Page 58 of The Good Guy on My Porch

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Dilly

“Hi,” I said with a smile. “Come on in.”

Leah edged into the library conference room, looking oddly nervous. Mary and Norma Jane were already seated for our book club meeting and chatting in low voices while we waited for the other members of our group to arrive. I still felt relaxed and easy from my stargazing with Oscar and the rest of my weekend. I hadn’t seen him since we’d woken up together on the mountain, but I hadn’t been avoiding him. I’d just been busy. Mom had been calm and quiet, and I’d used my weekend to catch up with friends. I’d tried to enjoy it, but Mom never stayed quiet for long and her quiet moments usually precipitated a storm. I couldn’t seem to muster up the energy to worry about that or anything else. I’d woken up in a meadow with Oscar’s arms around me, the sun just rising over the trees. I’d been so cold in the early morning spring air my teeth had been chattering, but I hadn’t moved, hadn’t tried to wake Oscar. I’d just taken a moment to enjoy how happy I was, how nice it felt in his arms.

My chattering teeth had woken him anyway. He’d sat up and grabbed more blankets to wrap around us and then he’d pulled me tight against him, rubbing my arms to warm me up. We’d watched the sunrise together and I’d never felt more alive, happier, or safer in my life. I’d also never felt more wired with lust and need. It had taken everything in me not to turn in his arms and kiss him, but he’d seemed totally unaffected by our proximity. He’d joked about us watching sunrises together the way we watched sunsets together, as though the thought of a repeat of that moment wouldn’t tempt him at all. He thought of me as a friend, despite that hot kiss, and that was good, because I didn’t want to lose him. We’d walked back to the car together and he’d kept his arm around me the whole way. I was plenty warm, but I let him think I was still cold, because I didn’t want him to let me go.

“What are you smiling about?” Betty asked. She was the last to arrive and her frown was more pronounced than usual.

“She’s probably thinking of her boyfriend,” Mary said. She leaned over Norma Jane to stare me down. “Were you thinking of your man, Dilly?”

“Oscar?” I asked, before I caught myself.

Norma Jane gasped, and Mary hooted with glee. “Did you two finally get together?”

“No,” I said. “Of course not. I’m still with Jerome. It’s just that the last time I talked to y’all you were making a big deal out of that kiss and—”

“She’s probably seeing the both of them,” Betty said. “Girls today have no boundaries. Bunch of loose floozies.”

“I’m not seeing both of them,” I said. “Betty, are you having a bad day?”

She waved a hand. “No one cares about my troubles.”

Of course, the others all cared immensely and badgered her to tell them what was going on. As it turned out, her grandson had just gotten engaged to a woman Betty didn’t think was right for him. The other women commiserated and promised to help. I chuckled to myself. I could only imagine how they’d interfere with his love life.

“What did y’all think of the book?” I asked to get things rolling.

“Well, I just loved it,” Mary said. “I couldn’t put it down. The scene where the dog is lost, and they think he’s been killed after being hit by that car…I cried, Dilly. I really did.”

“So, did I,” Leah said. “That dog may have been my favorite character.”

“I did wonder though,” Norma Jane said. “Would a priest really visit a dog at an animal hospital? Would Jerome ever do something like that?” Norma Jane narrowed her gaze and all the women were suddenly laser focused on me, even Betty.

“He’s never mentioned visiting an animal,” I said. “But in the book, it was a special case because the priest was a good friend of the family and he wanted to make the little boy feel better.”

“I like a book that’s realistic,” Mary said. “Since you have a direct line to someone doing God’s work, why don’t you find out for us if your Jerome would ever visit an injured animal?”

The women all leaned forward, staring me down, and my amusement at their interference with Betty’s nephew died a quick death. Was this my punishment for silently laughing at him? “You want me to call Jerome? Now?”

“Well, why not, dear?” Norma Jane said. “We all want to know.”

“He’s at work,” I said. “I couldn’t possibly disturb him.”

“Is he?” Mary asked. “Does he have a second job?”

“Well, no, of course not.”

“Everyone knows preachers only work on Sunday,” Betty said. “He’s got nothing better to do, so just call him, girl.”

Did preachers only work on Sunday? I probably should have researched my fake boyfriend’s profession at some point, or maybe attended church for the first time in twelve years. “You know,” I said. “I think we should continue talking about the book. Jerome may only work on Sundays but he…He volunteers all the time and he…Well, that sermon isn’t going to write itself, you know.”

“Where does he volunteer?” Leah asked, all sweet innocence. I’d always thought she was the nicest one of the group, but now that she was ganging up on me, too…

“The foster…Um, you know, the orphanage.”

“I don’t think they call them orphanages any more, Dilly,” Norma Jane said, her lips pursed.

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