The Hookup (Moonlight and Motor Oil #1)(70)

“We’re meeting at Home for drinks tonight. Then he’s coming over for dinner tomorrow night. I’m stabling a horse for a friend of his starting Saturday and Johnny’s coming over to take care of him every morning, as well as Serengeti and Amaretto. And when we take Mist back, we’re going camping for the weekend.”

“Well, hells bells,” she muttered. “That boy makes a decision, he don’t dick around.”

I grinned. “I think he likes me.”

“Well, girl, strap in because that was not lost on the town of Matlock.”

I blinked at her. “Sorry?”

She didn’t make me wait.

“Now, the division between Shandra and Izzy is forming, baby girl, but far’s I can tell, you’re winning.”

My chest started to feel funny.

“Sorry?” I repeated.

She put her hands on her hips and a foot out, settling in to sock it to me.

“Apparently, Johnny met Brooks,” she said.

“Yes,” I confirmed.

“Now, you see, you and Johnny and Brooks being all cozy got some hearts a’flutterin’. That new girl who owns the acres up north is a miracle worker, they say. She cured Johnny Gamble’s broken heart.”

“Wow,” I whispered.

“Yeah, wow. Then Shandra shows and Johnny takes off after her and Matlock is in a tailspin. A little less than half of them thinking that’s just the way it should be, and a little more than half of them ticked at Johnny for leaving a sweet thing like you in his dust as he raced after the woman who broke his heart.”

“He was going after his dog,” I told her.

“I know that and you know that, they do not know that.”

“Does any of this matter?” I asked.

She stared at me.

“I mean, I know what’s happening and Johnny knows what’s happening and you know what’s happening, so what do I care that they know what’s happening?”

She continued to stare at me.

“Deanna, my earliest living memory is hearing scary noises coming from my parents’ bedroom and walking in on my father beating the hell out of my mother. Do you think I care if people do or do not want me with Johnny?”

“Izzy, you grew up in the city. This is a small town. Things are different. You can escape things in a city that will be in your face in a small town,” she explained.

“He said, ‘Get rid of her.’ And her nose was bloody, her face puffy and wet with tears, and she looked at me and said, ‘Baby, go back to bed. I’ll be in to tuck you in in a minute.’”

Deanna’s face grew gentle.

“She was in when he was done with her, and she’d cleaned up and she tucked me in,” I finished.

“Baby girl,” she whispered, her voice thick.

“If things work out for me and Johnny, they’ll get used to it. If they don’t, I don’t care. In the meantime, I don’t care. He likes me, Deanna. He drops to the floor with Brooks and tickles him and he shovels shit right back at Addie when she’s shoveling it at him, and Addie loves it, and he looks at me like I’m the prettiest thing he’s ever seen. That’s all I care about.”

“You happy?” she asked quietly.

“I’m scared and I’m ecstatic,” I answered.

She studied me for a while then she lifted her chin and warned, “I best be meeting this boy and soon, Iz.”

I grinned. “I’ll talk to him, but how’s Saturday sound?”

“I won’t talk to Charlie. I’ll tell him his behind is at your place on Saturday and it’s not a free meal. He’s got a job. The job of sizing up your new fella.”

Charlie would love Johnny. Two peas in a pod, just two different colors.

“That’ll be great.”

“If you’re ecstatic, I’m ecstatic for you,” she told me.

I grinned again.

“And if I hear anyone say anything, I’ll set them straight.”

I stopped grinning. “You don’t have to do that.”

“Still doing it.”

I shook my head.

She raised a raspberry-tipped finger and pointed it at me.

“Now from here on in, I don’t get news on a forty-eight hour delay. Am I heard?”

I was back to grinning. “You’re heard, Deanna.”

“Yeesh, we’re gonna get fired things don’t settle down with Johnny Gamble. We never get any work done.”

I looked at my watch then told her, “It’s eight twenty, Deanna, we’re done with the update and I’ve already cleared my inbox.”

“That’s because you’re an overachiever.” I thought she was in the middle of making a quip but knew she wasn’t with the sudden change in the way she was looking at me. “You didn’t get much from your dad, but even if it was forged through adversity he gave you the drive to find something better in your life. That’s yours. You work it. You own it. But he gave it to you. I’m not saying you should be grateful. You don’t thank a rapist for teaching you how to be more careful as you walk to your car at night. But you own the strength you earned by getting through that even if it’s all kinds of unfair you had to find that strength. He played a part in making you the Izzy you are, and you should be proud this is who you became when it could have gone another way entirely.”