Nolan: Return to Signal Bend (Signal Bend)(17)

“Hey, boys. You working on the houses today?” Signal Bend was building its first-ever subdivision, Signal Bend Station. It wasn’t much, as far as subdivisions went, nothing at all like the place on a golf course her mom and stepdad had in Little Rock, but it was kind of weird to think of a subdivision here in town, anyway.

All four nodded in answer, but Nolan answered with words, too. “Yeah. Just some interior work. You want to join us for lunch?”

They were four men in a diner booth, so she wasn’t sure how he thought that would happen, unless he planned to pull her onto his lap. Knowing that wouldn’t be the case, she smiled. “Thanks, but no. I’m picking up lunch for work.”

“Yeah, Nolan said you were working on Main Street,” Kellen said—and then he put his hand around her wrist and tugged gently. “Where at?”

Iris stared down at his hand. That was a strangely affectionate gesture from Kellen, who hadn’t, as far as she knew, paid her any extraordinary attention before. She lifted her eyes from his hand gripping her wrist and up to his face, and yeah, she thought she saw flirtation happening there.

Kellen was cute. He was blond and cut, and he had nice eyes. But he wasn’t all that bright. She’d heard her father say a few things about Kellen’s tendency not to think. He was also well known for his wandering dick. And she thought he was pushing thirty, which seemed a bit old, as far as she was concerned. There was a long list of men she’d be more interested in than Kellen Frey. The one sitting across from him was on the top of that list.

That said, she wasn’t above playing up a little flirtation while Nolan was watching.

So she gave Kellen a flirtatious smile back and, with her free hand, flipped her hair over her shoulder. “Jubilee.”

“That’s that weird shop across from Fosse’s.” Kellen’s thumb brushed over her arm, and that made Iris uncomfortable. She didn’t actually want to start anything with the guy.

“Yeah. I started today. Well, I need to go pick up our order. You boys have a good afternoon!” She eased her hand from Kellen’s grip and turned toward the counter. On her way by, she thought she saw a dark look on Nolan’s face. Good.

George Sachs—or, as he was known in the Horde, Saxon—worked the grill, and his sister, Kari, stood behind the counter, prepping a fresh batch of coffee.

“Hey, Kari.”

“Hi, honey. What can I getcha?”

“Picking up an order for Geoff at Jubilee.”

“Got it right here,” Saxon called through the prep window. “Hiya, little girl.”

Saxon had always called her ‘little girl,’ even though he wasn’t all that much older than she was. She’d never minded.

“Hey, Saxon.”

He leaned on the window. “I ask you: what kind of man is allergic to onions?”

“I’m guessing Geoff is?”

“Yeah—have to clean the damn grill just for him. He’s a good tipper—otherwise, I’d just poison him with a Bermuda.” Saxon grinned and winked at her.

“Shut up, George. You would not.” Kari took a bag from him, added one of her own, and handed both to Iris. “Bottles of Coke and napkins in the bags, too. I put a couple of pieces of Marie’s pumpkin pie in there, too. You’re all settled up, so you have a good afternoon.”

“You, too. Thanks, guys.”

She turned and nearly crashed into Nolan. He reached for her bags, but, in an act of instinct more than anything else, she yanked them away.

He frowned. “I was just going to offer to carry them to your truck for you.”

“Thanks, but it’s two bags. I think I can handle it.” He didn’t move, and he was blocking her passage, so she huffed her irritation. “Excuse me, Nolan. I need to get back.”

“You know Kellen f*cks everything that looks his way twice, right?”

He was jealous. Interesting. “I’m aware of his reputation. I don’t know why it’s relevant to me needing to get back to work, though.”

A long, steady stare, those dark blue eyes boring into her plain blue ones.

“Nolan. I need to go.”

He swung to the side and made way.



oOo



Shannon held to her chest an emerald-green sweater shot through with metallic threads and considered herself in the standing mirror. “What do you think, ladies?”

Iris and Millie sat side by side, cross-legged at the end of Shannon and their dad’s huge bed. Iris turned to her little sister, who had one of her mother’s fancy scarves wrapped around her head. “What do we think?”

“It’s sparkly,” Millie offered.

“It is that,” Shannon agreed. “I don’t know. Is it tacky?”

“I like it. It’s festive. Dad’ll think you’re gorgeous if you wear a burlap sack. And he’d be right.” Iris got up and went to Shannon’s standing jewelry chest. “You always look so great in green. I know what you should wear with it.” Smiling at the framed butterfly sitting prettily on top of the jewelry chest, Iris opened one of the necklace compartments and pulled out a piece that their dad had given Shannon for their tenth anniversary a few years back: a large pendant of a sapphire and an emerald in an intertwined platinum setting.