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And all those bikinis. I tap my foot, leaning back in my chair now.
“Your grandpa would love the idea,” Mama adds.
I eye her suspiciously now. “I don’t think he would, or he would’ve left it to me in the will.”
Dad laughs. “Son, he knew you. He knew that if he told Cash Creed what to do or even hinted at it, you’d do the opposite. It’s who you are.”
I take a deep breath. Dad’s kind of right. I don’t like being told what to do—although they’re trying to tell me what to do now.
Nonetheless, I convince myself this is what I want to do, not what I have to do. “Okay,” I say, envisioning a summer of tanning sessions gazing at gorgeous, bikini-clad girls.
“Wait, okay as in you’ll do it?” Levi asks, leaning forward.
I sigh. “Just for the summer. Don’t get any ideas that you’re going to convert me to whatever weird beachy religion you follow here that sucked you right in,” I warn as Levi stands to come over and hug me.
“Oh, thank heavens. This place worked for one of my boys,” Mama says, raising her hands as if in worship.
“Mama, don’t go getting any ideas either. Just because Levi settled down—no offense, Jodie—doesn’t mean I’m going to. Far, far from it.”
“We’ll just see about that,” Mama adds, and for the first time in days, she smiles.
I roll my eyes. I love how my life, my love life, has become a family conspiracy.
“You never know what could happen. Sometimes even the lone hearts get lucky,” Ray Creed adds now. Great, even he’s on the “get married, Cash” train that Mama’s driving.
“That sounds like a really good country song,” Jodie adds, smiling. “So Cash, where are you going to stay? We have a spare bedroom if you’re interested.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Thanks, I appreciate it. But one, I think Sebastian would jump out the window if Killer stayed here any longer.” With that, we look at the growling cat, ears down, who stands with an arched back in the corner of the room, Killer licking his paws in front of the feline. “And two, no offense, but I’ve heard from Avery, Lysander, and Reed that you two can barely control yourselves in public. I love you, big brother, but not enough to hear your nightly sexcapades through the walls. I think it might cramp my own adventures, if you know what I mean.”
“No, Cash, we don’t know what you mean. Enlighten us,” Mama says, raising an eyebrow as she scowls.
“No worries, Mama. You don’t want to know. But anyway, thank you for the offer, Jodie. As landlord of several fine properties now, though, I think I’ll be able to find something that suits me.”
“There’s always the apartments we started in,” Jodie says, looking at my brother wistfully.
I shrivel my nose. “Again, no offense. I’m really no snob, but I’ve seen some of the tenants that come out of there.” I gesture toward Levi, grinning. “I think I’ll take a peek at these condos off the boardwalk.
“Of course you will,” Levi says, rolling his eyes. “You always did like the finer things.”
“Nothing wrong with that, brother.”
“I suppose,” he says, and I tuck the will safely inside the file as I head over to the corner to rescue Sebastian from Killer, thinking about how much life is really going to change—and how I definitely didn’t pack enough for this extended stay.
