My father caught my eye and motioned for me to join him in the kitchen. “I’ll be right back,” I told Molly. She nodded, then continued chatting with the Hills. Everett had gone out back with Molly’s brothers and the kids, while Wyatt and Sabrina took their brood and went home for an early night after Sabrina had almost fallen asleep at the table.
My mother smiled and patted my cheek as she passed me while heading back into the dining room. “This is wonderful, honey,” she whispered. I felt terrible for deceiving her, even if it was only for a day and even if most of my heart felt like, in the end, it wouldn’t end up being a deception. More and more I found myself wanting to take a chance with Molly. It had started to feel inevitable that we would.
The look on my father’s face told me I would be getting one of his “dad talks.” I braced myself because I could take a pretty good guess as to what it would be about. “I’ll cut to the chase,” he said.
I leaned a hip against the counter and crossed my arms. “Right, I think I know what you’re going to say and—”
He shook his head. “No, no I don’t think you do. I’m happy for you. I might not be as enthusiastic as your momma is, but I think this could be good for both of you. That girl has been . . . struggling, I guess you could say, ever since her daddy died. It didn’t escape my notice that she went a bit wild after his death. Your momma and I did all we could to step in and be there for her. But this? With the two of y’all? Well, I think this could be just the thing to get her back to the happiness she deserves. For you, too.”
“Me? I’m fine. I’ve always been fine,” I protested.
Dad shook his head as he opened the dishwasher and started loading it. He wasn’t one to sit idle and just talk. I grinned and started sorting through the stacks of dirty dishes on the counter to put them into the water-filled sink to help. “Garrett, I’ve watched over the years as you put girl after girl up on that pedestal you’ve always kept Molly on and then waited for them to fall off.” I froze with my hands in the dirty dishwater. Dad shook his head and continued, “Except for that last one you were engaged to. She jumped clear off of it her damn self when she left town.” He chuckled to himself. “You’re a Monroe, son. We’re all one-woman kind of men.”
I nodded, because it sure seemed that way. Monroes weren’t known for divorcing, Wyatt and Barrett were the only ones to divorce in decades and they’d both still be married if their wives hadn’t cheated on them. “Yeah, I guess so.”
“You met your person too early is all. But it will work itself out, so long as you get rid of that pedestal. You get me? Ain’t nothing in this world is perfect.”
“I don’t have her on a pedestal, and I don’t think she’s perfect—” And I wasn’t sure she was “the one” either. It was way too soon for that kind of talk. I’d missed her over the years, that’s true. I wanted to know her again and spend time with her, take a chance on something more. But that didn’t add up to what my father just said, did it?
“Yes, she is!” My mother swept into the room to deposit the pickle platters on the counter.
“You have ears like a bat, my love.” Dad looked up to wink at my mother.
“She’s perfect for my boy and that’s all that matters. Maybe now that he has Molly, he can finally get some sleep! Maybe being alone all night is part of the problem—”
“Hey, y’all. I heard my name?” Molly entered with arms filled with dirty glasses.
“It was nothing,” I answered quickly. Just like everything else, I would explain later. I didn’t want her to get upset. Or my mother to get upset. Hell, at this point, I didn’t want to get upset.
“You sure? I feel like I interrupted something,” she prodded. I took the glasses from her and set them on the counter.
“Everything is fine, honey,” my dad soothed. “We’re just doing the dishes.”
“Okay . . .” She gave me a questioning look.
I mouthed “Later.” She nodded and followed my mother back into the dining room. Sighing, I headed out to the backyard. Later would be coming soon and I needed a break.
“Yo.” Molly’s brother Cameron greeted me as I stepped onto the patio. He sat with Jordan, Everett, and Barrett, sipping beers at the umbrella-covered table, while Abbie and Sadie’s two boys ran around the backyard. Landon and Leo hadn’t been able to make it because they were running the dinner hour at the inn tonight.
“Hey, y’all.” I wasn’t in the mood for beer, so I grabbed a Dr. Pepper out of the cooler before I joined them at the table.
Jordan lifted his chin. “So, you and my sister, huh?” Well, shit. So much for getting a break from the nosiness.
I gulped. This kept getting deeper and deeper. “Look—”
“You kissed her at Genie’s? Leo said y’all kissed last night,” Cameron chimed in. Molly’s parents were childhood sweethearts who’d had Landon straight out of high school. About seven years later, they had Cameron, Jordan, then Molly all in a row, within a year of each other. Molly was the baby. It started to dawn on me that I should probably be nervous about pursuing a woman with three older brothers. It didn’t matter how close I was to Landon, Jordan, and Cameron—Leo too, for that matter. If I hurt Molly, they’d beat the shit out of me first and ask questions later, and I wouldn’t blame them. I’d do the same thing if I had a sister. Hell, I’d do the same thing for Ruby, or Gracie, or even Sadie and Clara if they needed it. Maybe it was overly protective and antiquated, but if sticking up for loved ones is wrong, I did not want to be right.
“Yeah, we—”
“So.” Jordan set his beer on the table and glanced over at the kids on the swing set across the yard before continuing with his voice lowered so they wouldn’t hear. “Are y’all together, together? You wouldn’t fuck around with my sister—”
“Nah, he wouldn’t fuck around with Molly. He knows better than that, don’t you?” Cameron’s eyes narrowed on me.
Everett and Barrett chuckled, and I shot them a glare. Some kind of backup. What ever happened to brotherly loyalty?
Cameron burst out laughing and slapped my shoulder. “I can’t keep it up, man.”
“Yeah, we’re just fucking with you,” Jordan added with a smile that managed to be both friendly like usual and vaguely threatening at the same time.
“Correction. We’re ninety percent fucking with you,” Cameron added. “There’s ten percent left over in case you fuck this up.”
“I’m not trying to—”
Jordan interrupted. “We don’t think you’d hurt her deliberately. Just make sure you don’t do it accidentally is all we’re saying.”
“Because then it will be our duty to fuck you up. I’m sure you know how it is.” Cameron dealt the final warning.
I gulped down some Dr. Pepper before answering. I couldn’t tell them this was fake. Not after they knew I had kissed her. And especially not before I told my mother. One of them would hit me just on principle and I probably deserved it. “I know she’s your sister, and I would never—”