Page 91 of Puck Drop
She turns in her seat, only to give me a shocked look. “Logan Mantei,” she says with disappointment in her tone. “I can’t believe you really are this slow.”
“Slow?”
“When Bass was telling me about your situation with the girl, I thought he was joking. It really sounded like teenage drama, if you ask me.”
“I’m not…”
“Your problem is this,” she cuts me off. “You don’t trust this girl to love you as much as she says that she does.”
“Me? What?”
“Have you ever tried reading a romance novel?” she asks from out of nowhere.
My mouth drops in shock. “What does that have anything to do with anything?”
“So it’s a no?”
“Uh, I… Well… No,” I sputter.
“That much is obvious,” she hums. “If you picked one up once in a while, you’d know that when a girl goes through all the trouble Betty has only to be with you, it’s because she truly loves you. The only option she will accept is an HEA.”
I shake my head, half amused, and half completely puzzled. “What’s an… HEA?” I don’t even know if I repeated the letters in the correct order.
“Happily ever after,” she explains right away. “You’d know that if you followed BookTok.”
“Book what?” I seriously can’t keep up with what’s happening right now.
Aunt Kathy sighs all while giving me a very disappointed look.
“You literally know nothing. This is too much work.”
I turn back in my seat to stare at Sebastian’s unmoving body on the hospital bed. It’s strange how being in his presence can still bring me amusement even when he is not in any position to mutter a word. I can see where he got that from, though. Aunt Kathy is something else, to say the least.
“Take a break, my boy.” She pats me on the knee. “I’ll give you a jingle if Bass wakes up.”
I let out a snort of surprise. “Are you throwing me out?”
She doesn’t even need to pretend. “Indeed I am.”
I stare at her, leaning to the side to rest my elbow on the armrest of the chair. I try to cover my smile, but I don’t do a very good job of it.
“Don’t laugh at me, young man,” she shakes a finger at me in admonishment. “You need to pay attention to everything I tell you. And stop moping around as a rule. It is very unbecoming.”
Covering my mouth with my hand, I continue resting my elbow on the armrest of the chair, the need to laugh just too great.
Suddenly, she grabs her purse and frantically looks through it. I recognize panic on her face when she can’t locate whatever she’s looking for.
“Everything okay?” I ask, just in case she needs me to run out and get something for her.
“This bag is just too big,” she mutters under her breath. “That’s what I get for trying to be like all these young girls, although, I’m pretty sure this is out of style by now. Those girls are old by now.”
I lean forward, my eyes going inside her bag. It looks like a bottomless pit.
“How can you find anything at all in there?” I can’t help myself from asking.
Aunt Kathy gives me an annoyed look. “I am obviously not able to find anything since I’m still looking, wouldn’t you say?”
My back straightens up as I try to save the situation. “Yes, ma’am.”
