Hanging On (Jessica Brodie Diaries #2)(9)

“Hello Willie. So good of you to come!” she exclaimed.

“Ms. Peek. How are you this fine day?” There was a strange lilt to his voice I hadn’t heard before. It vaguely matched Gladis’s accent. Affluent, if I had to guess. Southern affluent. They were from the same social circle, after all. Gladis had known William all his life. This was stage one of the battle zone within the money ring, no doubt. Luckily, Gladis was already on my side.

“I am up to par, up to par. Happy to report a speedy recovery! I’ll be sprung from this cage tomorrow. I’ll have to stay to bed for a week or so, but it will pass by in a flash, just you wait!” She gave us a wink. She seemed as happy as we did.

He shook his head and chuckled. He was about to say something more when Lady walked in.

“Lady,” Gladis said more loudly than was necessary. “Just the person I wanted to see. Will you run down and get me a coffee and an orange juice from the kitchen? In fact, get everyone some coffee. Jessica, dear, will you help her carry it all?”

“Of course,” I said.

I threw William a smile as Lady hustled me out. Hassled me out, more like. The woman was pushy, no two ways about it!

I got the strange feeling Gladis wanted a second alone with William to discuss his involvement with me. It was like a father polishing a shotgun while interrogating his daughter’s boyfriend on a first date. William was a big boy, he could handle himself.

Lady stood solemn and quiet through the giant line. She thanked the staff with a curt nod. Then she led the way back with quick, decisive steps. She was tired of being in that hospital and it showed.

It wasn’t until we were on our way back to the room that she said, “We will be having dinner tomorrow night to celebrate Gladis’s return to the house. The cook is making Gladis’s favorite dish and opening her favorite vintage. I would love it if you could come. Bring the man if you wish.”

And just like that, Lady accepted William as one of our posse. Maybe not as flowery as some might, certainly not as blunt as others, but in Lady Speak it meant that she approved of him enough to invite him in our small group’s company, something she only did for those she considered close. Not a big deal, but it made me feel all warm and fuzzy.

I was really turning into a sap.

Using Lady Speak, I nodded. That was it. Anything else and she would clam up and get uncomfortable. Or tell me to shut it. Both had happened often enough that I should know!

As we neared the room, voices floated into the hall. Gladis was saying, “I’ll take care of that end. I have a few old biddies that would love nothing better to do than sneak her in the back door, don’t you worry. You just keep your head about’cha ‘n keep a low profile until we work her in a little bit. No need to go fl—“

Lady loudly scuffed her shoe and made a coughing noise at the same time. Closed mouthed to a fault. So irritating! Except with my own secrets, obviously.

Without a hitch in stride, Gladis looped that conversation into one about horses. That old bird was quick on her feet. By the time we entered they were looking like two long-time family friends catching up on the ranch speak.

William’s eyes found me as I walked in the door and stuck, a soft light making my stomach go to mush. He waited until I stopped next to him before running a hand down my back. We shared a quiet moment, eyes locked, before he turned back to Gladis and I gulped down my heart.

“I am going to go have a look at Jessica’s car," he said. "I’ll see if I can’t patch it enough to get it out of here.”

“William, really, you don’t have to worry about it.”

“No, it’s fine.” He flashed me a smile that melted my opposition and set fire to my loins at the same time. A second later he was gone.

Hunched, I turned to face the music.

Sure enough, Gladis had an evil twinkle in her eye and a smile floating on mischief.

“What?” I asked indignantly.

“I have to hand it to you; I didn’t think he could be thawed. Not even by an attractive woman like yourself.”

“Thawed?”

“That young man is so wrapped up in business with his father, being the perfect son for his mother, and all his extra curricular’s, that he usually just waves away women. I would, too, if I had all that resting on my shoulders.”

“Not completely waves them away…” I thought of Boobie McGee, a one-night stand he took home after the bar one night instead of me. That still galled--I didn't care if it was for the best or not!

Gladis continued as if she hadn’t heard me. Or Lady’s scoff. “I wondered by some of the things you told me. I did wonder. I've known him since he was a boy. He wasn't acting the way he usually did since he was forced to grow up. But how could I know? How could I know that you would come along and defrost his ice cold determination?” Her face crackled in a smile of delight.

“Gladis, didn’t you know? I am good!” We both giggled. Even Lady cracked a smile in the corner. It probably hurt her face.

“Don’t think it will be a cake walk, deary. Oh no! You have to go into the snake pit, now. We have to get you ready to talk to people that have had money all their lives. They are not all as hip as me!”

“Hip, Gladis? You aren’t so hip using words like that!”

“Her hip is broken,” Lady supplied, tickled with her own joke.