Page 71 of Clean Sweep
“Tanner came over to the house when Landon was first brought Starla over,” I said, “but that was the first time. Tanner had left some stuff behind when I paid him to clean the house and came back to get it. We sort of starting talking then.”
“You paid someone to clean?” Max cried, because Max never spoke normally. “Ma! That’s awesome. You’re a next-level career-woman.”
“Right. At my tiny mountain coffee shop.”
“Small origins, big endings.”
I rolled my eyes this time. “Onto the main point: Tanner and I are . . . interested. Let’s just leave it there.”
“Does it feel weird to date someone else?” Nicholas asked, gaze tapered. He hid a pair of hazel beauties behind all those lashes. I unashamedly wanted to paint his long eye-fans with mascarajustto see what would happen.
“Little bit,” I said, holding two fingers close together. “I haven’t dated or anything like it since your Dad first asked me out, and don’t you dare ask me what year that was!”
“Wouldn’t think of it.” Nicholas shook his head, hands held up. “Don’t want to know. But good for you Mom. I think you should move on.”
He had entirely too much gravity in his tone, but I couldn’t imagine what it meant. I monitored Blake, but his expression hadn’t changed. As usual, his whole attention remained riveted on his phone screen. Talking to his girlfriend across country again, I’d wager.
Only Blake had heard me talking on the phone with Tanner a few times, but nothing more than that. None of them knew that I’d spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with Tanner.
“Coach is cool, Mom,” Max said.
“Yeah?”
“I liked him.” He shrugged. “Was on point with his feedback, not too easy on us, but wasn’t a dic—“
My glare snapped to him.
“—tator,” he drawled. “Coach is cool! Nicholas? What thinkest thou?” he asked, slapping a hand on Nick’s thick shoulder. An expression I couldn’t read flashed through Nicholas’s face, but he stuffed it back.
“Time will tell,” he said.
Which is exactly what I’d expected.
I snapped two fingers. “Exactly. Timewilltell, and that’s all you need to know. Now, we’re going to drop the Tanner subject and move onto a topic that has actual substance. Landon’s wedding.”
Max tilted his head back and howled with laughter. “Oh. My. Shi—”
My glare returned.
“—iiitake mushrooms!” he cried. “I forgot. Big bro is getting maaaarried!”
“Yes, he is. In less than a week at the Frolicking Moose. Preparations are steady and underway. In the meantime, we need to talk about said wedding and the decorum that I will,” my eyes shot right back to Max with another snap, “expect from you.”
He held up two hands in silent agreement.
“And let me assure you,” I continued, “that there are no rude, four letter words that I will tolerate at this event.”
Max groaned and slumped further in his seat.
“Holy fudge,” he muttered, “this is going to be crazy.”
Despite myself, I schooled back a laugh.
BY EARLY AFTERNOON,the house smelled like dirty feet, the floor reverberated with the thuds and shouts of wrestling upstairs, and the living room sang a song of my people—the alternating shouts of men frustrated by a recorded sports game they watched every year at this time.
My heart had never been so happy.
We lacked only Landon and Starla, who would be coming soon.
