Those Sweet Words (Misfit Inn 2)

“Love is in the air,” she sang. “Flynn’s teaching me to play the fiddle. And check it, everybody loves the new Friday night jam session. Isn’t it great? You should sit down and listen.” Her words came in a torrent of enthusiasm that could only be managed by a teenager.

Pru laid a hand on Ari’s shoulder. “I’m sure they will after the break. We need to step inside for a bit to give them the update. Could you keep an eye on things out here, sweetheart?”

“’Kay!”

None of them spoke as they wove their way through the crowd and into the house.

As soon as Pru shut the door to the family study, Kennedy rounded on them. “What the hell, y’all? Engaged? We’ve been gone for two weeks. Two weeks. Half a month. Fourteen days. A fortnight, even. Are you insane?”

Hearing the timeline hammered on like that was epic splash of reality. The

y’d been living in this fantasy world, where everything felt like it had taken much longer than it really had. Put like that, in a tone just shades away from outrage, Pru remembered anew why this scheme was nuts.

“It’s not what you think,” she began.

“Then please, tell me how you haven’t both lost your freaking minds.”

“Watch it, deifiúr beag.” A faint edge rode beneath Flynn’s easy tone.

Pru took a breath and decided to say it fast, like ripping off a Band-Aid. “It all started when I decided to seduce Flynn.”

Kennedy stared. “When you did what now?”

“You heard me.”

“I heard you, but I’m having trouble believing it.”

Pru bristled. “Is it so hard to believe I have interest enough in an attractive man and the confidence to do something about it?”

“Well, I just…I never thought—”

“Right. You never thought. No one ever thinks about me because I’m the responsible, dependable one, who can always be counted on to do anything anybody needs because I have no life.”

Kennedy paused in her pacing, distress interrupting her disbelief. “We don’t think that, Pru.”

“You do. All of you do. And why shouldn’t you? That’s been me most of my life. That will be me for most of the rest of it, probably, because Ari will come first. She does come first, and I don’t regret that choice for a second. But I just wanted one thing for myself. I wanted Flynn.” Seeing Xander’s ears turning red, she rolled her eyes. “I’ll spare you the gory details, Xander. Suffice it to say we have an adult relationship.”

He held up a hand. “None of my business. But how the hell did you get from an affair to marriage in two weeks?”

“There were…extenuating circumstances.”

Xander narrowed his eyes in the cop stare meant to intimidate. “Tell me what kind of extenuating circumstances lead to a proposal.”

“It wasn’t a proposal,” Pru said. “Not exactly. It was very bad timing with the arrival of Ari’s new social worker.” As Flynn slipped his hand into hers, she filled them in as succinctly as possible.

“Why didn’t you just say you wouldn’t be getting married until after the adoption was finalized, and he’d be living elsewhere in the meantime?” Kennedy asked.

Pru opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again. That possibility had never even crossed her mind.

“We panicked,” Flynn said. “And either way, we’re much too far down this road to back out now.”

“Who else knows the truth?” Xander asked.

“Athena,” Pru said.

“And Maggie?” Kennedy asked.

“Athena thought she’d handle the long-distance relationship version better.”