Page 64 of Forever Finds Us
Bea glared at me. If there was one thing she hated, it was disingenuousness. She didn’t play games and didn’t suffer others who did.
“So how do you and my son know each other?” Merv asked Gina as everyone sat and Abey poured red wine in a glass in front of Gina and one for Tab. Everybody else drank beer or water. Bea kept her eyes on Gina, ready to claw the woman’s eyes out if she tried to cause a scene.
“Oh, we go way back,” Gina said, smiling. “Don’t we, Brand?” Of course she’d chosen the seat directly across from me that would give her the best view of Roxanne. She wouldn’t risk losing our attention.
Tab answered for me. “Gina and Brand worked together up in Sheridan,” she said. “Gina’s an architect, and she’s been the lead on a few of the projects Lee Construction has built for Wy Not Homes. Oh, and they dated a few times.”
Gina huffed a laugh “‘A few times’? We were practically living together.”
Roxanne hadn’t said a word, and now she pulled her hand from mine and dropped it into her lap, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw her fingers begin their tapping.
“No,” I said, lifting Roxanne’s hand again, yanking it from her lap and into mine, where it belonged. “We weren’t.”
“I mean, basically,” Gina said with an awkward laugh. She’d never known me to be argumentative. “Anyway, now we’re working together again on Brand’s new project here in Wisper, so you’ll be seeing a lot of me.”
Merv must have picked up on the tension between Gina and me. She was side-eyeing Gina. She probably didn’t like that I’d brought a date to dinner, but if you fucked with her sons, Merv would break kneecaps for that offense.
It looked like Merv had been about to question Gina, but then we heard a deep voice coming from the front of the house.
“Hello? Anybody home? Sorry I’m late.”
How many fucking people had been invited to this family dinner? But I’d been lucky to find Clay Marveaux last year, and he was one of my favorite foremen. He appeared around the side of the house and dabbed at the drops of sweat on his face with an old-fashioned, white, cloth handkerchief when he saw the big group of us all sitting around the table.
“Oh. There y’all are.”
Merv’s face turned beet red, and she stared daggers at Bea, who was turning out to be just as meddlesome as her mother-in-law.
Bea stood and smiled widely at Clay. “Clay, so glad you could make it. Grab a chair. You’re not late. We just sat down.”
Clay looked uncomfortable, but he grabbed the only open seat left, the one next to Merv. He gripped the chairback, pulled it out, and sat, smiling at my mama like a love-struck idiot.
Bax and Athena served dinner—Caesar salad, garlic bread, and lasagna, but only salad and grilled chicken breast for Merv—while Gina watched Roxanne and me, studying the dynamic between us, and Clay watched Merv.
Tab chattered away with Abey and Devo, thanking them again for inviting her because she had been feeling a little homesick, something she’d failed to mention to me. I would’ve invited her if I hadn’t been so wrapped up in Roxanne.
Bea jumped headfirst into the awkwardness. “You know, Merv, Clay here organized a walkin’ club through the community center. I hope he won’t mind me sayin’ so, but Clay has heart issues, too, so he wanted to do somethin’ to better his own health and offer a friendly face for people who wanna exercise but don’t know where to start. Isn’t that nice?”
And now I was sure Bax and Bea had somehow planned for the only available seat to be next to Merv’s. I watched Clay nodding and smiling at Merv, and I realized he had stars in his eyes for my mama.
“That’s nice,” Merv said, and she glanced at Clay, but her eyes dropped quickly back to her plate.
She seemed a little nervous, but we’d had several conversations about how she could get started on an exercise routine. I’d offered to buy her a treadmill or an elliptical machine, or both, but she’d balked at the expense. Clay’s walking club was the perfect alternative. He said the small group hiked easy trails around the area or downtown, and in the winter, the community center offered the use of its meager gym and two treadmills. If she agreed to join Clay, I was already planning on donating more exercise equipment to the center. Shit, if she’d use it, I’d build an entire fitness center inside Ace’s House for Merv.
Devo would be giddy since she worked as the community center’s assistant director and was a staunch advocate for her community.
“That’s a great idea, Bea,” Devo said. “Merv, you should join Clay and the others. They walk four times a week.”
“Oh, I dunno,” Merv mumbled. “I’m not much for big groups.”
“It’s not big, Mrs. Lee,” Clay offered. “There’s only three of us. If you join us, you’d make four. We’d love to have you.”
Truth be told, Merv was probably shy. She didn’t really have friends, and she hated relying on people for anything. Except for my little sister.
Maybe it was because Abey was a woman, but Merv had no problem expecting Abey’s help with whatever she needed: a ride, someone to go grocery shopping with, someone to accompany her to a doctor appointment. It was unusual for her to depend on one of her sons, though, lately that seemed to be changing. But secretly, I knew Abey loved it. Despite their differences, she and Merv had a closeness Bax and I didn’t have with Merv, but now that she and Devo were married, Abey couldn’t always come running when Merv called. It was right that Bax and I picked up the slack.
“I’m not a Mrs. anymore,” Merv mumbled to Clay. “Call me Mervella.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, blushing. “Mervella.”
