Page 49 of Heart Strings & Hotlines
“By what?”
“By you, Brad. Geez. Even I caught that one.”
I stare from my sister to Lottie. “I distract you?”
Lottie smacks her palm to her forehead, then tucks her hair behind her ears, but I don’t miss the delicate pink that creeps along her cheeks and down her neck.
“Yes, Thane. You. This. Us, it’s all very…distracting.”
That strange tingling sensation happens behind my ribs again, and I decide that I like it, so I put the SUV into drive. “For once, I’m enjoying being someone’s distraction. Where to?”
“You ask her to lunch, and you don’t even have a place in mind? Come on, Brad. We’ve got to up your game.”
I glare at my sister in the rearview mirror. “What do you know about game?”
“Absolutely nothing. Yet. But Lottie’s gonna teach me, and if she doesn’t, I know where to find Jenni.”
Pure panic causes a sheen of sweat to form on my hairline. I don’t need a flashcard for this one. Rafe saw enough of my panic attacks in college to help me learn that one quickly, and it’s not something you easily forget.
“Jenni is not to teach you anything.” My fingers turn white on the steering wheel.
They’re both going to give me arthritis.
“For once, I actually agree with you.” Lottie tuts. “Jenni should not be giving any…lessons on anything but hair and skin care, and when you’re older, how to make one hell of a margarita.”
“Fine. I’m hungry,” Kara says from the back seat.
“The Short Stack Café is about a mile that way.” Lottie points behind us, so after checking both ways, I pull a U-turn at the next intersection.
“Is this one of those places that will have a long story to go with it?”
She drops her shoulders and suddenly appears exhausted, and my volcano starts to bubble. I’ve experienced this before. Maids, caretakers, employees. This is what I do to them. I exhaust them with my…differences.
“You’re in Sweetbriar, Thane. There’s always a story.”
“What is it?” Kara leans forward again, and Lottie turns all the way around to face her.
Their words weave in and out of my mind as I drive. Something about the owner naming it after his wife, but it’s not important enough for me to retain.
Lottie is getting tired of me already. It’s not the first time, nor will it be the last. But this is the only time I’ve allowed it to hurt me.
* * *
“How’d it go?”
I came out to the screened-in porch to get away from everyone. Unfortunately, Rafe beat me to it.
“Fine.” I drop into the chair beside him. “This furniture is uncomfortable as fuck.”
“That’s what happens when you pick everything out of a catalog.” He laughs as Boone walks up the back steps. I’d forgotten he was still here. “Hey, did you know his full name is Boone McGregor, or that he has a twin named Macallan, another brother named Jameson, plus a sister named Bailey?”
Great, I’ve hired a man named after a high-school hangover. “Why would I know that? What’s happening with the renovations?”
“Because that’s what you do, Thane. You make small talk with people who will be working on your home for months.”
I’m sure Rafe is smirking, but I don’t look his way.
“Hello to you too, Thane,” Boone says. “I had the structural engineer out here this afternoon. We should be ready to start on Monday.”
