Page 30 of An Ex Affair

I rolled my eyes at their antics. Colson didn’t find it funny, however. He leaned in closer. “No. Absolutely not.”

“Now hold on a second there, Wolfe,” Captain interjected, putting his hand on Colson’s chest. “Tully might be on to something.”

“We can make sure there are rules so everyone knows what kind of activities are allowed,” I added in quickly.

“You’ve got a girl already, dumbass,” Frank said to Danny, ignoring the thunderclouds on Colson’s face. “If anything, they’ll be bidding on me and Wolfe. We’re the only single guys here.”

“I think we can make this work,” Captain said, ignoring Frank and Danny’s bullshit. “Great idea, Tully.” He patted me on the shoulder, which earned another pointed glare from Colson.

I rolled my eyes and pushed through the crowd of testosterone. I was used to it on construction sites for my previous job, but firefighters were proving to be even more intense. “Well, I’m starving. I’ll be back tomorrow to keep working on the stations.”

I barely got into Colson’s truck before he was climbing behind the wheel, having decided to follow me instead of standing around frowning at everyone. He hadn’t been this grumpy when I knew him nineteen years ago, that much I knew. Yet another mystery that my brain chewed on and ultimately decided I was the problem.

Colson drove in the direction of Grass, his thumb tapping out an irritated rhythm on the steering wheel. His jaw clenched over and over again, but no words came out.

“You gonna say it or what?” I finally asked.

He sighed. “You better bid on me to save me from some lusty ol’ Blueball lady.”

I burst out laughing. “You wish!”

A grin tugged on his lips as we parked at Grass and ordered takeout. He may have been teasing, but the idea rolled around in my brain, making me wonder if I dared do exactly that.

After dropping off dinner to Gigi, she shooshed us away when we offered to stay and eat with her. We had gotten takeout for Mama too. Gigi said we needed to get it to her before it got cold. Mama was delighted to see us and attacked her meal with gusto while we visited. She’d slowed down over the years so it was good to see her eat like that.

“I’m so full!” Mama exclaimed, sitting back and rubbing her belly.

Mama said she spent the afternoon at the house, chatting up Savannah and Pip as they got to demo’ing the damaged kitchen. For a woman who didn't leave her house anymore, that much socializing had probably made her exhausted.

“I’m going to bed.” Mama pushed away from the table, and Colson tossed his head toward the back door. I knew he would walk Mama to the carriage house while I cleaned up the takeout containers. Many things had changed since I left Blueball, but clearly our silent communication still worked just fine.

When he came back, I’d inspected the work the girls had done, finding all the damage gone and plastic covering all the open spaces. I made a list on my phone of all the items I’d need to buy to renovate this kitchen into the vision I had in my head. Colson grabbed my hand and steered me out of the house, locking the front door behind us. I tried not to make a big deal of him holding my hand, even for just a few seconds.

I went over my list on the drive over to Gigi’s house, Colson grunting his approval of my ideas. Colson didn’t bother to knock, just stepped right inside and hollered out a hello to his mother.

“I just baked some cookies!” Gigi hollered back from the living room where I could hear a television program going. “Help yourselves!”

Colson squeaked like a little kid and made a beeline to the kitchen. I was too full from dinner to even think about adding cookies to the mix. I found Gigi in the living room, a pile of fabricon her lap as she hemmed something by hand. She had a pair of glasses on top of her head and another pair perched on the end of her nose.

“Hey, Tully. How’s the fundraiser going?” She set her project aside and gave me her attention.

“Good!” I sat on the opposite end of the couch and waggled my eyebrows. “I started on the petting zoo pen.”

Gigi clapped her hands, looking like I just told her Christmas was coming early this year. “Those kids are going to love my animals.”

“Wan’ showr?” Colson came in the room, his mouth stuffed with cookies and more in his hand waiting to be devoured.

“Colson Wolfe, where are your manners?” Gigi shook her head.

I hopped to my feet, not wanting to get in the middle of a squabble. These two could go back and forth for half an hour before anyone got a word in edgewise. They loved each other, but man, could they argue.

“I’m going to grab a shower and head to bed. See you tomorrow?”

“Good night, sweetie,” Gigi said before turning back to Colson. “I didn’t mean you should eatallthe cookies.”

“Relax. You made like four dozen. I only had six.”

I rolled my eyes and left them behind. Colson and I would be sharing a bathroom. I wanted to hurry up and be done with my shower so I didn’t pose even more of an inconvenience than I already was by staying here. The hot water felt great, and I didn’t even mind the bottle of shower gel that smelled just like Colson. When my fingers started to prune up, I shut off the water valve and wrapped a towel around me. My soaked hair dripped onto the floor. I hurried to wring it out in the sink as much as I could. I needed the special microfiber towel I took everywhere with me.It soaked up the water and kept my curls from frizzing, but I’d left it in my suitcase.

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