Page 49 of Beat around the Bush
“How’s it going, Oakley? Or I guess I should be asking how your car is,” Callan asked as he rinsed lettuce for a salad, a smirk pulling at the corner of his lips.
“What happened to her car?” Brandy asked from where she stood getting utensils out of the drawer.
“She drove into a ditch,” Lennon said at the same time Callan said, “She hit Lennon’s truck.”
“She hit Lennon’s truck?” Lettie asked from behind me.
I winced. Lennon’s eyes landed on me after he shot Callan a glare.
“When did this happen?” Charlotte asked.
“The night before my interview at the feed store,” I replied.
Reed inhaled a sharp breath of air. “Damn.”
Lennon shot a glare at him, too. “Both our vehicles are fine. We’re fine. Let’s just let it go.”
“Isn’t her car in the shop?” Callan asked innocently, yet Lennon and I both knew he was stirring the pot.
“You don’t have a car right now?” Lettie asked.
I turned to face her. “I do, it’s just being worked on.”
“Oakley didn’t put your old truck out of commission yet?” Reed asked Lennon.
“Sounds like the beginning of a love story to me,” Travis muttered as he came back into the room, passing between me and Lennon to grab a beer from the fridge.
“Let’s get some air,” Lennon said hurriedly, grabbing my hand and leading me out to the back porch and sliding the door shut behind us.
As soon as we were outside, he dropped my hand, taking his hat off and running his hand through his hair. “Sorry about them.”
I stuck to my spot by the door, watching him place his hat back on. “It’s okay.”
He scoffed. “It’s not. They’re being asses.”
“I’m used to asshole families, and when I tell you they’re not, I mean it.”
He looked down at me, his brow furrowed. Right when I thought he was about to press further, he said, “We can leave if you want.”
“I want to stay.”
He looked slightly taken aback. “You do?”
I nodded. “Yeah. I like them. Plus, it beats sitting at home alone.”
He looked back and forth between my eyes like he was trying to see if I was lying or not. He must’ve found the answer he was looking for, because he nodded, then said, “Yeah, okay. Let’s go back inside, then. It’s cold out here.”
***
“It was really nice seeing you, Oakley. Don’t be a stranger,” Charlotte said into my hair as she hugged me goodbye.
“You, too, Charlotte.” But I couldn’t make any promises about the stranger part.
She disappeared into the kitchen to help Callan and Reed with the cleanup from dinner. Travis had retired to bed early after grumbling something about having to be up at the crack of dawn.
I slipped on my coat as Lettie wrapped her scarf around her neck, then pulled her gloves on. “The poor single guys have to help with cleanup duty.”
Lennon frowned, fixing the collar on his coat. “I’m single, too, Lettie.”
