Page 33 of An Inconvenient Plan
Jake butted in again. “Old-fashioned? Maybe you should get advice from the old guy. Dad got Brandy to shack up with him within five weeks, and now they’re getting married.”
Josh met Jake’s eyes, and they cracked up.
“Can you imagine taking woman advice from Dad?” Jake asked.
“He’s been single for years!” Josh said, still laughing. His dad was much worse than he was in the crusty bachelor department.
“Not anymore,” Claire said firmly. “Jake, you told me how your dad appreciated his stepdad treating his mom like a queen. That’s how he treated your mom—”
“Fat lot of good it did him,” Jake said. This was true. Their mom had walked out on them the day after Christmas when Mad was only one, and never looked back.
Claire went on. “And that’s why he took the time to teach you guys gentleman manners. Didn’t he say how important it was to treat women like your little sister with care and respect?”
They got quiet.
“Josh? Jake?”
Josh mumbled, “Yeah,”in unison with Jake. Twin thing.
Claire turned to him. “Josh, is that how you treat Hailey? With care and respect?”
Err…He’d offered his arm to her for an escort more than once. Usually she ignored it though, so he wasn’t sure if that counted. Somehow opening a car door didn’t sound like enough.
Claire spoke in a gentle voice. “Teasing and razzing each other only goes so far.”
He said nothing. It was too damn late to fix this, and it was fast becoming apparent the blame lay at his feet.
“Does she know you care?” Claire asked gently. “Does she know you respect her?” When he remained silent, she added, “Do you care for and respect her?”
Josh pulled his phone from his pocket and tapped it a few times before showing Claire the screen. “Look at the nice things I said about her and her business in theBride Specialinterview.”
Claire’s hazel eyes were sympathetic, her voice so soothing he was beginning to think he’d missed something important with Hailey. “That’s really nice, but have you ever said anything like what you said in this article directly to her?”
“I said it in front of her during the interview.” He turned to Jake, desperate for backup. He couldn’t have completely screwed up everything. “Is that the kind of thing you did with Claire?”
“No.”
Claire sighed loudly. “I didn’t need that. I’m not Hailey. Josh, I know this woman. She wants old-fashioned romance, a courtship.”
Josh shoved his phone back in his pocket and then pulled his T-shirt collar away from his overheated neck. “What is this, the eighteenth century?”
Jake laughed.
Claire shot Jake a quelling look and his twin shut up. She turned back to Josh. “I mean like thoughtfulness. Show up at the Happy Endings Book Club meeting here tomorrow night. Read the book and participate meaningfully. Meet her where she’s at. If you can’t hack the estrogen, you can take breaks to hang with Jake. She needs to know you respect and care about her enough to take an interest in what she loves.”
Jake snorted.
“Honey,” Claire said sweetly, her smile lethal, “could you bring the fruit salad down here for me? And slice some of the Monterey jack cheese too. I need more protein now that I’m eating for two.”
“On it.” Jake bolted from the room.
Josh thought about Claire’s suggestion. Unfortunately for his manly self, everything she’d just said about taking an interest in the girly stuff Hailey loved made a lot of sense, and it was something he hadn’t tried. He’d run out of good ideas, and Claire was presenting a golden one with the insider woman-friend track. Also, it tied in with the embarrassing gift he’d gotten her. Maybe he could slip it into her purse when she wasn’t looking. Shit. This was going to be much harder than his dinner plan, but he was just that desperate.
“How long is the book?” he asked, hoping it wouldn’t take too much time. He had to work tonight and didn’t want to spend an entire Sunday reading a sappy romance.
“Read the fucking book and find out,” Claire snapped. “You have to show effort with her. You want easy, keep flirting with random women who walk into your bar. How’s that working for you?”
He blinked, taken aback by her tone. Tough love from Claire.
