Page 31 of The Problem with Fire
“Says who?” Gideon barked.
“I’m the baby,” Nathan reasoned. “So, that’s-”
“I. Am. Not. Getting. Married,” I repeated. “Hear me, gentlemen. Please. I’mnotgetting married.” Their faces, so identical to mine and our fathers, just stared at me through my phone. “We just had our first date on Sunday. Jake and Kellen are getting ahead of themselves.”
“The sexy neighbor?” Nathan asked, and I nodded.
“It’s about goddamn time,” Gideon said sourly. “It’s only been two years.”
“Months, you asshole,” I corrected. “Two months.”
“Feels like years,” Nathan muttered.
“So, what? Are you so confident in your charms, marriage is a foregone conclusion?” Gideon asked.
“I like her a lot,” I confessed to the two people in the world who knew me best. My parents were awesome, but they were still my parents. There was always a barrier between children and their parents because theywere your parents. Siblings were a different story. They weren’t handicapped by maternal or paternal instincts. They’re viewpoints were more in line with if-it-were-me.
“But does she like you?” Nathan asked. “We already know you like her.”
“I spent Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday with her,” I replied. “I’d say she likes me just fine.”
“Or she feels sorry for you,” Gideon remarked.
I flipped him off.
“So, am I saving a date in April or what?” Nathan asked, getting back to the reason for their ambush disguised as a phone call. “I need to plan this shit.”
“You still have to tell Mom,” Gideon pointed out. “Even if Sexy Neighbor hasn’t said yes to the marriage proposal, Mom’s going to flip if you haven’t told her you’re dating someone.”
“Her name’s Monroe, you jackass,” I retorted. “And today is my first day off in three days. I haven’t had a chance to tell Mom.”
“You better get your scrawny ass over there and tell her soon,” Nathan jumped in. “If she finds out from anyone else that you have a girlfriend, she’s going to kill you after Dad kills you for upsetting his wife.”
Gideon winced. “You better hope she didn’t get a save-the-month text from Jake, Sayer. You’re dead meat if she did.”
“Jesus,” I muttered. “You guys are idiots.”
Gideon’s brows flew upward. “I’m not the one who hasn’t told his mother that he’s engaged.”
“No shit,” Nathan added.
“Look, as much as I’d like to ask after only three dates, we haven’t even told her daughter about us yet,” I informed them.
“Why not?” Nathan asked. “Does she not like you, or something?”
I almost hung up on them both.
I let out a deep breath and counted to ten.
“He’s counting to ten again,” Gideon told Nathan as if I couldn’t hear the exchange.
“That’s because you’re a trying individual and hard on his patience, Gid,” Nathan replied.
“I can’t believe you are grown men in your thirties,” I muttered, rethinking ever answering a phone call from them ever again.
“You’re one to talk,” Nathan fired back. “I’m not the one scared to tell Mom I have a girlfriend.”
“That’s because no girl in her right mind would date you,” I shot back.
