Page 73 of A Lesson for Laurel

“Dude, you put her up to that,” Abe said.

She didn’t know what was going on.

“No,” Easton said. “I didn’t. I really didn’t. She has no idea why I’m laughing and you’re looking green.”

“What am I missing?”

“One night when it was Abe’s turn to cook, he decided to make a salad. He hadn’t thought anything of the fact that the lettuce was wilted and really wet.”

“Eww,” she said.

“Yeah. He made the salad and put brown broccoli in it too. A bag that had been pushed to the back and was turning.”

“I’m going to gag,” she said.

“He put it on the table with dinner and made his plate before the rest of us could get there. He wanted to be a suck-up and show that he was eating good and my aunt would say what a great kid he was.”

“No,” Abe said. “I was doing it to prove a point to Dad.”

“You’re the one that went running from the room,” Easton said, laughing again. “He’d had like five bites of it and my aunt came over and asked what the hell that was doing on the table.”

“It had to be obvious it was bad,” she said.

“Abe had put dressing on it and covered it up, but the broccoli stunk so bad. I’m not sure how he ate it. Once Aunt Carrie told him it was rotten, he got up and ran to the bathroom and threw it up.”

“You’ve not eaten broccoli since, have you?” she asked.

“No,” Abe said. “And not whatever lettuce that was either.”

“It was one of those spring mixes and some of the leaves were dark and slimy,” Easton said.

“Okay, no more,” she said. “I love salad and that will stop me from eating it too. I only said what I had because most men don’t like salads and was joking.”

“The joke is still on me,” Abe said.

“I promise no salads then. I’ll save them for Easton.”

“Good,” Abe said. “Sitting on his ass all day, he shouldn’t be eating much more than rabbit food.”

Easton shoved Abe and the two of them started to wrestle around the kitchen.

Oh man. Now that was sexy, but she only had eyes for one man.

Her man.

25

WORKED IT OUT

“I’m so glad you’re back,” Liam said. “I’m not sure I’ve gone this long without seeing you since we’d go home for summer break.”

“Probably not,” he said.

Easton was at Liam and Nicole’s house. He’d gotten home by eleven and unpacked. Most of his clothes were clean since he’d done laundry before he picked Abe up at the airport.

The last thing he wanted to do was have to deal with chores when he walked in the door.

He’d run to the store and gotten food, then sat his ass on the couch and was thankful to be home.

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