Page 54 of Love Unforgettable
Chapter 18
Cole
Dinner with Lexie was great. And my God if I didn’t want nothing more than to kiss her at the end of the night, but I’m playing this smart and taking it slow. I know she’s attracted to me, but she also says she’s still in love with the other guy. I don’t even want to say his name. The one who remains my competition, akaTOWRMC. He puts a real wrench in my plans to be sure.
Lexie’s winery is hosting a wine event tonight forTOWRMCto announce he’s taking over as the new vet. This I know from Miss Mavis, God bless that woman for her plucky spirit, and for noticing I’d taken a liking to Lexie and then not so subtly suggesting I act accordingly. I adore that woman, but I’ll be damned if she can’t talk the ears off a mule.
My plan is to escort both Babs and Miss Mavis to this event, then spend the rest of the evening showing Lexie that I’m the right choice. Truth be told, there’s no comparison between him and I. I know this already and I’ve never even met him. I just need Lexie to know it too. Plus, to hear Miss Mavis tell it,TOWRMCis so dense he couldn’t hit the floor even if he fell out of bed.
I shower, put on clean jeans, white tee, my lucky rodeo belt and buckle, and head out the door to pick up my two dates for the evening.
* * *
Somehow, I’d plum forgotten what it was like to be in confined quarters with both Babs and Mavis. I picked them up at their condo building and have now got them both stuffed into my truck cab with me; backtracking my route to get to the side of town where the winery is. And where I started from.
Having them both sitting in the front seat, Mavis between Babs and me, will surely teach me to find a car to use in the future when I’m toting them around. They are like two widowed peas in a pod. Except one pea is a persnickety, Jewish busy-body and the other pea is a nosey southern belle out of Georgia. Long out of Georgia I might add, with stretches in Texas and now California. But you know what they say, you can take the girl out of the south, but you can’t take the south out of the girl.
Regardless, neither has stopped talking since I helped them into the cab of my truck.
“Oh, Mavis,” Babs says in a not so hushed voice. “Did y’all see the new dress that Marjorie Miller had on at bridge club yesterday? My word. It was so tight across her bottom I do swear I could see all the way to the promise land.” Babs fans her face with her hand to enunciate her point.
“Feh! Since her poor Joseph passed, it’s all short this and tight that. Like a commonnafkaI say. A whore.Oy. It hurts my heart.”
“Maybe she’s just naturally horizontal if y’all know what I mean?” Babs cackles. Mavis joins her. Both cackles quickly turning to coughs.
I turn to look at them. “You okay there, Babs? Miss Mavis?”
Mavis waves her hand at me in a motion that is most certainly annoyed. I hold up a water bottle from the center console, but neither woman takes it.
“You fixin’ to see a doctor about that cough?” I ask. It doesn’t matter to me which one of them answers. I’m concerned about both their health.
“All is fine. You worry so,” Mavis says. She reaches up and palms my cheek, patting it lightly, then turning back toward Babs. “Such a goodboychik. Oh, you have done well, Babs. He will make a wonderful husband for mybubala.”
Now it’s my turn to cough. “The hell? Excuse me? Miss Mavis, I think I may have misunderstood what you just said.”
“Cole Warren Mason, you know better than to use foul language in the presence of a lady.” She reaches behind Mavis across the bench seat and flicks my ear.
“Ow! Jeez, Babs. I was just surprised, that’s all. I mean no disrespect.”
“You apologize, young man.”
“I’m sorry,” I say.
She sits back in her seat, obviously satisfied with her punishment. “Besides,” she continues, “it should come as no surprise that I intend to have a decision in who y’all marry.”
“I’m sorry, did I miss the part where we traveled back in time to when that was an acceptable practice?”
“Ah, is still acceptable in many areas of the world,” Mavis interjects. “Besides, is not force. Is strong suggestion that should not be ignored.Fershtay? Understand?” She reaches over and squeezes my bicep. No comment or follow up gesture, just that.
“And you know that girl is so pretty she’d about make a man plow through a stump,” Babs adds.
Mavis turns to Babs. “I tell you, Babs, no? He watched my Lexie’stucchuswiththelook in his eye.”
“The look?” Babs asks.
“Of a man who wants toshtup! Ha!” Mavis says.
“He wants toshtup!” Babs agrees.
