Page 36 of The Deadbeat Next Door

I was so sick of this argument. “It doesn’t matter. She’s the boss and what she says goes. Thank you for pretending, but since it didn’t make any difference, we can probably break up, or at least stop spending so much time together.”

He rolled his eyes. “I still need you to help me close the deal on the Gregory place, so we at least need to pretend until that goes through. I’m taking you out on a date.”

“Fine.” The least I owed him was to help him get his property from Bart. “I’ll meet you back at my house?”

“I’ll pick you up at six,” he said with a wink.

“Okay.” I was suddenly nervous. “Um, how fancy will this date be? What should I wear?”

“I was going to leave that up to you,” he said. “We need to be seen, so what’s the most happening place in town?”

I smiled, that was one question that had an easy answer. “Fitzroy’s Cajun Cuisine. Dress casual.”

“Cajun? I thought this was Virginia, not New Orleans.”

I smiled. “You think we don’t have any class or culture here?” In all reality, there wasn’t much Cajun food at Fitzroy’s, but it was good southern fare and very popular with the locals. The owner was a good-ol’ boy who’d married a woman from New Orleans, and they’d combined their cooking styles and come up with a tasty and popular menu.

His smile made my belly flip. “No offense intended,” he said. “I’ll see you in a bit.”

I watched him walk to his truck and my eyes fell to his butt without my direction or intention. I shook my head and got in my car. I didn’t like him. I was just attracted to him, and this was all temporary. I put my hands on the steering wheel and the ring he’d given me flashed in the sunlight. It was gorgeous, yet simple and understated, exactly the sort of thing I’d choose for myself. If this were real. If I was really about to start my life with the man I loved. A lump formed in my throat and I swallowed it down. Maybe it was time to stop looking for a husband and dreaming of a family. Maybe it was time to accept what I had in the moment and make the best of it. I started my car and backed out of my parking spot.

***

Cody knocked on my door at six on the dot. I’d chosen to wear a lilac sweater set and jeans. I didn’t have a lot of casual clothes in my wardrobe, other than old t-shirts and shorts I used for gardening, and I didn’t want to over-dress for dinner and look like I was trying too hard. I’d tried on fifteen different outfits before I’d decided what I was wearing. I’d swiped on a bit of make-up and put my hair up in a high ponytail. I was almost certain Dilly would hustle me back to my room if she saw me, but she wasn’t there and I wasn’t trying to impress Cody. I wasn’t. I was trying to put on a good show for the people who knew me best, the gossips of Catalpa Creek.

I opened the door to find Harrison on my doorstep. I swung my left hand, the hand with the engagement ring on it, behind my back. Harrison grinned and grabbed my left arm and pulled my hand into the light. He pushed his way into the house, dragging my arm with him, and closed the door. “You know, as your only nephew and your only blood family member in town, I would have thought you’d have told me you were dating someone, much less that you’d gotten engaged.”

My doorbell rang and I tore my hand from Harrison’s grasp. “It’s not what you think.”

I opened the door and was struck momentarily dumb and blind by Cody on my front porch in black jeans, boots, and a maroon button-down that molded to his sculpted chest. He hadn’t shaved, so there was a bit of scruff on his face and his eyes lit as they traveled over my body. “You look gorgeous,” he said, when he got back to my face.

“Right,” I said. This man was either delusional or a bucket of lies. “Can you give me—”

But he grabbed my waist and pulled me in for a kiss that made me forget what I’d been about to say, where I was, or who was in my living room. Cody took a step back and smiled at me.

“What the hell was that for?” I asked.

He bent and nuzzled my neck. “Because I wanted to. And because Betty is on her front porch.”

“Right.” My voice came out as more of a gasp, but that was because his big, warm, masculine hands were squeezing a bit too tight on my waist.

A throat cleared behind me and all my skewed circuits jumped back on line. I stepped away from Cody, into the house, and he followed me, shutting the door behind us. I faced my nephew, my cheeks heating and my stomach sinking.

“What were you saying about this not being what it looks like?” Harrison asked.

Cody put an arm around my shoulders and pulled me close to his side. It felt…Oddly comforting. I shrugged his arm off and put some distance between us. “How did you even hear about the engagement?”

Harrison rolled his eyes. “You know Grandma and Grandpa talk to Norma Jane at least once a week. How could I not have heard? They’re really upset you didn’t tell them, by the way.” Norma Jane had known my parents since they’d been in elementary school together. My moving into Norma Jane’s neighborhood had brought them closer than ever before because my parents liked the idea of her spying on me and because Norma Jane loved to feel useful. Of course, my parents knew and I…It’s not like I hadn’t known that would happen, but I’d been living pretty comfortably in denial.

“Why don’t you look more upset?” I asked.

Harrison smiled over my shoulder at Cody. “Because he seems like a good guy to me. And you never do anything spontaneous or just for yourself. I’m happy for you.”

I just stared. I didn’t even know where to start with him. “You’re happy for me? You’re happy that I’m engaged to a man I’ve known for less than two months and dated for…” I stopped because I wasn’t dating Cody at all. “And what do you mean he’s a good guy? What do you even know about him?”

He smirked. “I know that he punched me for making you cry. I know he cares about you and I know you, Aunt Carrie. You wouldn’t commit yourself to someone without knowing exactly what you’re getting into. You’re the most responsible, careful person I know.”

I looked back at Cody. “You punched my nephew?”

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