Fools (Licking Thicket 3)

“Whoa-ho-ho!” I exclaimed, ducking away. My eyes darted up and down the street to see if anyone might have noticed. “Hold your horses, buster. We’re moving slow, remember?”

Dunn frowned. “What, still? Even after last night?”

I peered at him. “We had sex, Dunn. That doesn’t solve all our issues.” Especially when Dunn was intent on overlooking all of them.

“We made love, Tucker,” Dunn corrected hotly. “And yeah, it kinda does. Or at least I hoped it would. I mean—”

“Hey, hey, Dr. Wright! You still hanging around with this doofus?” Brooks Johnson called with a wide, friendly smile for his brother and me.

Mal looked up from his phone screen and slapped Brooks gently in the stomach. “What my better half means is, ‘Good morning, Dunn and Tucker. Happy Entwinin’.’”

“Yeah,” Dunn muttered. “Whatever.”

“Hey.” Brooks frowned. “Who peed in your cornfl—”

Mal slapped him again, more firmly this time. “Brooks means to say, ‘I’m sorry you’re having a bad day, Dunn. Come have a look at this picture of the wreath Paul made Ava and get cheered up.’” Mal handed over his phone and snorted. “Poor Paul’s been taking lessons from Jay Proud in wreath weaving for a month now, and neither Brooks nor I can figure out what the heck he’s made.”

“Is it a cherry?” I looked at the wreath, which was a circle surrounding a pair of smaller circles on sticks. “Is Ava fond of cherries?”

“I said a lollipop,” Brooks volunteered with a shrug. “Your idea sounds better.”

“I think flowers. Two of ’em, ’cause there’s Paul and Ava.” Mal shrugged.

Dunn peered at the phone over my shoulder, then leaned back and crossed his arms. “I think it means Ava’s pregnant,” he said. “I took a class from the county extension office on genotyping livestock, and that’s a symbol they use to mean—”

Brooks hooted. “Uh, no. Anyone within a ten-mile radius of Ava when she was in labor with Beau knows she’s not going back to that well. None of us would survive it.”

“And for your sake, I’m not gonna tell Ava you compared her to livestock either.” Mal grinned and held open the cafe door. “Anyway, I guess Ava appreciated Paul’s effort. Her text says she cried and cried, so I’m guessing the wreath was really symbolic, whatever it was.”

I shot Dunn a look. My money was on Dunn’s interpretation, but I’d keep my mouth shut until she came into my office.

“Whose wreath was symbolic?” Cindy Ann said, standing up to give each of us a kiss as we filed around the three tables she’d smooshed together for our meeting. She glanced at Brooks. “Yours?”

“Ava’s one from Paul. He took lessons from Jay Proud,” Brooks explained.

“Ah, poor Jay. Making wreaths for everyone this year, but no special someone to give one to. I heard he even helped old Amos make one for Emmaline.” Cindy Ann sighed as she sat back down between Red and Brooks and set her hands atop a massive binder bulging with fabric samples.

“It’s true.” Red winked as he nodded for me to take the chair beside him. “In the shape of an apple, to commemorate them fallin’ in love after their first date at the Bobbin’.”

“Well, I got my wreath this morning.” Cindy Ann glanced coyly at her husband. “To commemorate my first date.” Red laid a hand over hers with a loving look that made Cindy Ann blush. “You know, when you boys and Gracie were little, I used to imagine the special folks you’d find to exchange wreaths with, and now y’all have. It’s a great satisfaction as a parent, I don’t mind telling you.”

I sat up a little straighter and squirmed in my chair. There was no way she was talking about me when she said that.

Brooks snorted. “If you’re telling me you imagined the person I’d be exchanging wreaths with”—he laid an arm over Mal’s chair—“we need to be having a conversation about tonight’s Lotto numbers, ’cause you were way more in the know than I was back then.”

Cindy Ann rolled her blue eyes again. “You hush with that sass, mister. It’s true that while I’ve had my eye on Dunn’s special someone for a few years now, I was possibly a bit shortsighted about yours until he came on the scene.” She gave Mal a loving smile. “But now I wouldn’t change him for the world either.”

I held my breath and forced a smile in Mal’s direction that I absolutely did not feel. Cindy Ann was talking about Jenn as Dunn’s special someone. She had to be. And I felt sick.

This was exactly the sort of thing Dunn wasn’t prepared for. Cindy Ann and Red were really good people, and I knew they’d come around to the idea of Dunn and me dating… eventually. But first they’d have to give up the dreams they’d had for their son, just like they’d done with Brooks.