Page 50 of Need You
“Too bad. She seems nice and it’s high time you got over Lisa.”
“I’m over Lisa.” Just not what she’d done to him . . . what she’d taken.
TJ did the eyebrow thing again. Luckily, Josh came in, distracting everyone.
“Where are the bear claws?” Josh asked, perusing the assortment of pastries.
“In Colt’s stomach,” TJ replied. “He ate the only one.”
“Asshole,” Josh called across the conference room. “I’m the one going under the knife next week.”
“I heard.”
Josh’s doctors wanted to do another operation on his leg. There was a chance that the surgery would significantly improve his mobility. Colt knew that even more than the pain, the limp bothered Josh the most. No one thought less of him—his brother was a war hero, for God’s sake—but to Josh it was akin to losing his manhood.
“But I didn’t realize the surgery was next week,” Colt said.
“They want to move quickly while there is still some elasticity left in my muscles.”
“It’s good, right?”
“If it goes as well as my doctor thinks it will, it’ll be better than good.”
“What’ll be good?” His mother walked in at the tail end of Josh’s sentence and kissed Colt on the cheek. “I haven’t seen you in a while.”
“Been up to my neck in alligators,” he said.
Mary turned. “Josh?”
“I was just telling Colt about the surgery next week.”
Her expression lit up. “Isn’t it wonderful how fast they want to do it?” They’d all been devastated by Josh’s injury.
“Yep,” Colt said, a little choked up.
“And what’s this I hear about the mayor saying you can’t be part of our team for the kayak races?” Mary asked.
“He wants me to race a kayak for the police department. You’ll have to live without me this year.”
Since he was the best kayaker in the Garner family, it would be a big loss. The good news was he couldn’t beat his brothers with Jack as his teammate. Jack was an amazing skier but he couldn’t paddle worth a damn.
“I never liked that man Mr. Pond and voted for Ken Jenner,” Mary said.
“Pond is who we’re stuck with, so for now I’m playing by his rules,” Colt said. “Where’s Dad?”
“He’s taking a group parasailing, and because I’ve got a pile of work on my desk, I’m going to duck out and let you boys run the meeting,” Mary said.
“Okay, Mom.” He kissed the top of her head.
“And you don’t be a stranger. I get to see your brothers at work every day, but I’m missing my eldest. Come by the house one of these nights, Colt, and I’ll fix you dinner.”
“Will do.”
As she sailed out of the room, she called, “Don’t fight.”
Win looked over the pastries while drinking his green smoothie. He was addicted to the repulsive drinks. “We ready to do this? I’ve got a mountain bike group I’m taking out in an hour.”
“Yeah,” TJ said. “Let’s get started. But maybe Colt should leave if he’s competing against us. I wouldn’t want him to know our strategy.”
