Page 83 of Talulah's Back in Town

“What’re you doing?” Ranson had just entered the kitchen to find Brant staring into the fridge. “The TV’s out there, bro.”

Brant grabbed a beer instead. But when his brother opened the fridge the second he closed it and reached for the cake, Brant stopped him. “That’s mine.”

A scowl darkened Ranson’s face. “Allof it?”

Brant considered the sizable chunk that remained. Hecouldshare, but he wasn’t amenable to that or much of anything else at the moment. “I’ll let you know if there’s any left when I’m done.”

“What are the chances of that?” Ranson asked. “Tell you what. I’ll arm wrestle you for it.”

“You wouldn’t want to take me on tonight,” Brant told him.

“Why not?”

Brant cracked open his beer. “Because if I arm wrestle you, I’m going to make you put a hundred bucks on it. Then you stand to lose something, too.”

Ranson took one look at him, and Brant saw his confidence fade. “Yeah, that’s a bet I won’t bother with.” He shut the fridge. “So...do you think you can get Talulah to bake us another one?”

“No, he can’t,” Kurt said, joining them from the living room. “Her boyfriend’s in town, so Brant’s lost his privileges. Ain’t that right, Brant?”

“I’m already in a bad mood,” Brant warned. “It might be smart to watch your mouth.”

“Oh, I get it,” Ranson said as he nudged Kurt in the ribs. “He’s jealous.”

“I’m not jealous,” Brant said. “This thing between Talulah and me was never meant to be anything serious. I knew that going in.”

“So why are you acting like you’re ready to tear someone’s head off?” Kurt asked as he opened the fridge.

When he tried to reach for the cake, Brant knocked his hand away, too. “Don’t touch that. Like I told Ran, it’s mine.”

“All of it?”

“All of it. For now, anyway.”

“Well, if you’re going to be stingy like that, I won’t tell you what Kate just told me on the phone,” Kurt said.

“Jane’s sister? Who’s close friends withTalulah?” Ranson clarified.

Brant already knew which Kate Kurt had been referring to. Kate and Kurt had been friends for years, and recently their relationship seemed to be turning into more than that. Ran was just trying to be funny. “Why would I care?” Brant asked, feigning indifference. But he did care, and the fact that his brother was dangling this particular carrot in front of him proved Kurt knew it.

“Because, in case you haven’t guessed, it’s about Talulah.”

Brant told himself not to fall for this, but there really wasn’t anything to be gained by continuing the “it makes no difference to me” charade. “What’d she say?”

“It’ll cost you the rest of the cake...” Kurt reminded him.

Brant arched his eyebrows. “I’ll give youhalf.”

Ranson nudged Kurt. “The way he’s feeling about her? I think you can get it all—and then givemehalf.”

Brant ignored that. “What did Kate say?” he asked Kurt. “If half the cake isn’t good enough, I could always beat it out of you. That’d be your other option.”

Pretending to be shocked, Kurt gaped at Ranson. “Have you ever seen him like this? Damn! I think he really likes her.”

“Hedefinitelylikes her,” Ranson concurred.

“That’s it. I’m out of here.” Brant had taken enough of their razzing. He turned to leave, but before he could reach the door to the living room, Kurt spoke up.

“Fine, I’ll tell you. Kate saw Talulah in town earlier while we were at the lake.”

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