The Hookup (Moonlight and Motor Oil #1)(80)

He drove away with both sisters in his rearview and Brooks babbling in his back seat.

And Johnny drove away knowing he was going to shift the life course two sisters had been on.

With one, he knew how that was going to go.

With her sister, he had no clue.





If Izzy Wanted to Go, Absolutely

Johnny

LATE THAT AFTERNOON, after returning to Izzy’s, Johnny stood in her backyard.

And he stared.

There was a long, wide wooden table under a tree. The table was covered with a filmy lace tablecloth. It had three little vases stuffed full of fluffy flowers and four squat glass things filled with little candles intermingled in a line down the middle.

At the end, surrounded by those squat glass things with candles, was a big tin bucket (with a dent in it) that was filled mostly with ice, some water, and in it there were three bottles of wine and six bottles of beer. A lacy-edged napkin dangled off the side. There was a bottle opener and a corkscrew discretely tucked at the back.

The table was surrounded by chairs with ruffled pads on all of them, some wood with their paint chipping off, some miracles of curlicue iron.

When he sat his ass down, he was going for a wooden one.

The tree over the table now had a ton of Christmas lights in its branches with long strings of clear beads with crystals at the ends dangling down from it.

Needless to say, while he was hanging with Brooks, the sisters had not given each other facials.

He felt her come up beside him and looked down at her to see she was carrying a stack of melamine plates that were green with pink flowers all over them, a stack of pink cloth napkins laid on the top.

In that moment there was one thing he was not annoyed about.

She was wearing the dress she’d worn at the festival.

And knowing there was a good possibility he’d be taking it off her that night was the only thing she had going for her right then.

“Where’d that table come from?” he asked.

“The legs unscrew. I keep it in the hay room and pull it out when I want an outdoor party.”

“How heavy is it?”

She cottoned on to the path of his questioning, gave him big eyes and pressed her lips together.

Right.

“The chairs?” he pushed.

“There’s a shed beyond the stables. You can’t see it from here. I keep the chairs there. And my Christmas decorations. My Halloween decorations. My Thanksgiving decorations and, um . . .” she faltered then rallied, “etcetera.”

That shed had to be maybe thirty, forty yards away.

Yes.

Annoyed.

“The lights?” he pressed on.

“I had the idea and got the lights and crystals weeks ago, I just haven’t had time to do it or the occasion to do it for. Today, Addie and I did it.”

“You couldn’t ask me to set that table up, bring out those chairs and get up in that tree with the lights before I took off?” he asked.

“I had Addie to help me. Normally I have to drag them out myself.”

He felt his jaw get tight.

She hurried on. “And sometimes Charlie and Deanna come over to lend a hand.”

He scowled down at her.

“You can help me take the table apart and put it all away,” she offered.

“Do we need to have another chat about the kind of guy I am?” he asked.

She gave him a look and muttered, “Not anymore.”

“Right,” he grunted. “What else needs done?”

“I know you’ve had Brooks all day but can you keep an eye on him inside while Addie and I bring out the rest to set the table?”

“Wrong answer,” he stated.

Immediately she adjusted her request.

“Can you bring out the rest to set the table while Addie and or I keep an eye on Brooks?”

“What do you need brought out?”

“It’s all on the countertop, honey.”

He turned on his boot and went inside.

On the counter he saw wineglasses, water glasses, cutlery and a pink milk glass pitcher with raised polka dots that was filled with ice and water.

He also saw, under a ribbed glass dome on a raised ribbed glass stand, a cake that was a miracle of rich, thick swirls of white frosting.

Addie was in the kitchen, Brooks in her arms, and she was cuddling him when Johnny came in, but her gaze was on Johnny when his went to her.

“This all the stuff that goes outside?” he asked, jerking his head to the things on the counter.

“Yep,” she answered.

“You sure there’s no unicorn statues, grenades rigged to explode glitter or nets of rose petals to hang to rain down on us when Iz pulls a cord?”

Her lips twitched but that was all he got from her before she said, “We didn’t have that much time.”

He nodded and set about taking the stuff to Izzy.

It took four trips to get it all out, and as he went back and forth with three canines dogging his steps, Izzy laid the table.

Addie wandered out with Brooks while Izzy was putting on the finishing touches and Johnny was opening a bottle of wine.

“If you’re pouring, I’m drinking,” Addie declared.

“I’m pouring,” he confirmed.

She nodded to him, her face mostly expressionless. Not a woman who was looking forward to a dinner party with friends. Not a woman who was looking forward to anything.