Page 52 of Mountain Daddy
Dad lifts a finger to interrupt, and I almost laugh at the exasperation on Luther’s face. “I think it’s like six hotels.”
I pull an impressed expression. “Damn. A real hotelier.”
Luther leans back in his chair. “Hardly that. Just needed something to do after I sold my construction company.”
Dad sighs as he rubs his full stomach. “One of these years, I’ll get him to take me to his place in Vail for a romantic weekend.”
“Next anniversary,” Luther replies.
“We have an anniversary?”
Luther shakes his head. “This is why I don’t take you.”
I bite down on the tip of my tongue because these two are too much.
Dad scoots his chair back. “You got plans today, Kenny? Want to come fishing with us?”
“Oh, god no,” I blurt out. Because no. Stuck in a boat with these two, or standing in a river, or however the fuck they fish, sounds like the absolute worst way to spend my day. “Sorry, I mean, no, thank you.”
Dad just laughs as he stands. “Fine, fine.”
Before he can pick up his plate, I hold my hand out. “I’ll clean up. You guys go play with your rods.”
Chapter 28
Luther
Driving here.Launching the boat. Sitting on the water. Eating cold salami sandwiches for lunch.
I don’t remember any of it.
If you asked me how many fish I caught and threw back, I couldn’t answer.
If the details in Joe’s stories meant the difference between me going to prison and me walking free… lock me up, because I couldn’t repeat a single word.
But if someone asked me to describe every stitch of clothing Kendra was wearing this morning, it would be the easiest thing in the world.
With her father a few feet away, securing the boat to the trailer, I close my eyes and picture how she looked stepping out of the hallway.
Her bare toes were painted the same light bluish-purple color as her fingernails.
I can’t remember looking at her toes the night her legs were wrapped around me.
Maybe they were already that color.
Maybe she painted them herself.
Maybe she sat on her bed in her underwear, one heel pressing into the mattress as she bit her lip to concentrate?—
“Ready?” Joe’s voice cuts into my fantasy.
Wait, fantasy?
Am I into feet?
“Ready,” I reply in a totally normal voice.
Climbing into the passenger seat of Joe’s truck, my mind wanders back to Kendra’s outfit and how I could see her bra through her shirt. Proving I really could recall every stitch of clothing she was wearing… except for her panties.
