Page 59 of Leave It to Us
“But couldn’t they have just walked to each other’s house, met at the halfway point in the road? I don’t know. It just seems peculiar that they’d be writing each other letters,” Lana said.
“When did you get so close to Deacon’s mother that you started calling her Mama Jo?” Tami asked, extremely interested in what seemed like a new development between Yvonne and their contractor.
“That’s a good question,” Lana added.
Yvonne moved, pulling on the pillows so that a little more of the four that were on the bed were in the middle beneath her. “I went to dinner at his mother’s house tonight. And before you ask more questions, the food was delicious. I brought you both back some carrot cake. He has a sister who’s really nice, a daddy who’s just as handsome as Deacon is—and no, I’m not sleeping with him.”
“You could’ve just started with that last part,” Lana said.
“Really.” Tami sighed. “Because you should probably just go ahead and sleep with the man. Put y’all both out of y’all’s sexually frustrated misery.”
“What?” Yvonne nudged Tami. “I am not sexually frustrated.”
“Gurl, you are wound tighter than a violin cord,” Lana said.
“I know, right!” Tami couldn’t help but chime in. “And it’s not like you didn’t bring your little toys with you, but I swear they must not be working, because you be staring at Deacon like you want to sop him up with a biscuit all day long.”
Lana laughed so loud and long Tami thought Yvonne was going to push both of them out of the bed.
“First of all, little girl, you are still nosy as hell. How did you know what was packed in my bag? And second, I do not stare at him all day long. I get just as much work done around here as the two of you do.” Yvonne’s ire was clouded by the laughter tingeing her voice.
“Noooo,” Lana cut in, still a little out of breath from her laughing fest. “You definitely be eyeing that guy. But it’s cool, because I’ve seen him watching you the same way. And what’s wrong with that? You’re both consenting adults. I say go for it.”
“I say that too,” Tami added.
“What you didn’t say was how you knew what was in my suitcase,” Yvonne continued.
Tami chuckled. “I have the right to remain silent and not incriminate myself.”
Their chatter went on for another hour or so, and by seven o’clock, Yvonne’s ridiculously early alarm was going off, and the three of them jumped out of bed, getting the day started way too early.
Chapter 21
LANA
“Termites!” Lana screeched. “This house has freakin’ termites!”
Deacon stared at her for a moment—his brows raised, eyes wide—before he shook his head and held up both hands. “I’m not gonna tell you to calm down, because I’ve learned from my sister that it’s not the best thing to say to a woman.”
When Lana’s, Yvonne’s, and Tami’s brows raised, he cleared his throat.
“Shit. What I meant was, you’re entitled to your feelings, and I respect them.” He lowered his hands and then turned away from all three of them.
“See,” he said when he stopped walking near the corner of the house, where it looked like someone had run one of those golf carts into it, creating a crumbling hole of wood and cracked siding. “Tami was here on Saturday when Hitch, Jamie, and Frank dug up this trench, and then because of what they saw down below—”
“Termites,” Tami said with a nod.
“Wait, you’ve known we’ve had termites for two days, and you just didn’t think that was something you should mention to us?” Lana asked, shooting her gaze at Tami now.
“Is this the problem you told me you were getting a solution to the other night? Because right now I’m not hearing a solution—I’m just seeing a huge hole in the house and an even bigger hole in the ground, which we conveniently managed to avoid during our walk yesterday,” Yvonne said.
“Ladies,” Deacon said in a stern tone that had all of them clapping their mouths shut. Then, because he was probably thinking better of that too, he ran a hand down his face. “Yes, there’s a termite problem. We believe it’s isolated in this area of the house.”
“How do you know that? You haven’t ripped up any more parts of the house without telling us, have you? Are there more holes in the ground around the estate?” Lana asked.
Deacon shot her a glare, then relaxed his shoulders. “Look, me and the guys spent this morning going around the entire house, checking small portions to see if there was any evidence of further infestation. We didn’t find any, but just to be sure, we called the professionals, and they’re coming out first thing tomorrow morning to further assess.” He stepped away from the house and slipped his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. “What I can tell you today is that the plumbing work that we knew from the start was needed is going to run us roughly twelve thousand. Now, we only had eight in the budget for this, but we’re moving the laundry room upstairs, so we have to run piping up there now.”
Lana swore and rubbed her fingers over her temples. She hadn’t had a headache in a couple of days, but she still felt like crap and desperately wanted to go home.
