But on the way, I drive by Junior and Barbara-Claire’s house and see a few cars backing out of their drive. I stop, park on the side of the street, and walk up their gravel drive. Junior is outside, messing around under the hood of the old car his granddaddy gave him when he died. The thing hasn’t ever run, at least not since Junior got it. I really think he comes out into the yard to mess with it so he can get out of the house.
He looks up as he hears my footsteps. “Well, look who’s here,” he calls out. “Did you just get back?”
“Just flew in.”
He looks beyond me down the drive. “Where’s Grady?” he asks, his brow furrowing.
I shrug. “No idea. Grady dropped me off at Grandma’s and left.”
He stands up taller and wipes his hands on a rag he pulls out of his back pocket. “Why the long face?” he asks. “Grady do something stupid?”
I roll my eyes. “When does Grady not do something stupid?” I retort. I snort out a laugh.
“True.” He leans one hip against the fender of the car. “So spill it,” he says. “What’s the matter?”
“Nothing.” I lift one shoulder. I don’t even know how to explain it.
“Everything go okay at the funeral?”
I nod. “It was fine, for a funeral.” I shrug again.
“I was glad when Barbara-Claire told me that Grady was going with you guys. Didn’t particularly like the idea of you two driving that far by yourselves.”
I wave a breezy hand in the air. “We would have been fine.”
He waggles his brows at me. “Heard you guys were sharing a hotel room.” He grins.
I nod but don’t offer more.
He points a finger at me, and it’s like a light bulb goes off in his head. “Is Grady bad in bed?” he asks with a sort of gasp. He nods as if to himself. “I bet that’s it. He has that look about him, like he doesn’t quite know where to stick everything. You know there are books and movies—”
“He is not bad in bed,” I protest.
Junior guffaws. “So you did sleep with him! I bet Barbara-Claire that Grady would lay some pipe while you were gone. I just won twenty bucks.” He slaps his hands together.
“Sorry, Junior, but you owe Barbara-Claire another twenty,” I toss back.
His face falls. “Fuck,” he breathes out. “What the fuck is he waiting for?” he whispers, looking toward the sky like he’s talking to God.
“He’s afraid sleeping with me will ruin our friendship,” I tell him, my voice soft and hesitant even to my own ears. “I love him, Junior,” I suddenly blurt out. My cheeks go hot as embarrassment creeps up my face. “I love him a lot.”
“Well, what’s not to love,” he says as he picks up a wrench and turns back to the car. “I don’t know why I even fiddle-fart around with this thing,” he mutters. “I have no idea what I’m doing.” He looks up. “So Grady put the brakes on because he’s scared?”
“Either that or he really doesn’t feel as strongly about me as I feel about him.”
He closes the hood with a loud clank, a sound like only old metal cars can make. “How do you feel about him?” he asks me.
“I just told you. I am head over heels for that man.”
“Then you should tell him that.” He stares at me. “Sometimes men need a little reassurance too.” He blows out a breath. “I’m going to break the best friend code and do something I shouldn’t do,” he says. He squints his eyes together and then he rushes out in one big breath, “Grady loves you, Evie. He’s loved you his whole life. And I’m pretty sure you love him too. If the two of you can stop getting in each other’s way, I think you’ll work this thing out.”
“I wrote it on a fucking building, Junior!” I suddenly cry. “I laid it all out there already! I can’t keep layering it on.”
He nods slowly. “You did lay it out there. You wrote it on a building. Now Grady needs to lay his out there too, and he needs to do it in his own time, in his own way, Evie. He can’t do it in yours.”
“I kind of feel like he doesn’t trust me.”
“Why wouldn’t he trust you?” He narrows his eyes at me. “You ever been a cheater?”