Page 147 of Duty and Desire
“The kind ofkind ofthat’s more like a yes.”
He stared down at me.
Then he blew out another sigh and resumed our descent of the stairs.
We joined the men who had decided to hang around (this being all of them) and I saw Eddie had made himself at home and was handing out coffees.
I made a mental note to buy more pods as Mitch and Brock suggested I sit at the dining room table while we chatted.
I took the head and there was a slight kerfuffle when Mo firmly positioned himself standing at my right side, which meant Eddie had abandoned his coffee post and was trying to position himself at my left, where Tex was also positioning himself.
“Who’s givin’ her away, motherfucker?” Tex asked to end the hubbub. He didn’t allow Eddie to answer. “Me. So stand down.”
“She’s gonna make you wear a tux,” Eddie warned, giving in badly.
“So what?” Tex asked.
Everyone in the room looked at Tex in shock.
He wore flannel shirts and jeans.
The end.
Unless he was under duress, this being when he got married, when a Rock Chick got married, and when he went on a cruise with my mother. On that he wore swim trunks for the sole purpose of wearing them, and since he was only slightly smallerthan Mo, though older and a lot hairier, he cleared the deck by the pool on the ship because people were terrified of him.
“I didn’t give Roxie away ’cause Herb horned in on that action,” Tex went on, referring to his niece and Hank’s wife.
“Herb’s her father,” Hank pointed out.
“Yeah, well, she’s gottwoarms, am I wrong?” Tex noted.
He was not.
“And if I get Lottie to the altar and change my mind,” Tex continued, “when I’m asked who gives her away, I can punch this guy in the face and take off with her.”
On that he jerked his head Mo’s way.
But on that, I was having second thoughts about asking Tex to give me away because Tex was unpredictable, and this sounded shocking, but with him, nothing was out of the realm of possibility.
“I’d really rather you not do that, Tex,” I told him.
“Then you better be really fuckin’ good to her,” he told Mo.
“We haven’t even been out on a date!” I snapped.
Tex finally looked down at me. “Don’t try that shit with me, girl. I’ve been in on it since the beginning. I’m not sure Lee and Indy have even been on a date yet, and they’ve been married for years and got two kids.”
“You really kinda haven’t, have you?” Hank asked Lee.
“Can we talk about the lunatic with a basement covered in plastic sheets?” Mitch asked.
And my body went ice-cold.
“A word.Now,” Mo grunted, and didn’t wait for Mitch to agree to said word.
He turned on his bare foot and stalked to the back door.
Mitch looked to me, the men, and followed.
