At Peace (The 'Burg #2)(146)

“That being?”

“I’m here now.”

I gave his waist a squeeze and informed him, “It’s not that easy.”

“Only hard you make it hard.”

“Joe –”

“Vi, I told you, I walked outta your room and the girls didn’t blink.”

“They were probably tired and they’re emotional.”

“They know the way it is between us.”

His words shocked me so much I lifted my head and looked at him. “They have no clue.”

“Buddy, Keira invited me to the mall and Kate brought me a Coke while I fixed our garage door opener and offered me a sandwich and that was before the scene when your Dad and Mom came callin’. They know.”

“They don’t.”

“They aren’t dumb.”

“I know that.”

“Okay, they don’t know we’re f**kin’, but they know we mean something to each other.”

He was right, they knew this, I knew they did with the way they acted the second time Joe turned.

Still, I stared at him and asked, “Do you think?”

He grinned at me. “Baby, clue in, the whole block knows.”

“That’s probably because Tina’s big mouth.”

“It’s because I installed your system at no charge, I fixed your garage and your daughters used to come over daily to talk to me. Been livin’ here a long time, buddy, my whole life and haven’t done that kinda shit for anyone and no one came by to talk to me, ‘specially not two teenage girls.”

I stared then asked, “They came over daily?”

“Yeah, right before I f**ked you over the second time.”

I didn’t know that Kate and Keira did that.

But I liked it.

“Oh,” I whispered.

“So they get home, I take Dane out, you sit ‘em down, tell ‘em I’m here now. Ask ‘em if they got questions, answer them. Done.”

He thought it was that easy?

Obviously, he hadn’t lived with the likes of Keira.

However, by all accounts (including my own experience with her) Bonnie was far more unpleasant.

“What if they don’t like it?” I asked.

“We deal.”

“How do we deal?” I pushed.

His hand flattened on my ass. “How ‘bout we find out if they don’t like it before we get wound up about it?” he suggested.

This sounded like good advice, simple, logical but totally impossible.

If Joe thought that simple and logical was going to work, he was in for a world of hurt living for two months with three females.

I didn’t share this with him and, since he was out of town most of the time, maybe he wouldn’t notice.

I put my head to his shoulder and said, “Okay.”

His fingertips went back to their random patterns and we were both quiet, me because I was in my head thinking about the million things there and Joe because he was Joe.

Suddenly he said, “Don’t take the job.”

I lifted my head again and looked at him. “What?”

“Manager at the garden center, don’t take it.”

I’d told him about Bobbie’s promotion at dinner. Obviously he’d been thinking about it.

I pushed up to an elbow and looked down at him. “Why?”

“Money’s the same as you’re gettin’ but it comes with headaches, headaches you don’t have now. You won’t be doin’ what you like to do, you’ll be doin’ shit you don’t like to do, workin’ the same hours, gettin’ the same pay. You want to advance, you ask her to make it worth your while. You like what you do, do what you do, f**k the promotion.”

There it was again, simple, logical and, this time, doable.

I smiled at him. “You’re right.”

Joe didn’t reply verbally. His other hand came up, slid into my hair at the side of my head, pulled my mouth down to his for a light kiss then he pressed down until I came off my elbow and my cheek was to his shoulder again. Then he reached an arm out and switched off the light.

But not before I saw the picture of Tim and me on my nightstand.

I pulled in breath through my nose; Joe’s fingers came back to the side of my head to glide through my hair, pulling it back. He repeated this then his fingers slid behind my ear, down my jaw then his hand went away.

I exhaled.

“’Night, baby,” I whispered into his shoulder.

His response was again nonverbal. His hand squeezed my ass then went back to its random patterns.

This felt nice and it was amazingly relaxing. So much so, I didn’t realize that there weren’t a million things tumbling around in my head.

Instead, I drifted right to sleep.

* * * * *

Cal woke when Vi’s body jolted violently.

His eyes opened when he felt her go rock solid in his arms.

He waited as he listened to her breathing heavily and was about to call to her when she slid out of his arms and across the bed.

He watched her shadow move around the bed and he rolled to his back as she walked to her dresser. She opened and closed drawers, doing it quietly. She thought he was asleep.

She closed a drawer and he watched her shadow again, this time she was pulling one of his tees over her head.