably be there. Maybe her brothers and sisters. Q, of course. And my grandmother.”
“Cool, cool.” Serena nodded and tapped her hand against the truck door. “Cooly cool cool. Cool.”
If this was her version of acting natural, he was glad she didn’t have to survive in the wild. He felt her tension in the air like a current, and even though he sympathized, he couldn’t help but think it was…well, kind of adorable.
Feisty Serena worried about the opinion of a little old lady. Imagine that.
“You know those cartoon mice from kids’ movies? Like, the ones that are motherly and knit and stuff?” he asked.
She quirked her mouth to the side but nodded all the same.
“Well, my grandmother is sort of like that. When you see her, you can sort of picture her darning socks and reading stories to kids while they fall asleep. She looks like she should be in an oatmeal commercial.”
Serena’s expression softened. “That sounds sweet.”
“She is. Aside from her cutthroat passive-aggressive guilting techniques. But don’t worry. She only uses those on family.” He waited a beat, then added, “And I think she’ll like you.”
“I’m sure I’ll like her, too,” she said with a pale semblance of the confident Serena smile he knew so well.
When they pulled up and trekked down the winding road to the barn, he found his sister on a precariously placed ladder, straddling the distance between it and a colossal wooden beam. The whole building was already festooned with fake flowers, but apparently Q was in charge of pinning on the finishing touches.
His grandmother sat a little ways off under a tree with a pitcher of lemonade and an ancient silk fan. They approached, and the old lady grinned sweetly as he leaned in to plant a kiss on her cheek.
“Well, don’t you get better looking every time I see you,” she crooned.
“Thanks, Gran,” he said.
“Not you. I’m talking about this one.” She held out her hands toward Serena, who returned her hug with unabashed confusion.
“I’m sorry, have we met?” Serena took the seat opposite the elderly woman and Bryan followed suit, if only to distract himself from the fact that Q was now scaling the beams like a deranged King Kong.
“No, not in person. I do apologize. This old mind”—she sighed—“sometimes it gets confused. No, dear, you don’t know me, but I feel like I’ve met you a dozen times. Quinn told me your name, and I nearly fainted. Your granny never shut her trap about you. She was always showing me pictures and letters.” She shook her head, smiling fondly. “She also told me about the time you put soap in her mouthwash when you were just a tot.” Gran let out a cackle. “You told her you wanted to make sure her teeth were extra clean. What a hoot!”
Serena’s confusion had quickly become wide-eyed surprise, and a soft sort of sadness played over her features. He wanted to reach for her hand, but restrained himself, opting instead to pour the group some lemonade.
“I was a little troublemaker,” Serena admitted with a rueful smile.
“You came by it honestly, I can tell you that much. Your grandmother was quite the upstart, too. And a very dear friend. We used to spend a lot of time together as girls. I admired the hell out of her moxie.”
“Did you ever go to the beach together?” Serena grinned and shot him a look from the corner of her eye. So apparently even touching stories about her grandmother couldn’t repress her mischievous tendencies.
Funnier than that, though, was when his grandmother nodded. “Oh yes, it was a favorite pastime of ours. Going to the shore and meeting young men.”
He nearly choked on his lemonade at that one but managed to keep it together.
“I’m surprised we haven’t met before,” Serena said.
“Oh, these old bones don’t stay in one place long enough for all that. I visited Agnes every now and then, but life took us different directions. You know how these things go. I was very sorry to hear of her passing, though, and I am very sorry for your loss.”
That quiet sadness passed over Serena’s face again for an instant and then it was gone, stowed away under her armor.
“Thank you,” she murmured, then sipped her lemonade and changed the subject. As she had with Q, Serena opened his grandmother up in a matter of minutes. Soon, they were chatting away about things he’d never thought to ask himself. Old boyfriends, what life had been like when she was young, the things she’d accomplished in her life.
With his family situation as fucked up as it was, he and Q had spent a lot of time with their grandmother, but he’d always seen her in the way that children see the people in their lives. As his gran. Never as a full-fledged person.
Now, every story brought a new warmth to the old lady’s smile, and try as he might it was hard not to credit Serena with that. What was it about this woman that had other people so automatically swept up? And what was it about her that kept him there? All his concerns were a million miles away while he watched her holding his grandmother’s hand and laughing.
He pushed from his chair and said, “I’m headed in to see what I can do. Do you ladies need anything?”
They shook their heads and he started for the house, following behind his now earthbound sister.
“You’re bleeding.” He caught up to her just as they walked through the wide barn doors. “Let me get the first-aid kit.”
She smeared the blood on her left arm and looked down at her hand. “Huh. How about that.”
He ushered her into the little side room with a standing sink and end table, a wide window taking up most of the wall space. He could still make out Serena and his gran lounging beneath the magnolia tree. It was sweet, and it made his gut clench in a way that was less than comfortable.
