Page 30 of Love and Other Trials
“Rules are rules.” That didn’t make her a cool aunt, sure, but she’d never have that rep with these boys. “And you leave Sherlock in peace. I don’t want you chasing him. Understand me?” Keeping them from teasing Sherlock was the only time she schooled their behavior, but he was her dog, which was rather like a baby in her mind.
Marshall only rolled his eyes at her while Ripp pulled himself up onto the golf cart and hung from the bars. Sherlock stood at attention at her side, watching them carefully.
“Boys, your aunt is talking to you,” Dax said in that military command voice she found so hot.
Marshall’s chin lifted defiantly. “We heard you. Fine. We won’t bother Sherlock. But can you take us for a ride?”
“Yeah, can you?” Ripp pleaded.
“This golf cart is not for joy riding.” If she gave an inch, they’d be all over her for the rest of the week, being as demanding as her sisters. “Ask your parents to rent an ATV and bring y’all somewhere.”
“Mom doesn’t do anything but obsess about the wedding.” Marshall kicked at the ground. “I could jump in the ocean and drown, and she wouldn’t notice.”
Ariel laid a hand on his shoulder, knowing that probably wasn’t far from the truth. She’d felt the same way about her mother. “What about asking Rob? From what I remember at Thanksgiving, he liked to be outdoors.”
Marshall’s mouth thinned and he pushed away from her, fisting his hands at his sides. “I’m not asking him. Come on, Ripp.”
“Yeah, we know you didn’t want to stay with us,” Ripp called out as he jumped down from the golf cart. “You’re staying withhim.”
They were running off before she could open her mouth to reply. “Wow! I…didn’t expect to get judgment over my rooming options from my own nephews. Dammit, sometimes the Three Tornadoes make me want to pull my hair out. Those boys didn’t need to know that. Now they think it’s them when it’s not… Shit.”
Dax turned her toward the house after grabbing the bags from the back. “There’s more going on there than you not babysitting a bunch of boys. Marshall thinking his mom wouldn’t notice him drowning is alarming. I knew he was having a tough time with all the changes from what Rob had said, but that beats all. I can’t imagine ever thinking something like that about my mom.”
She walked quickly with him down the path, not wanting to run into anyone else. “I felt that way sometimes. God knows, I want to like those boys, but they’re brats. Have been since they were little. All of them. I call them theLord of the Fliesboys. I wish I could say his behavior was just Marshall being upset about having a new stepfather and moving away from Pensacola and his friends.”
“Yeah, Rob said his new orders didn’t go over well, whereas Tiffany can’t wait to get to San Diego. She thinks it’s going to be posher. Clearly, she hasn’t seen military housing.”
Not her concern. Her goal was the wedding coming off in spectacular fashion. Marshall wasn’t her responsibility either, and even if she were inclined to be more present with him, Tiffany would bite her head off for any interference. Plus, he could do no wrong. Her sisters were fond of saying, “boys will be boys.” Ariel thought they took the saying too far.
They were closing in on Dax’s cottage when she heard “Ariel!”
Mother.God help her, but she increased her pace, Sherlock hurrying beside her. “Let’s get inside. You can say I had to pee. She’s going to grill me about the wig.”
Dax pushed the key card into her hand and gave her a gentle push toward the cottage. “You run this time. I’ll handle her. Stormy!”
When he pulled up, she kept going with her dog, telling herself she was not a child or a coward. She did technically have to pee. When she hit the cottage, she unleashed Sherlock and headed straight to the bathroom. If she took longer than necessary and washed her hands like ten times—she had been around fish, a gator, and gunpowder, not to mention someone else’s hair—it wasn’t the end of the world.
“You can come out now,” Dax called a few minutes later when she was soaping her hands up for the third time. “Coast is clear.”
When she emerged from the bathroom, her fingers were tingling from her little hand spa moment. She found him in the open kitchen pouring water into two glasses. He handed one to her when she joined him.
She winced as she lifted her glass. “How did it go?”
He bared his teeth, grimacing. “Well, knowing your mother wants to entice me because I’m a man gives me the upper hand.”
She choked on her water.
“So when I assured her this wig looked so much better on you in person than the other one, she gave me that slow smile of hers and patted me on the arm. I said you had a wedding contractor you needed to call before six, so she said she’d catch up with you later. I hated lying, but we’re in enemy territory. If you don’t mind me saying so.”
“Yes, Captain, we are.” She pressed the cold glass against her hot forehead. “Do you still want to get out of here?”
“Like now?” He drank the rest of his water down. “Sure. I should drop by and check in with Rob. Don’t really want to, but maybe I can make things easier for both of us. Is there anyone I can say we’re meeting tonight as cover?”
“Satan,” she quipped. “Oh, wait. He’s probably around here somewhere.”
Dax snorted out a laugh, tipping her chin up. “God, you’re a riot. I didn’t know that before. Probably a good thing. I would have thought about you even more.”
She felt her mouth slowly fall open. “You really thought about me before we met?”
