Page 16 of Moonshine Kiss
“What didn’t they find?”
“No DNA belonging to your dad.”
She leaned against the counter and contemplated. “You still should have told us.”
“I was under direct orders not to say a word. No matter what your stupid brother says about me, I take my job very seriously.”
“He’s real mad, Cass.” Scarlett turned her back on me and began to rummage through the refrigerator that her brother had pinned me to with his very hard—I’d think about that later. No, I wouldn’t. I’d refused to give Bowie more than a passing thought since I was a teenager. No siree. My brain didn’t have enough room for the man. Or his morning wood.
“What are you digging for?” I asked, changing the subject. Bowie being mad at me was something new to our 27-year-old relationship. It didn’t much bother me when anyone else had an axe to grind with me. But it wasn’t sitting well that he was good and pissed.
She pulled out eggs and milk. “If you make me pancakes, I’ll probably forgive you.”
“You forgave me over the coffee,” I reminded her.
“Yeah, but this way I’ll doubly forgive you and I’ll be inclined to share all the dirty details of what Devlin did to me last night.”
My dating life was a disaster. My sex life had coasted on fumes for so long I’d forgotten what an orgasm felt like. Scarlett was my only connection to the world of pleasure…and dating men who weren’t half-wits.
I yawned mightily, giving up on the idea of sleep. “Go snatch the bacon out of your brother’s fridge and you’ve got yourself a deal.”
* * *
Over crispy,pilfered bacon and fluffy pancakes, we caught up on lives that seemed to be moving faster and faster these days.
“How’s living with Devlin?” I asked, swirling a piece of pancake through the river of syrup on my plate.
“Amazing and awful and everything in between,” Scarlett reported cheerfully.
“Awful?”
“The man has more shoes than a Macy’s! I mean, we have rolling racks for his suits in the living room.”
I laughed. The suave, educated, charming Devlin McCallister had been on track for some sort of political post in Washington, D.C. when Scarlett set her sights on him. They were both miles happier with him opening up his own law practice here. Rumor had it, he might be eyeing up Ol’ Judge Carwell’s seat when he hit the residency requirement.
“When are y’all gonna build?” Scarlett and Devlin had bought a pretty piece of lakefront property and spent the last few months arguing over house plans and tile samples.
She rolled her eyes in the direction of my window. “Ground breaking was supposed to happen tomorrow. Thanks, Mother Nature.”
I watched the fat flakes fall from the white sky. “Couple of days and it’ll be gone. You’ll be in your house in no time,” I predicted.
“Let’s hope so before I end up strangling my handsome roommate with one of his nine belts.Nine.Who the hell needs that many ways to hold your pants up?”
I topped off our coffees and pushed my plate away. Too little sleep, too much caffeine, and a pissed off next-door neighbor were wreaking havoc with my insides.
“Bowie said he let you have it this morning,” Scarlett said, beginning her fishing expedition.
“He wasn’t happy with me,” I said cagily. There’d been a time in our lives when Scarlett and I had no secrets about my feelings for her brother. But those days were over. She’d stormed my bedroom two days after Bowie had told me I was basically just another sister to him and demanded to know what the hell my problem was.
I’d never told her what he said to me. But I made her pinkie swear she’d never, ever bring up me marrying Bowie ever again. I reckoned she’d gotten the hint. And true to her word, Scarlett had done what I’d asked. She was a good friend.
“He told me I was a shitty friend,” I admitted. The insult bothered me more than a nest of nettles.
“He holds you to a pretty high standard,” Scarlett said carefully. “Higher than most anyone else. He’s taking it personally that you didn’t come to him with this.”
“Why in the hell would he think I would come to him? He’s not my keeper. If anything, I should have shown up on your doorstep the minute I found out.”
“Yes. You should have.”