“It’s just a little cut,” Q muttered, dragging his attention back to the issue at hand.
“It wouldn’t have happened if you were more careful.” He rummaged through a low drawer until he came up with a single bandage. Without ceremony, he stuck it on his sister’s triceps and they both headed for the sink.
“No antiseptic? What kind of hack doctor are you?”
“The kind who doesn’t want to do your autopsy. Stay off the goddamned ladder,” he said.
“Please, if you were worried you could have come over and done it yourself. Maybe you had more important things to do, though.” She waggled her brows and shouldered him.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You know. I’m not saying that this is my crowning achievement or anything, but…” She patted herself on the back and grinned
“Are you having some kind of mental break? What are you talking about?” He leaned against the counter.
“Do I have to say it?” His sister fixed him with a meaningful stare as she dragged the towel from her shoulder and passed it between her hands. When he didn’t respond, she went on, “You and Serena. You know, sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G.” Quinn looked out the window and he followed her gaze to where Serena and his grandmother sat, still talking animatedly. “You like her.”
It wasn’t a question, but he found himself nodding as Serena threw her head back and let out one of her loud, exuberant laughs. “Yeah. Yeah, I guess I do.”
And for the first time since they’d met, he let himself admit it deep inside. He’d seen crazy, seen it brew and bubble over, and she just didn’t seem like that. She was attentive without being clingy, she was interested in his job but had her own thing going, too. He appreciated her independence and was starting to think, if he ever got out and settled down, it would be with someone like Serena.
“You know, the Colonel was out of his mind when he asked you to make that promise,” his sister murmured softly.
He met her clear gaze but didn’t respond. She hadn’t been there. She hadn’t seen him in those last couple days. Their father had so many weaknesses, but physically, he’d always been like Superman to them. Evading bullets in one skirmish or another, earning medals for dragging wounded men twice his size out of the line of fire. Until then, when stomach cancer had eaten away at him until there was nothing left. He’d been a shit father, but he was still his father, and when he’d made his last request, Bryan couldn’t deny him. Just the thought of breaking that promise felt like a betrayal.
“Hopped up on morphine, racked with pain,” Q pressed, leaning toward him and taking his hand in hers. “You’re a great doctor. You served your country. Unless this is your dream, why not let it go now? Let him go, and live your life. If he was any kind of father, that’s what he would’ve wanted. And if not? Well, then you don’t owe him a damned thing.”
He kept his head down, mired down in memories. She stayed there for another long moment before releasing his hand with a sigh.
“I’ve got to get back to work, but think about it, okay? I’d love to have you home, you could spend more time with Gran, find something at the hospital, and…”
She trailed off, but she didn’t need to say the rest out loud. And give this thing with Serena a real shot.
Maybe Q was right. Maybe it was time to reevaluate the path he’d assumed was a given and think about taking another.
One that included Serena.
…
Wedding prep was, apparently, hell on earth.
&nbs
p; She’d been to plenty of galas and charity events with her parents’ stuffy friends, but the catastrophe that was a wedding was beyond even her own comprehension. By the time lunch finally rolled around, everyone was exhausted, the bride was crying, and the entire barn was so overloaded with fake pink flowers that it looked like the set for an allergy pill commercial.
The only person who seemed totally unaffected by the whole ordeal was Q. In fact, she seemed in her element as she went over each detail, a soft glow in her eyes. Like she was a gambler and had just hit it big.
“No, guys, don’t put that there. That’s where the karaoke machine is going to be.” Q shooed away a handful of cousins who looked next to mutinous, but before they could object, a bell rang in the distance.
Like a herd of sheep, the men dropped everything and shuffled for the door.
“Uh, was that some kind of warning bell or something?” Serena stapled a chalkboard sign to the wall behind the makeshift bar and turned to Bryan.
“Nah, that’s the supper bell. The picnic must be ready.”
The bell rang again, and everyone gave a sigh of relief. Everyone with the exception of Q, whose shoulders slumped in disappointment. “We’ll pick it up afterward, guys,” she called. “No worries.”
Bryan threw an arm around his sister’s shoulders. “Everything looks amazing, Q.”
“Thanks.” She tapped his hand and the two followed the crowd with Serena trailing along behind them.
Not that she minded. She kind of liked watching the two of them together. Not only did it bring out a lighter side of the ball-busting Bryan she’d come to know, but it also made her feel for the kids they must have been.
When she was young and flitting from one boarding school to the next, she’d often wondered what her life would have been like if she’d had a sister. Someone to share the load of neglect and hurt. It might have been a comfort to her, just as it must have been for them.
She shook the thought away as Bryan released his sister and dropped back to join Serena.
“What’s so funny?” he asked.
She blinked a couple of times, then realized with a start that she’d been smiling. “Nothing. I was just thinking.”
Dirty Deal (A Perfectly Matched Novel) (Entangled Brazen) Page 12
