Page 27 of Deacon

“Ohh. That’s a good one.”

“Or if we decide to order out and make it easy, loser has to do the cleanup.”

“That makes it even better.”

“I thought you might like it.”

“First one to get their guy to goof off and be silly with them wins?”

“First one to get their guy to goof off and be silly and take pictures, wins. The pictures part is important because they can be used for blackmail material later. But this is more than just a little fun today.”

“What do you mean?” Ava frowned at her.

“Think of it this way. We’re setting a standard. We are both early in our relationships, if we can convince them to cut loose, to be silly and have fun with us they’re more likely to do it again. You have to remember that Cowboy and Deke grew up together. The two of them together aren’t like they are with some of the other brothers. They are closer. They’ve been through a lot more together.”

“And you were there for most of it.” Ava looked sad, as if she regretted not knowing as much about their men.

“As the annoying little sister that they couldn’t wait to ditch. Deke started actively avoiding me when I was about seventeen. Then I was gone for a long time. Besides, things are different now, Deke and I are working on rebuilding our relationship with an entirely different dynamic. Not my brother’s best friend and the annoying little sister, but lovers, partners.” She turned to watch where the two men were now looking at the bikes, talking about something having to do with the machines from their hand gestures. The wind blew their words away and she couldn’t hear them.

“You love him, don’t you?” The wonder in Ava’s voice made Lisa look back to her.

“Is it that obvious?”

“I don’t know, maybe only to someone who’s recently found themselves feeling the same way.” She turned and watched the men too.

“I’ve loved him for nearly fifteen years. And he never knew.”

“Does he now?”

“Yeah, but only because I told him. Last night in fact.”

“What did he say?”

“Not much, but I didn’t expect him to. I kind of blindsided him with it.”

“Just so you know, he watches you the same way you watch him. If he hasn’t told you yet, it’s probably because he doesn’t know.”

“That wouldn’t surprise me. Men are not the fastest and clues are pointless. I learned that a long time ago.”

“You aren’t kidding. I’d been married almost ten years before I figured that out. And that’s not even why he’s my ex.”

Lisa wanted to know what had happened but wasn’t going to ask. Eventually she’d get to know Ava enough that she would volunteer the story. That would be soon enough for her.

21

“You know they’re up to something, don’t you?”

Deacon turned and looked at Cowboy. He was leaning against the end of a picnic table watching Lisa and Ava dance in a circle holding hands while they sang a children’s rhyme. After a moment they purposely fell to the ground, still holding hands and giggling. He shot his oldest friend a look that said he wasn’t born yesterday.

“I know and I don’t care.” He turned back to where the girls sat in the tall grass, still giggling. If her own brother couldn’t see that Lisa needed this, especially after the day before, Deacon wasn’t going to be the one to tell him. If he could do something to make her this happy, he was going to do it.

She and Ava had gotten off the bikes every few miles and danced around, taken pictures with every statue and generally had a good time. In some ways they’d acted like kids, but who cared?

“Deke, come dance with me!” Lisa waved him toward her.

Deacon shook his head but went anyway.

“We don’t have any music to dance to, bumblebee.”

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