Page 20 of Dating After the End of the World
“You all right?” Tessa asks.
“Yeah.” My head bobs as I force a tight smile. “But don’t do that,” I say.
“Do what?”
“Mess with Blake.”
Her eyes slightly taper. “Why?”
“Because we’re better than that.”
“I suppose you’re right.” Tessa grins. “But if you change your mind, I’m not opposed to taking the low road.”
I match her amused expression and say, “I’ll let you know if I do,” knowing full well I won’t. Blake’s an asshole, but he’s my asshole.
Chapter 10
“Casey!” Elaine shrieks with excitement when she spots Tessa and me descending the stairs off the kitchen. She sets the knife down on the cutting board and wipes her hands on her apron as she rounds the island counter, bounding toward us as fast as she can.
Her arms are already outstretched when I reach her, and she embraces me with a warmth that feels like home. “Hi, Elaine,” I say, inhaling her familiar scent, a mix of lavender and vanilla.
She rubs my back like she used to do when I was a kid, showing up at her house unannounced, mostly just to vent about my dad or anything else that was bothering me. She’d listen to me rant and serve me up dessert (always homemade) with a side of sound advice, and then we’d play cribbage.
“I missed you,” Elaine whispers, and I can hear the sense of relief in her voice. Relief that I’m not one more person she has to say goodbye to earlier than she expected.
“I missed you too.”
She squeezes a little tighter before letting go. “Let me take a look at ya,” she says, scanning me from head to toe. A slight frown settles in when she sees the injuries on my face and neck, but she replaces it with an encouraging smile. I haven’t seen her in person in a very long time, but she appears almost the same to me—just a little grayer and a little shorter.
“You must be starving,” Elaine says, reaching for my hand and giving it a pat before retreating to her cutting board. “I’ve got sliced apples.” She plops a pile of them onto a plate. “And I’m making veggie omelets.”
Tessa pops an apple slice in her mouth and makes her way to the kitchen table, where JJ is seated, eating what looks to be a bowl of oatmeal.
“How was your first night, Casey?” JJ asks.
“It would have been better if I didn’t have to—” I stop midsentence, cut off by the sound of the front door slamming.
“Fuck, Blake,” Greg groans. His face is beet red, and his hands are balled up into fists at his sides, the muscles in his arms flexed as he drives his fingers tighter and tighter into his palms.
“Language!” Elaine scolds while cracking a fresh egg into a mixing bowl.
He mumbles, “Sorry,” and flicks his head, tossing his shaggy hair out of his eyes. His anger quickly replaced by embarrassment after being scolded.
“I share your sentiment, Greg,” I say, midchewing.
His brows shove together as he looks me over, trying to place me. Greg is JJ’s younger brother, and I haven’t seen him since I last babysat him the last summer I came home during college, so that would make my little cousin twenty years old now. Aside from putting on lean muscle and shooting up to nearly six feet tall, he doesn’t look all that different than he did when he was a ten-year-old running around the compound with a Super Soaker.
“Casey?” He tilts his head to the side. It’s more of a question than a statement. Greg crosses the room and gives me a quick hug. “I ... thought you were dead.”
“Nope, still alive ... unfortunately,” I say, patting him on the back.
“Well, I’m glad you are.” He chuckles, and grabs a couple of apple slices from the plate. The kitchen chair scrapes across the wooden floor, screeching as Greg pulls it out and plops down next to Tessa.
“Nice shooting out there, buddy,” she teases, pretending to fire at him with finger guns. He grumbles and swats her hands away.
“Stop. I get enough of that from Soldier Boy,” he gripes.
“Soldier Boy?” I question.
