“Seriously?” She laughs. “What about Toto?”
“I can hold his leash, too, but you’re limping. The more rest you can get right now, the better. Trust me.” I hold up my right hand, the reminder of an old injury I’ve dealt with for the last few years, the result of an on-field incident. “Been there.”
“It was a phone, Levi, it’s not like I was playing football. I’ll shake it off.”
“I’ve seen weirder injuries from smaller items, trust me.” I stay put and hold my hands out to the side. “Jump on, c’mon.”
I hear a huff right before I feel her hands as she places them on my shoulders.
“You just want to be engaged so you have an excuse to boss me around.”
Now there’s an idea. “Will it work?”
“Probably not.” She jumps up, and I catch her easily, my hands gripping around each leg and holding her close. Her scent hits me: coconut and lime. My favorite. I wonder if my mom can turn that scent into an ice cream flavor? I’ll have to ask.
Georgie’s heels dig into my sides. “Giddyup, now, I’ve got things to do. Let’s go.”
Grinning from ear to ear, I squeeze her legs, making her buck and giggle. Just the sound of her laugh sends a huge thrill through my system.
I could get used to this.
“You’re going to do what now?”
Everyone, and by everyone I mean my mom and Austin, stands stock still, frozen in place. I’d walked in the door a few minutes ago and found them sitting here. Mom’s newest habit is to sit down after dinner and work on a puzzle, while Austin likes to hover and help.
“I’m going to be engaged. I guess I’m engaged.” I stop and think about it for a moment. Am I officially faux engaged now? Or do I need to make an announcement so we can consider it a for-real fake engagement? “I’d better check with Georgie because I think we are.”
“Youthinkyou’re engaged?” Austin manages to say loudly between laughs.
“Hey, keep it down.” Aware that his voice carries and not sure where in the house Duncan is lurking, I put a finger to my lips. “Can we ixnay on the engaged-ay?”
“You said it,” he retorts defensively, as only a brother can.
“Iwhispered it.” I know I’m hissing, but the sound of something being dropped on the floor above us proves my point. I stare at the ceiling. “I don’t want everyone to know yet.”
My brother isn’t getting the memo. “But you’re getting fake married. I say we tell everyone!” He barks more laughter, holding his sides. “Does this mean I need to get you a fake wedding gift? If so, I’m springing for the fake honeymoon. My treat. You can pick Atlantis for all I care—it’s fake.”
I’m about to read my brother the Riot Act when Duncan appears in the doorway in his pajamas.
“Hey bud,” I say walking over to greet him. “Are we being too loud?”
He shakes his head, his eyes scanning the room, falling on each one of us individually as he looks around. He takes a big breath and then turns to face me and only me.
“Were you with Georgie?”
I nod. “Sure was. She needed help so I went to see what I could do.” I ruffle his hair, grateful for the exchange. “Why? Everything okay?”
“Do you think she’ll let me work at the store again?” His eyes dart around, checking out our audience, but thankfully both Mom and Austin are pretending like nothing is happening. Nothing just south of extraordinary, that is. He istalkingto me. Conversing. Conversating. Chitchat, paddy whack.
“I’m sure she’d love it if you were to come back. How about if we call her tomorrow and you can ask her yourself?”
Duncan bites his lower lip, thinking about what I’ve said, and slowly begins to nod his head. “Okay. Let’s do that, but I don’t want to get paid. I want to work for books.”
I sneak a sideways glance at my mother, who’s grinning from ear to ear. As a book lover herself, I know this is music to her ears.
“Tell you what, as soon as we’re done with breakfast tomorrow morning, we’ll call her. Sound good?”
“Yes,” he says in a serious tone, but with a very teeny, tiny smile on his lips.
