Page 77 of Brewbies
But harmless?Come on!
Principled wasn’t harmless. Self-contained didn’t mean useless.
“If he was harmless, Darby wouldn’t have to be putting on this fundraiser to fight the sanctions,” Cady reminded them.
“Yeah, but we’ve proven we can rely on his Dudley Do-Right attitude to keep him distracted when we need,” Myrtle commented with an inappropriate amount of glee, if they were asking him. “All they’d have to do is steam the crease out of his khakis and he’d be down for the count.”
Jaw dropping open, Ethan barely kept an incensed gasp to himself. Everyone knew if you didn’t crease your slacks, they made your thighs look feminine. Or fat.
No one on either side of the war of the sexes liked their thighs to look fatter than absolutely necessary—he didn’t care who the fuck you were.
“That man will break hearts and melt the panties off a snowman until his future is realized and he gives in to the clarion call of tube socks, Velcro sneakers, orthotics, and ensure,” Myrtle said.
And here he’d thought they were friends.
“Vanilla flavored.” Vee cackled like the Wicked Witch of the West Coast. “He’ll tuck his tie into his belt, as well.”
“Which will cinch right below his nipples!” Myrtle crowed.
Oh man.Ethan slumped against the Airstream with a beleaguered exhale given by one just lucky enough to survive enemy fire and who was waiting for insurgents to reload.
Fucking roasted by septuagenarians.
Was this what people thought of him? When they called him the town hero, had they been smiling behind their hands the entire time?
What made him a hero, exactly? He’d saved several lives, delivered a few babies in the nick of time, kept angry drunks from killing each other, donated to struggling small businesses after the pandemic…
He was a good man. He did good things.
But was he right?
Glancing across the street, he watched the faces beneath the signs. Angry. Pinched. Loud.
For what?
Decency? A virtue that became less and less quantifiable as society demanded equality and privilege for people other than men like him.
What exactly was indecent about these people? Here they were, showing up from all corners of the country to help out a friend who was in need.
In need because of him.
Fuck this. Ethan set his jaw, pulled up his pants (not too high), and marched in front of the firing squad. He had a few things to set straight.
SIXTEEN
Grinding
REDUCE COFFEE TO FINE PARTICLES, AS BY POUNDING OR CRUSHING; BRAY, TRITURATE, OR PULVERIZE
If the combinationof corset-constricted lungs and more vigorous athletic activity than she’d done in an embarrassing length of time wasn’t enough to steal her breath, seeing Ethan Townsend emerge from behind her camper would have.
Sometimes, her plans worked a littletoowell.
She’d only meant to season this triumphant affair with the merest hint of jealousy, followed by a sprinkle of good-natured ribbing at Ethan’s expense.
Myrtle’s off-script salvos had hit closer to the sheriff’s spleen, if his stormy expression was any indication. He greeted them with a face in full scowl and his eyes cold enough to leave frostbite.
For a moment, they just stared at each other, the tension between them palpable. Darby felt her heart rate increasing, and sweat coated her palms as she worked to slow her breathing.
