Page 45 of The Fear
By the time they had everything set up, a dozen women from Gunn’s congregation were there, chattering and moving everywhere. They were like a tornado of church ladies—and they terrified Grady completely. He suspected they did it on purpose.
Hala did just fine with them; they just sort of assumed she’d come with his mother, though. And that Grady was incompetent or something. They ordered him around like he was a teenager attimes. Just there to do their bidding. Well, really just there tolift heavy thingsmore than anything.
Half those women thought they should be in charge since Gunn wasn’t there. They just couldn’t decide which one ofthemit should be. And it was almost like they were jockeying for position or something. Grady was the one who was apparently supposed to decide, and award the queen the crown. They were acting annoyed that he would just shrug when they asked him something. So…he just shrugged every time he could. Couldn’t they figure out how to do this without him telling them what to do?
Until his mother firmly swooped in and kept the crown for herself, anyway. And anointed Hala as her chosen princess.
He was fine with that—he was just there to help out his brother. But…his mom and Hala handled the rest of the women within half an hour. They were both scarily efficient. They had a system in place, right there on the library front lawn. Before people from the town started arriving.
And it was very clear—Grady’s mom was now in charge. And Hala was her main minion. Dr. Alvaro was her secondary minion once she arrived. Andthatwoman was a master of dealing with the church lady army, too.
He loved watching Hala with his mother. His mom liked to fuss over Hala when she could.
That rodent Luis Sandoval walked his own mother over from where she lived next door to George. Luis was such a Mama’s boy. Grady made sure to tell the man that, too.
Luis shot him a rude gesture when no one was looking.
Well, Grady’s mother did see. And she gave Luisthe lookthat had him apologizing. Luis always had been afraid of Grady’s mother. Of course, Grady was afraid of Luis’s mother, too. There was that. She’d kept him and Gunn in line many times before.
Luis went straight to Hala after that and started making small talk. Butthead was still hot for her. It was in how he looked at her. How Luis kind of hovered and gave her that smile just like that.
Grady tried to resist the urge to growl. His eyes narrowed—Luis was looking at him and smirking. He was going to pound that guy, first chance he had. That was his woman, not Luis’s.
“You can’t go around scowling at your friends, and then expect people to buy cookies,” his mother told him. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
But his mother knew him well, after all. “Are you and Luis arguing about something? I thought you were good friends?”
They’d been friends since preschool. Once. He didn’t feel like they were exactlyfriendsnow, though. As of sixty seconds ago. “He doesn’t need to be looking at her like that. People will start talking.”
His mom laughed softly. “Oh, sweetie. He’s justtalkingto Hala; they work together. Does she know how you are feeling about her now?”
He just grunted, as a man who looked vaguely familiar with two kids approached Hala next. The little girl, no bigger than Calvin, rushed right at Hala and gave her a hug. “Don’t feel…any different about her than before.”
He was lying. They both knew it.
“Baloney. Don’t lie to your mother, young man. You’ve been watching her lately. I know your feelings have changed toward her. And hers toward you.”
Grady stiffened. “What do you mean?”
Yes, the family had seen him holding her after the fire, but he’d just been trying to comfort her. But the kisses they’d shared, he didn’t know if anyone knew about those. Except maybe Gia—she’d been snickering at him a lot lately. Especially when Hala was around.
Gia was such a brat sometimes. Hudson was going to have his hands full. They had been all cuddled up and cooing at each other this morning. Hudson had promised to bring her to the bake sale that afternoon after her follow-up appointment. She and Ryan wanted brownies, he’d heard. And Greer probably knew—and Ayla. So that meant Aubrey probably knew. So Guthrie and Gunn knew, too. And Gene had caught them sneaking into Hala’s guestroom…
They probably all knew how he felt. Grady didn’t care one bit. He’d shout it for the entire world to hear, if he had to. That washiswoman right there. Forever.
“The two of you make eyes at each other. When you don’t think the other is looking. She looks at you now—and you look right back. So what are you going to do about it? She’s not a girl you play around with, unless you are serious. That one is hungry for a family again, building a life for herself. She’s young, but not into the fun and games. She’d be good for you. I’ve long thought that. Several years, actually. The two of you—both are extra soft hearts that need each other in this big bad world.”
“It scares me.” If there was anyone on this earth he trusted with his secrets—other than his twin—it was his mother. She’d always just listened to him when he hadn’t had a way to find answers to his problems. They were close, and he adored her. “I…fast. It was fast. Like…all of a sudden, she was just there. Right in front of me. And I…can’t be the kind of guy for her.”
“And why not?”
“She deserves…better. More than me.” Because he would probably screw everything up. He wasn’t good at relationships, other than with his family. He just wasn’t. People weren’t histhing.They didn’t always make much sense to him. Cows, horses, dogs, hell, even cats—he could figure things out. Butpeople…that was Gunn, not him. “And I would never want to hurt her.”
The last thing in the world he would ever want to do was hurther.
“Oh, you big goober. If you aren’t the most like that father of yours—he said almost the exact same thing to me forty-three years and nine children ago. Of course you wouldn’t want to hurt her. That’s not who you are. And…I think you are a pretty darned goodman.Just as you are. Would you love her, take care of her, protect her, respect her, and support her in whatever she did? Think the sun and moon and the stars rise and set because of her? Be there for all the good and bad life may bring?”
