“Fine,” he snaps but there’s no heat behind it. “It was the first cloud we looked at together, so I… got fucking Sexy Bunny tattooed over my heart. Are you happy now?”
I roll on top of him and grin. “Mr. Swain, I’m about to show you just how happy I am.”
Chapter 39
Betty and the blow job
Mylifeisfuckingfantastic. I have a new hockey team that treats me like family. Ma is happy with her new job. Gramps has more good days than bad.
But the best part of it? I have my girl back.
For the remainder of August, I spend every night at her cute little house. It doesn’t have the luxuries of my apartment, but I don’t give a damn. Being with Juliette is my luxury.
I tell her every single day that I love her, and when she says the words back, I feel like the luckiest bastard in the world.
I spend my days at practice, and we have dinner together when I’m not with Gramps or Ma. Sometimes she cooks and sometimes we order in from the only delivery place in town. Yeah, small-town life is taking some adjustment on my part, but I’m falling in love with Pine Tree Falls.
I bring Juliette snacks while she’s writing, and she rubs down my sore muscles after dinner each night, which usually leads to other, much more fun activities. Yeah, life is perfect except for one thing…
I’m keeping a huge secret from Baylor Ward. He’s quickly become one of my best friends and not telling him about my relationship with his sister weighs heavily on my shoulders. Every time he tells me a story I’ve already heard from Juliette, I have to bite my tongue not to blurt it out.
But she’s insistent that we keep things under wraps. She knowsher brother better than I do, so I follow her lead.
Today is going to be hard though. I’m going to the Ward/McNamara Labor Day cookout at Isaac’s house, and I’ll have to pretend I don’t spend my nights in Juliette’s bed… and that I’m not madly in love with her.
“This looks nice,” Ma says, dipping her head to look at the white Craftsman home when I park on the street out front.
I hop out and round the vehicle to help my mother exit. She adjusts the foil covering the pie she baked and beams a sweet smile up at me.
Ma is loving small-town life. Her job is going well, though she has a short commute to the next town over each day. And she joined the Garden Club and the Study Club—whatever the hell that is. People are starting to greet her by name when I accompany her to the grocery store or the diner, and it makes me happy to see her thriving.
I turn to help Gramps out of the backseat, but he’s already standing there appraising the house with his hands on his hips. “Hope they got ribs,” he comments, and I laugh and drape an arm over his shoulders.
“Baylor told me they will have ribs, sausage, and brisket,” I inform him.
“And potato salad?”
“He didn’t say, but I’m sure they will,” I chuckle.
“Good deal. Let’s slap on the old feed bag.” Gramps straightens his shoulders like a soldier and marches up the concrete walkway with Ma and I in his wake.
Holly answers the door before we can knock and ushers us into a small foyer. “Great to see y’all,” she says. “Everyone’s out back.”
My grandfather stares at her with lowered eyebrows, finally saying, “Do I know you, young lady?”
She pats his arm. “You do. I met you at Shady Pines when I came to talk about the animals.”
Realization dawns on his weathered face, and he grins. “Right, you’re the, uhhh… is it park ranger?”
“I’m a game warden and wildlife biologist,” she corrects gently, holding out her hand. “Holly Ward.”
“Arlo Swain,” he announces, shaking her hand heartily. “This is my daughter, Elizabeth, and my grandson, Reno.”
I smile at that. Even before dementia took root in his brain, he always called my mom his daughter, not his daughter-in-law.
Holly’s tone is kind. “I’ve met them already. Reno and Baylor play hockey together.”
Gramps’s eyebrows lift excitedly. “That’s right. You’re Baylor Ward’s wife. I remember now. I bet the boys are going to have a great season.”
