Page 84 of Summer Affair
“He’s with the neighbor.”
“I’m confused. Sammy’s with Clay?” she asked, but Jillian was staring at Piper, who gave anI don’t know who this crazy lady isshrug.
“Don’t say his name,” she hiccupped. “And the other neighbor.”
Darcy started. “Mrs.Lambert?”
“No way. She lets her dog shit in my yard. And yes, I said shit, not doody, because this whole day is a shit day. And Sammy’s not with my neighbor, so much as Margo.”
It went quiet, as though the oxygen had been sucked out of the room. Darcy looked scared, Piper was impressed, and Jillian just wanted to cry. Her emotions were like a pinball ricocheting off the bumpers.
“You woke Margo up at midnight? And you lived to tell the tale?”
“Does she sleep in a lair?” Piper leaned in like Jillian was about to explain the mystery behind the man on the grassy knoll. “Or is it more like one of Dante’s circles?”
“I didn’t see because Eddie woke her up, and before you judge, Margo is a perfectly fine babysitter,” she defended so loudly that both friends shushed her. “She even told me that her son had stones in his head.”
“Margo said that?” Darcy asked, disbelief clear in her tone.
Piper shook her head right as Jillian nodded. But then she thought better of lying, since look where that got her, and sighed. “Fine, Eddie said it, but I pretended it was Margo since I’m kind of into her stupid bulldozer of a bonehead son.”
“Get this. Seems Uncle Eddie is boning Margo?” Piper whispered as if Margo would hear across town and release her winged monkeys.
“He’s courting her,” Jillian corrected as a fresh bucket of tears filled her eyes. “It’s kind of aDriving Miss Daisysituation where they like each other and eat ice cream and hold hands.”
“Do any of her sons know about this?”
“Nope. Absolutely not,” she said at the same time as Gage said, “Yup, we all do.”
Three sets of eyes jerked to the Easton standing in the doorway with bare feet and bedhead. But it wasn’t the Easton Jillian wanted it to be.
Same dark hair, same soft blue eyes, even the same serious look when they were concerned about someone in their life. It was enough to make her heart beat painfully—or have her reconsidering her decision to send Clay to voicemail. Just because they weren’t going to work out didn’t mean her heart wanted him any less.
“Owen knew something was up when Mom started going to her appointments without him. Josh got suspicious when she started skipping dance lessons. So Rhett paid some PI to tail her and that’s when we discovered Eddie,” Gage explained, as Jillian rolled her eyes.
“Why are all men so nosy and self-righteous. Maybe Margo wanted to keep her private life private? Huh? And what if she’s perfectly happy with how things with Eddie are progressing?”
Gage laughed. “Progressing? They haven’t even held hands yet.”
“How do you know?” she challenged.
Gage looked serious as a loaded gun. “We’re paying that PI a hundred bucks an hour to know. And trust me, if anything beyond a few harmless rides happens, we’re going to have a serious come to Jesus meeting with your uncle.”
Jillian snorted. “Good luck with that. Uncle Eddie has shit turds bigger than you and your brothers. Plus, why is it any of your business how fast or slow they decide to take it? It’s not like five big idiots can stop love.”
Gage took a beat, a very long, very assessing beat. His empathetic expression was from a man who’d clearly heard all about the heart-wrenching tale of the Soccer Mom and the Town Stud, and how she’d kicked him out of bounds. “You doing okay?”
She went chin up. “Are you asking or is Clay asking?”
“Maybe a little of both.”
“Then my answer is,” she dug through the garbage and located her cards. “Absolutely, positively …” This time thenotwas an inside thought because rule one ofHear Me Roarstates, “The trick to moving on is to make everyone believe that you’ve moved on.” Especially people who talk to the person that you’ve moved on from. “Absolutely, positively, a-okay. In fact, I made a decision tonight.”
“Maybe it would be better to save any and all decisions until after you sober up,” Darcy suggested.
“Don’t waste your breath,” Piper said. “I tried to reason with her the entire ride over. Even when she mooned the taxi next to us.”
When Gage chuckled, Jillian skewered him with a look, and he immediately sobered. Darcy didn’t bother to hide her amusement. “You mooned a taxi?”
