Page 23 of Make it Real
I’d for sure told her both of them were married, only to keep her pushy hands off my back when it came to Jed. If she’d known every get together with Harper’s extended family had involved a handsome, funny, very single man, she never would have stopped bringing him up.
“You confused me with my brother? Harsh.”
Jed’s perpetual grin said he wasn’t too worried about it. By now, I was pretty well convinced the man never worried about anything.
“You do look a lot alike.”
They really did. Both tall with dark hair and warm eyes, Jed had a little more laughter in his expression where Wade tended to look more skeptical. Wade was stockier, too, more muscular in an obvious way, in contrast with Jed’s leanness. They sure weren’t similar enough I’d ever mix the two up, though.
“But I’m more handsome, right?”
I made a so-so gesture. “In certain lighting.”
His chuckle worked through me like a sparkler, but a bony elbow to my ribs interrupted the moment. Rita stood next to me, eyebrows raised, impatiently waiting.
Right. Introductions.
“Jed, these are my gran’s friends, Linda, Carmen, and Rita.”
He shook hands all around, exchanging quick greetings with each woman. They cooed over him in generous approval, gray heads nodding over his every word. Rita, in particular, seemed reluctant to let him go, holding his hand in both of hers while her eyelashes batted away. Hopefully, poor Stan would never know how quickly he’d been forgotten.
“You’ve been holding out on us.” She spoke to me, but her eyes never left Jed.
“You mean she’s been holding out on me.” He grinned down at her, charm shooting from his eyeballs like twinkly missiles zeroing straight in on their hearts. “I had no idea she had such lovely roommates.”
Even Granny, who I privately thought of as the most sensible of the crew, tittered along with her friends. Truly, Jed had too much charisma for his own good.
“Where did you find this one, Callie?” Rita asked, still staring into his face as though unable to look away. Also, still squeezing his hand.
“We’ve known each other a while now.” I subtly nudged her to release her grip on him since it seemed unlikely she’d opt to do it herself. “We met at Harper’s family Christmas party. We didn’t talk all that much then, but we’ve run into each other a few times. On that hike we did a couple months ago we talked a little more, and—”
Carmen patted my shoulder. “We don’t need the whole history, just the abridged version will do.”
“Right,” I said brightly, mentally crossing out the rest of my explanation. It didn’t really matter anyway, since he’d already won them over in five minutes flat.
“What is it you do, Jed?” Gran asked.
“I work on our family farm, Evans Orchards.”
That earned a few more coos of approval. Their farm was pretty well known around here, and warranted at least one visit during peach season.
“You’ve been doing that a while, I suppose?”
“Only the last few years. Before that, I was in the Army.”
They spoke as one thanking him for his service, which Jed accepted with a modest nod. He seemed to have a healthy ego about a lot of things, but his time in the Army wasn’t one. I kind of respected him even more for how humbly he treated it.
“Were you ever stationed overseas?” Linda asked. One of her grandsons was currently based out of someplace in Germany.
“Yes, ma’am.”
Rita leaned forward. “Ever see combat?”
His mouth shifted the tiniest bit, his smile off just a touch. I’d heard the answer to that question from June and the girls, but he sure didn’t need to go into detail for the sake of my gran and her friends’ idle curiosity.
“That’s all the questions for now, we’ve got to go.” Crossing to him, I put both my hands on his bicep, urging him out the door. He wasn’t a bulky guy, but the man didn’t budge an inch for all my pushing.
“Callie Louise,” Gran said, her voice thick with a reprimand over my rudeness.
