Page 53 of How Dare You

“Someone who owns a coffee shop,” Devon says, groaning in realization. “Sadie still has the key you gave her. I bet they’re all coming.”

“They’re all, who’s—” The sound of gravel crunching on the other side of the hill stops my question. “Get inside, I’ll handle this.” She rushes inside without protest.

I manage to shove the remnants of last night’s uneaten dinner under the lid of the barbeque, and I’ve just tucked my boxers into my pocket when a car I don’t recognize pulls around the hill. It feels like I got caught with my girlfriend in high school. I try running my hands through my hair, but I’m sure it won’t look combed.

The car comes to a stop, and immediately Sadie, Bea, Allie, and Luke come pouring out of the car, followed by three dogs. She really did mean everyone. I finally got my fortress of a woman to let her guard down, got to experience her, feel her unravel, and then her friends showed up and cut it off.

“I hope the dogs are okay,” Allie says, wrangling her little brown puppy, Spaghetti, onto a leash. “We tried asking Devon last night, but she hasn’t been responding to texts or calls.” She scrunches her face at me accusingly.

“Dogs are good,” I say, running my fingers through my hair uselessly again. “Everybody’s welcome.”

“Thanks, Rhett.” Luke shakes my hand that definitely has the lingering scent of Devon’s perfect sex on it. I shove it in my back pocket. “I know they kind of sprung this on you.”

“Even so, would it have killed you to wear a shirt?” Allie asks. Bea says something to her under her breath that has them both giggling as they walk past me, each with a dog on a leash. Betty has wandered over to the pavers and sprawled under the shade of the daybed that still has a crumpled blanket and pillows strewn across it.

Sadie comes over, a canvas bag of food balanced on her hip. She looks up at me under the brim of a straw hat, tucking wild pink hair behind her ear. “Where’s our girl?”

“Still getting ready,” I wave a hand toward the trailer.

“Really? Did she start sleeping in?” she asks.

“Not sure what sleeping in means for Devon.” I shrug. “Most days she’s still in bed when I leave to work on the house.”

Sadie leans around my shoulder, looking at the trailer. “The house?”

“What house?” Allie asks, wrangling her squirming puppy back in my direction.

Bea and her fluffy white dog follow. “Yeah, I’ve been wondering about that,” she adds.

“The house I’m building.” I tilt my head as the three of them look at me with varying degrees of confusion. The reason Devon’s out here.” Still no recognition. “What did you think you were dropping her out here for?”

“Well, she needed a break,” Allie says, a little defensively, “and she owed you those two weeks, and you—” She snaps her mouth shut instead of finishing her sentence. I can’t help but laugh.

Luke comes up beside her, carrying a cooler. “You didn’t know about the house? What did you drop her here for?”

Allie’s hands prop on her hips, tilting her head back almost comically far to look Luke in the eye. “You knew about the house? Why didn’t you tell me?”

He kisses her forehead, then calmly explains, “I thought you knew. He’s only staying in the trailer while he builds the house.” He looks over to me. “Where can I put this?”

“Anywhere in the shade is good.” I point him toward the patio, accidentally drawing his eyeline across our rumpled bedding. I look to him to for recognition, but he doesn’t react, just walks toward the shade. I’m happy for anyone to know, hell for everyone to know what’s happening with Devon and me. But I doubt she’s ready to admit it to herself, let alone share with her friends. Even if I want to claim her as mine, I know she’s not. Not yet.

I check the windows of the trailer for any sign of how close to coming back outside she is, but the curtains are closed. My eyes land on my t-shirt, discarded between the chairs.

“Finally,” Bea scoffs when she sees me pull it over my head, the sentiment so similar to the way my sisters tease me that I wonder if she has little brothers, too.

“Alright,” Allie claps her hands. “That’s long enough.” As if on cue, the door to the trailer opens and Devon steps out, looking more put together than most people do after getting a full night of sleep in a proper bed. Her hair is styled into her usual waves, and she wears army green shorts and a loose tank with a tie at the center that leave miles of fair skin on display in between.

In the midst of her friends hugging her, scolding her for not answering her phone, asking what she’s been up to, she finds my eyes and offers a conspiratorial smile.

Devon

“Are you two hungry?” Sadie asks, smiling brightly.

The dinner Rhett cooked last night went largely untouched, so we both reply in the affirmative, perhaps a little too eagerly. When he starts to list things he can cook for everyone, she cuts him off, saying, “No, silly. We brought food.”

In a few minutes we’re all squeezed in around the picnic table, drinking individualized coffees Allie brought and eating bagels and mini quiches I’m sure Sadie baked from scratch. Butterflies flutter in my stomach when Rhett leans over to me from the end of the table, where he’s pulled up a teak folding chair. “Hard to be mad at them for showing up unannounced with a spread like this.”

Sadie pipes up from across the table. “It was not unannounced.”

---