Page 6 of Under the Influence

“Well, you kinda have to say that, don’t you?”

“Like how you defended Val?”

“No, that’s different. He’s my grown cousin. I could admit he’s a loser without feeling any guilt. A man should never trash-talk his kid. It’s not the same thing.”

“Fair enough, but Lola has more qualities than faults.”

“Well, okay, then.”

Frowning, I demand, “Why do we sound like we’re arguing?”

Edith surprises me with a smile. “I don’t know,” she says and then drops her grin. “It must be my natural warmth.”

Flinching as if I’ve slapped her, Edith backs away. She’s gotten herself all worked up over old hurts.

“A woman with your qualities shouldn’t settle,” I say and gulp down the moonshine to keep from caring too much over how I can’t be the guy to make Edith Mooney happy. “You need to stay away from the guys in my club.”

“So, you’re saying there isn’tanyonein Basin Rock worth stalking?” she asks as her gaze rips away all pretense. “You can’t think of asingleman in your life who might have the right stuff?”

Could I ask Edith out for a meal? Why don’t we test this thing between us? I feel the undercurrent of need coming from her. This hunger doesn’t only belong to me.

I imagine us in a restaurant, sitting across from each other, talking like normal people. We don’t have to be Lola’s dad and Val’s cousin. We can be a man and a woman with an ache to be filled.

Except I know who I am and what the McGraw family gets in the end. This need between Edith and I is temporary. We can’t last because no one in my family ever gets past the passion. We have wild fun, yet we never stick the landing.

I hate myself for being sensible. If I were younger and selfish, I’d drag this woman’s heart through the wringer just so I might enjoy her company for a short time. Unfortunately, I feel how much she wants love, marriage, children, everything. That won’t happen with me, and she can’t find someone else if she’s hung up on a dead end.

“No, I can’t think of anyone,” I say, and Edith’s gaze doesn’t hide her hopes crashing down. “Maybe leaving home will give you what you need.”

Edith doesn’t even tell me goodbye. Swinging around, she marches away from me and doesn’t look back. The worst part is how I let her go.

EDITH, AKA HOT AND BOTHERED

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Have I come down with the flu? Ever since Val’s engagement party, I’ve been overheated. I feel flustered even when nothing is happening around me. I’ve never called in sick before. Instead of work, I hide in my family home and watch “The Real Housewives of Dubai.” No matter what is happening around me, my thoughts return to Duke McGraw.

I botched my plan! I was supposed to interview the younger men in the club. I never even considered the Blood-Red Suns’ president. Tuesday talked about Duke as if he were old like a grandpa. I guess technically he’s old enough to have a grandchild. His daughters are twenty-three and nineteen. But Duke isn’t old, and he is the dreamy kind of handsome.

I couldn’t believe he was real and lived in the same county. We’d almost met on several occasions, but I did my best to avoid the Blood-Red Suns. My pa always warned me about the other club.

“They’re young horny dipshits,” he’d say to me.

I heard him say something similar to my older brothers, but he usually skipped the “horny” part.

So, I dodged those men for years. Tuesday didn’t feel such fear. She is naturally mouthy like her ma. I’m smarter like mine. Yet, following the rules has left me lonely for years.

Of course, meeting Duke has changed nothing besides me knowing what I’m missing.

Once Duke’s blue eyes focused on me, I felt swept up in a storm of emotions. He’s so casually handsome. His deep-blue eyes are lined with thick lashes. His powerfully built body filled out his black T-shirt and jeans. I noticed a few grays in his otherwise thick brown hair. He was clean-shaven, but I suspect he’d look as sexy with a stubbled jaw. I ached with need as soon as he entered my space.

Despite feeling dumbfounded by his good looks, I remembered to put the bait out on the hook for him. I felt him nibbling at the line. I wanted Duke to validate what I was feeling. Yet, he ended up suggesting I find someone in another town.

Now what? Did I want to move?No, not really.Arcadia is a ritzy town, but the homestead is where my heart belongs. If I stay here, though, I won’t find anyone. That’s assuming I’m actually sick rather than lovestruck over Duke McGraw.

“Did you like any of the sweaty bikers?” Tuesday asks, visiting me after I miss work. “Is this why you look like you’re in heat?”

“Leave me alone, hussy.”

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