Page 27 of Forever Never
“Uncle Brick, do you like boys or girls?” Ian asked as if he were conducting a prime-time interview.
Brick felt the harsh burn of an invisible spotlight. “I, uh. Girls?”
“You don’t sound very sure about that,” Kimber teased.
“Girls,” he said again, more forcefully.
“Mom and Grandma say it’s a shame you haven’t dated anyone since your divorce,” Hadley recited to the table.
Remi snorted into the bottom of her drink then coughed. “Excuse me. I think I need a refill.”
“Remind me never to say anything in front of your big ears again, traitor,” Kimber said, feigning a glare at her daughter.
“Sorry, Uncle Brick,” Hadley said with a small smile.
“It’s. Uh. Fine. So what about you? Girls or boys?” he asked.
She shrugged daintily. “I’m not sure. I haven’t met the right one of either yet.”
“Take your time,” Darlene advised with a sage poke of her fork in her granddaughter’s direction. “There’s no rush. Your Aunt Remi was boy-crazy when she was a teenager.”
Remi had just reappeared in the dining room door with a full glass in time to hear her mom’s comment. “Nope. Not enough alcohol,” she muttered under her breath and disappeared again.
She returned a minute later with a full glass and the cocktail shaker.
Her hip brushed his arm when she sat. He ignored the lick of fire that blazed through him at the contact. But he couldn’t ignore the peek of stomach he saw just below the hem of her sweatshirt. Brick’s mouth went dry.
She pulled both knees into her chest and took a long sip of her fresh drink.
“Remi, for Pete’s sake, can’t you eat one meal with both feet on the floor?” Darlene said in exasperation. “You’re setting a bad example.”
On cue, Ian put his socked feet on the table.
“Ian Gilbert,” Kimber said in her most threatening mom voice.
“Aunt Remi started it,” Ian said, all innocence.
“Remington Honeysuckle,” Kimber said sternly.
The sisters exchanged quick grins, and Remi put her feet on the floor, her knee brushing his beneath the table.
While Gilbert and Darlene quizzed Kimber about her latest home renovation project, Brick leaned in as close as he dared to Remi. “What caused the accident?” he asked, keeping his voice low.
She looked at him sideways.
“The roads were icy. Another car accidentally hit us from behind and pushed us into a guard rail. Can you pass the gravy, please?”
He handed her the gravy boat and watched her bobble it with her left hand. Taking it back from her, he poured it over the turkey she’d barely touched. “Must have been going pretty fast if the impact broke your arm,” he observed.
“Actually,” she said, leveling him with a guileless stare. “I fell getting out of the car, but it sounds cooler to say it was the accident.”
She was definitely lying.
“What’s your friend’s name?” he pressed.
He watched several emotions flit over her face, one after the other, before she lowered her chin. “Leave it alone, Brick.”
“Why?”
