Crazy (The Gibson Boys 4)

“Well, I can’t really say because I think it’s a surprise. But when Dylan invited me tonight, I had to come.”

And dead.

All four of their heads, six if you count Nana and Dave, whip around to face me. Machlan is seething. Walker isn’t amused, but Lance is. I think. And Peck …

I can’t tell if he’s happy to see me or not. He starts to smile and then realizes his grandmother is two feet from him in a place where we dirty-danced not that long ago.

I wave. “Um, hi.” I smile. I shrug. I pray for my soul.

“I have so many questions right now,” Peck says.

“Me too,” Machlan adds with a glare.

Walker motions for me to follow him. So I do. Because there’s really no other choice.

My heart pounds harder than it’s ever pounded before, and I think I might pass out. Peck doesn’t say anything to me, just kind of watches me in shock as I follow his cousin a few feet away.

I want to attach myself to him, to kiss his face and ask for forgiveness. To tell him I’m here for him, and that I love him, and that … I didn’t invite Nana here. But I’m not sure what he would do, and there’s a burly man who apparently expects to have a conversation with me.

Now.

Walker spins around. “Gonna need you to explain.”

“Um …”

“That’s not an explanation.”

I blow out a breath. “Yeah. I know. So, um, you see, I kind of acted like an idiot to Peck and—”

“I know. Should I bill you for the day’s work Peck didn’t get done yesterday? Because he was worthless as fuck, and I’m still gonna have to pay him.”

I gulp. I’m not sure what to say. Just as I’m about to volunteer to do just that, Walker tips his hand. The corner of his mouth starts to lift before he twists his lips into a grin.

“I’m kidding,” he says. “I mean, I’m not. He was worthless. But it was kind of nice to see him all pissed off over a woman for once.”

“That’s happened before, I’m sure.”

“Never.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. He’s never really given a fuck about anyone. Molly, but not like yesterday. Not for real.”

“Oh.”

I glance at Peck over my shoulder. He’s positioned himself so he can watch me and listen to Lance and Machlan interrogate Nana and Dave too. I smile. He does too. Kind of. He also kind of looks … worried.

There’s nothing I can do about that right now. Maybe ever. So I focus on Walker because maybe I can have one Gibson not hate me.

“So,” Walker says. “Why is there a nana? In a bar?”

“Okay, let me explain.”

My brain spirals from one topic to the next too fast for me to grab on to one of them and go. Do I start with why I ended up at Nana’s this afternoon? Or why I think Nana is here? Or that I forgot Peck’s drill battery over there the other day and told myself I needed to retrieve it before he realized it was missing, but really I just wanted the comfort Nana provides?

I don’t know. I. Don’t. Know.

“Please.” He waits. “Anytime now.”

“Okay.” I hold my hands up, gathering myself. “So I was at Nana’s today, and I could tell you why, but I bet you don’t care.”

“Nope.”

“So when I was there, she sort of … plucked my emotions right out of me.”

He nods with a level of sympathy only someone can have if they’ve encountered a lesson-wielding Nana.

I’ve now experienced it. Twice, really. But both times were about the same situation, so maybe that only counts as one.

“She was telling me …” I stop. The boys don’t know about her test results, and I’m not about to add that to the mix tonight. It’s not mine to tell anyway. “She was just telling me that you only live once, and that you have to just … go for it. Live the life you want. Forget whether it might be scary or appropriate or if you’ll … piss your grandsons off.”

He folds his arms across his chest and looks over my shoulder. “Is that why she’s here with Old Man Dave?”

“I think your grandmother might be in love.”

A series of emotions pass through his eyes. “Well,” he says finally, “she’s entitled to a little love of her own. Pops has been gone a long damn time now.”

“I’m glad to hear you say that.”

“But she still doesn’t belong in a fucking bar.” He looks at me all serious again.

“Well …”

Before I can try to explain that, Machlan comes up beside us. He’s bemused.

He points at me. “Talk.”

“I … um …”

“Yeah. If she has a heart attack tonight, it’s your fault.”

“That’s not fair, Machlan,” I say.

“I don’t give a rat’s ass if it’s fair or not.” He glances at Walker. He must find something in him to settle him a bit. “But … it is kind of funny.”