I force a laugh. “You’re my big brother. Whether or not I need it, you’ll always tell me what you think.”
“Only ’cause I love you.”
Turning toward the bar, I’m torn between getting a brown liquor refill or slamming a glass of water. I’m getting heady, and the brown stuff helps with that. But I also don’t wanna get shit-faced. I’ve only got two more days and nights with Stevie. I’d be a bonehead to waste time blacking out or being hungover.
Water it is.
“You all right there, sailor?” Stevie asks, eyes flicking to my water glass, when I finally do rescue her from the Beauregard circus.
“Just stayin’ hydrated for you. I got some late night plans for us.”
Her gaze softens, and so does everything inside my chest. “You’re a good guy, you know that?”
Somewhere deep down, I do know that. But after everything that’s gone down over the past year, it’s still nice to hear.
Another lyric.
Damn I’m on fire. I just might have to get out the guitar tonight.
“What were you and my sister talking about?” I ask.
Stevie looks at me for half a beat.
“Milly’s just looking out for you. It’s sweet, how y’all care so much about each other.” Stevie lowers her voice. “You do have an exit plan, right? A way to, well, explain why I’ll leave on Monday and never come back?”
My chest twists. I brush the sensation aside and focus on the problem at hand.
The problem being I don’t have a plan. Guess I just sorta assumed it’d work itself out. Stevie would leave. I’d start work again. Time would pass, and when my family would ask about her, I’d give them a line or two about us growing apart or some shit.
“I’ll figure it out.”
“Okay. Because it’s important that you have a plan. I think your family is getting invested in there being an actual, real-life us, and if we don’t—”
“Stevie!” Mama appears at her elbow. “You’re a sight for sore eyes. Sweetheart, you look fabulous.”
Pasting on a smile, Stevie bends down to give Mama a hug. “Thank you, June. You don’t look too bad yourself. That monotone pantsuit! How very Michelle Obama of you.”
Mama preens. “I’d be lying if I didn’t say that was what I was going for. Your compliment is the best I’ve gotten all night. Thank you.”
“Didn’t I hear someone complimenting you on how great your perfect children turned out?” I cock a brow. “That’s not the best compliment?”
“Nope,” Mama replies. “I’m proud of my children, but I’m prouder of this get up.”
“As you should be,” Stevie says. She laughs and Mama smiles and a happy mess of feelings blooms inside my center.
The thought appears clear as day inside my head: this whole thing is a happy mess. At least it is tonight. Tomorrow too. When Stevie leaves, it’ll probably be a plain old mess that needs cleaning up.
But for now, I’m enjoying it.
“Y’all are only perfect because your parents are.” Stevie glides an arm around my waist. “But truly, June, you raised this boy right.” Stevie’s eyes catch on mine. “He’s thoughtful. Generous. Empathetic and considerate in a way not many guys are. Not the ones I know, anyway.”
Mama holds a hand to her chest. “Perhaps I spoke too soon. That is the best compliment. Thank you, Stevie. I raised my kids to make good decisions. And part of that idea was teaching them to be good people who’d eventually make good partners.” She looks intently at Stevie. “Like attracts like.”
Stevie swallows, gaze straying to her feet.
“Stevie is a great partner,” I say, and I mean it.
She looks up at me. “So are you,” she replies. And from the naked, scared look on her face, I know she means that too. She blinks, the fear dissolving. “That’s what makes him so dangerous.”
“Not my fame or fortune or good looks?”
“Son, you best get that ego in check,” Mama says, holding up a finger at me. “Now if y’all will excuse me, I’m being summoned. Looks like Rhett’s gotten into the proverbial punch again. Perfect children my behind, what is that boy’s problem lately . . .”
A beat of awkward silence settles between Stevie and me as we watch Mama disappear into the crush.
“What about you?” I finally ask. “Talk to me, sailor.”
Stevie turns her head. “You really are dangerous, Hank.”
I wanna find out what she really means by that.
Later. When we’re in bed and she’s soft with sex and sleep. Right now, I need to keep things light and fun. It’s getting too easy to forget what we’re here for.
“Is it my dick?” I ask. “I know it’s the biggest and best looking you’ve seen, but you don’t gotta be scared.”
She laughs and gives my arm a playful shove. “That’s one thing I’m definitely not scared of. I mean, I put it in my mouth not once, not twice, but—”