Page 37 of The Deadbeat Next Door

Cody looked not the least bit apologetic. “He made you cry.”

“Don’t get pissed at him,” Harrison said. “It was the wakeup call I needed.”

“You couldn’t have just given him a talking to?” I asked Cody.

“Says the woman who hit me in the face with a trowel.”

I couldn’t really argue with him there. I turned to face my nephew. I wanted to allow him to keep thinking I was a paragon of responsibility, but that would be a lie and I’d never lied to him before, not even about the tough stuff. “I’m not really engaged to Cody,” I said. “The truth is I—”

“She agreed to pretend to be my fiancée to help me out,” Cody said. “I’m interested in a piece of property, but the man who owns it won’t sell it to me without proof of my commitment to the town.”

“Why would you agree to do that?” he asked me, while he glared at Cody. “And why is he kissing you if this is just pretend?”

“Because he’s helping me, too,” I said, narrowing my eyes at Cody. “I messed up, Harrison. I went out to Philistine’s with Lance, Dilly, and Cody and I had too much to drink. Cody took me back to his house to take care of me and…You know how this town is for gossip. Word got back to my boss and it just made sense to pretend that Cody was my fiancé.”

Harrison didn’t look any happier, his frown deepening. “So, why the kissing on the porch?”

“Keeping up appearances,” Cody said. “Betty was watching.”

“Can I talk to you alone for a minute, man?” Harrison growled in Cody’s direction.

“Sure,” Cody said.

I huffed and barely resisted stomping my foot. “No. I’m an adult and I don’t need you two sneaking off to talk about me behind my back.”

“We weren’t being sneaky,” Cody said.

“Whatever you have to say,” I said through gritted teeth. “Say it to me.”

“Fine,” Harrison said. “I’ve never known you to do anything dumb, Aunt Carrie, but this is idiotic. Cody clearly has a very real thing for you and one of you, probably him, is going to get hurt. Not to mention that if anyone other than me finds out what you two are up to you’re going to have a lot more problems than an arch nemesis and a grumpy landowner.”

“Arch nemesis?” Cody asked.

I waved him off.

“Not to mention,” Harrison said, “you taught me to always be honest, Aunt Carrie, because when you lie…“ He gestured to me to finish the adage.

“You’re only lying to yourself,” I sighed. “You’re probably right, but it’s too late now. We’re in this and we’re going to see it through. It’s only going to be a couple weeks and then we’ll break up and everything will go back to normal.”

“Uh-huh,” Harrison said. “I really hope you know what you’re doing.” He smacked Cody’s shoulder in a less than friendly way. “Don’t forget this is pretend. If you touch my aunt, I will end you. If you hurt my aunt I will bury you alive.”

“I thought I was the one likely to get hurt,” Cody said.

I rolled my eyes at both of them. “No one is going to get hurt. Cody and I are entirely incompatible and he drives me crazy in the worst kind of way. And for the record, I am fully capable of taking care of myself in the event that Cody tried to touch me in a way I don’t want.”

“I have the scar to prove it.” Cody pointed to the tiny scab on his forehead and Harrison leaned in close to see it.

“You really threw a towel at him?” Harrison asked.

“It slipped out of my hand.” Okay, that was a lie, but…Damn it. “Fine, it didn’t slip. I threw it, but I was trying to throw it away from him, not at him.”

Harrison finally smiled. “She has the worst aim. You should have seen her trying to throw the ball around with me when I was a kid.”

“Okay. Time to go Harrison. I’m hungry and Cody is taking me to dinner.”

“What do you want me to tell Grandma and Grandpa?”

“I’ll call them tomorrow. I’ll think of something.” I couldn’t tell them the truth. They were worse gossips than Norma Jane and Betty and, even though they lived in Florida, they knew everyone in this blasted town and talked to them all on a regular basis.

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