“I think I’ll keep you in suspense. The payoff is better in the end, don’t you think?” Somehow I didn’t think we were talking about his plans. He seemed to have also been given that knack of turning nearly everything into an innuendo. Wonder where he got that from?
I didn’t answer Ryder, but I didn’t have to, because someone opened the front door.
“Hey, hey, hey. What’s up?” Sloane was dressed in a tight tank top and jogging shorts. I nearly fell over.
“What’s up with the outfit?” I said, gesturing to it. I’d never seen her wear such a thing. I didn’t know she even owned anything like that.
“We’re going running in the park. You know how much I love running in the park.” Her glare told me that I should agree with her.
“Oh, right. Yeah. Running in the park.” I didn’t sound convincing. “That sounds like fun.” It sounded like hell. Who on earth actually would choose to run? Running was reserved for shoe sales and escaping from bears, in my opinion.
“I used to work out all the time, but I haven’t in a while and Sloane said she would show me the good running paths around here,” Ryder said. He hadn’t worked out in a while? Yeah, that was a lie. Those muscles didn’t just . . . happen. You had to work at arms like that. A lot.
“Well, she would know all the good running paths,” I said, trying to make up for my earlier dropping of the ball.
“What about running?” Lucah said, coming out and slipping his shoes on.
“Sloane and Ryder are going running,” I said, hinting with my tone that he should be supportive.
“Oh, that sounds . . . nice. Very nice. Well, don’t overdo it. We’ll be back later tonight. Ready?” He reserved the last word for me and I nodded and took his offered arm.
“You kids have fun,” Sloane said, putting her leg up on the counter and stretching like she did it all the time.
“Same to you,” I said and we closed the door.
“What the hell was that?” Lucah said as we walked toward the elevator.
“I have no idea,” I said, shaking my head.
~*~*~
“Oh, your brother decided not to join us?” Mom said the second we walked in the door and she’d taken our coats.
“He, um, already had plans, or else he would have. Maybe next week,” Lucah said, after a moment of surprise had passed. Good recovery.
“Well, we’d love to meet him, if he’s anything like you.” I shared a secret look with Lucah.
“He has red hair,” I said to Mom. The joke went right over her head as we walked into the dining room and found Dad staring at his phone. Mom had to clear her throat before he noticed we were there. He looked up and it took a second for him to realize who we were.
“Rory, Lucah. How are you?” I gave him a hug before I sat down and Lucah shook his hand as Dad slipped his phone back into his pocket. Mom had a no phone rule at the table. No matter what.
“We’re good. How are you?” He gave me a vague answer as Mom started chattering about Ryder moving in and how were we adjusting and so forth as we ate our salads.
Lucah and I gave them the sanitized version that sounded good. Or at least it sounded good to me.
“Well, I think you should bring him next week,” Mom said in a way I knew meant if we didn’t produce Ryder, she would be very disappointed. Fucking fantastic. I could just imagine Ryder talking about his farting therapist in front of my parents. Dad would probably laugh and Mom would probably faint and fall right out of her chair.
Maybe we could give him etiquette lessons. I was sure that would go over well with Ryder. We’d probably have to tie him to a chair, and he might enjoy that a little too much. I might ask Sloane if she could talk to him. She at least seemed able to get through to him.
The rest of the meal was pleasant small talk and work talk and Mom talking about her charity work and trying to rope Lucah into helping her. He didn’t need much roping.
“So we’ll meet that brother of yours next week,” Mom said, leaving no room for argument as she helped him into his jacket.
“I’ll do my best, Mrs. Clarke,” he said, giving her a kiss on the cheek. She giggled and blushed like a schoolgirl. He could get away with anything as far as she was concerned.
I hugged her and we departed.
“So, next week when your parents throw Ryder and me out of your house, you’ll still love me, right?”