Page 87 of My Three Hometown Hard Hats
She brushes a few strands of hair away from her face. “Yes, I’m just… processing.”Is she blushing?
“Okay. I just wanted to let you know that I’m going to head out with my guys.”
“Guys… three of them… right…” she says, staring at me wide-eyed.What the hell?
“Yup, there’s three of them,” I say, laughing, trying not to look at her like she might have lost her mind a little bit in the last ten minutes.
She shakes her head again as we walk toward the parking lot. “I’ll see you on Monday,” she says, sneaking over to her car.
Just before she ducks inside, I see her freeze when she gazes toward where Tucker and Warren are walking to their cars, which are on the far side of the lot.
Her eyes pop even further when my brother drives right in front of her. If I’m not mistaken, Grayson’s eyes are locked on her instead of where he’s driving as he passes.
Apparently, there’s a story going on there.
Deciding not to dwell on that now, I walk over to where all three of my guys are leaning against Austin’s truck. “Where’s Evelyn?” I ask.
Her head pops out of the window. “We’re going to get ice cream to celebrate,” she shouts.
“Oh, are we?” I ask, my eyes darting to the guys.
Austin shrugs. “She didn’t want to waste a single second once you got over here, so she’s already ready to go.”
“I guess we’d better hurry up, then,” I say, bolting for the opposite side from where Evelyn is sitting. I crawl in and buckle up beside her.
Conrad gets in beside me, his hand resting on my thigh. The other two climb in the front.
We jam out to '90s country on the way to Double Scoop. I’m impressed Evelyn knows as many of the songs as she does. The guys laugh when the two of us belt out “Man, I Feel Like a Woman” by Shania Twain.
“Oh, look, it’s…” Evelyn says, pointing to a house just off Hickory Avenue with a bunch of lumber and supplies piled up outside of it.
Con speaks up over her. “It’s the firetruck.”
Looking up the street, I do see the firetruck turning around a corner. I’m pretty sure that isn’t what she was talking about.
The look on her face flies from confusion to devious understanding in the blink of an eye.Okay, then…
I don’t have to contemplate whatever the hell that was, though, because as soon as the truck is in park, Evelyn is pulling me to the entrance.
“Someone has a sweet tooth,” I laugh, following behind her.
Austin holds the door open for us. As I pass by, he leans in and whispers in my ear. “I do, too, but I don’t think ice cream is going to satisfy it.”
I can’t fight the blush that overtakes my cheeks as I go stand in line, trying to focus on the ice cream flavors rather than thinking about his head between my legs.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Hadley
Walking into the kitchen,I find Mom setting a plate full of food on the table. “Oh, I didn’t know you were cooking lunch,” I tell her.
“I was hungry,” she says pointedly.
She’s doing so much better now that she’s a couple of months out from her surgery. Her mobility has increased, and her pain has lessened.
She still has things she has to deal with as far as her MS goes, and in time, things will progress, but for now, we’re taking a win as a win.
Grabbing a glass from the cabinet, I try to put the thoughts of this morning out of my head. When I got to work and found Cash’s kennel empty, my stomach sank.
