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They ooh and ahh over my nothing-special apartment before Mama Louise helps herself to the kitchen, setting up to make fried chicken and mashed potatoes with a cast-iron skillet she apparently brought from home. She claims that comfort food will help me heal faster, and Mom hops up to help like she was waiting on a mission and the healing properties of fried foods are completely plausible.
Shit. Fuck. Damn.
Both moms conspiring together could be bad, really bad. But at this point, what harm could they really do? Brody and I have already admitted our feelings and there are no more secrets.
Sophie and Katelyn whisper something about the fried chicken recipe and its importance, but I miss the details because Dad stands and says he and Brody are going downstairs.
“I think you’re in good hands here, honey.” He scans the group of women taking up residence in the tiny space and kisses my forehead before walking out the door.
Brody has the sense to look from me to the girls to the moms in the kitchen, almost like he’s checking to make sure I’m okay with the situation, but then he throws me that arrogant smirk and follows my dad. “Pussy!” I call out to him.
Mama Louise sing-songs, “Language!”
Mom shakes her head. “I swear I taught her manners, but that girl is her father’s daughter through and through.”
“And proud of it,” I say with zero humbleness.
For a hot second, I worry. Is Dad playing nice and then taking him downstairs to kill him? Reed would definitely help. But Brody can handle himself, and honestly, I think Dad is truly seeing reason. He’s had all these plans for me for so long, and I’ve been skirting some and latching onto others. I think he’s finally on board with my having my own plans too, or he’s at least considering the idea.
Once that’s settled in my mind, I look around me. Normally, I’d be irritated to be left with the womenfolk in the kitchen while the guys go talk shop just because I have a vagina, but these women make me feel like one of them, even though we’re all so different. And I find myself enjoying their camaraderie and feeling a part of it myself. Even from my couch confinement.
I’ve missed this. I have it with Emily, of course, but I don’t have female friends other than her. I have nothing in common with them, but somehow, that doesn’t matter with this group. The only thing they have in common is that they love each other and will do anything for one another. That I can support.
Mama Louise and Mom chat away about stubborn husbands, and Sophie, Katelyn, and Allyson chime in here and there. I mostly doze, feeling the pain meds kick in again.
But when I fall asleep this time, it’s with a clean slate and a full heart.
Chapter 27
Brody
Downstairs, Reed and Manuel stop what they’re doing and intercept us, Reed with his feet wide and his arms crossed while Manuel just looks worried.
“She okay?” Reed asks Keith.
He hums, nodding. “She will be. Just gonna take some time. I’ll come back and help at the shop while she’s recovering.”
That’s the first I’ve heard of that, and though it makes perfect sense, I’m a smart enough man to know that Erica’s gonna feel like Keith is stepping on her toes. But I have to trust that they’ll work it out. Fuck knows, she won’t sit idly by and make it easy on him though the man successfully ran the shop for thirty years.
Reed’s hands drop to his sides, fists curling before he points a greasy finger my way. “This is your fault,” he snarls.
“Mine? I wasn’t even here and sure don’t know a damn thing about cars for it to be my fault.”
“You knew what she was doing, and any idiot knows how dangerous it is! And still, you let her go out there and get hurt!” He points out the open garage door, like he means Erica could be hurt anywhere in the great, big world. He cares about her, and the fear Reed must’ve felt when he heard what happened is starting to worm its way into his voice, though he’s fighting valiantly to stay hard and cold.
I chuckle, shaking my head. “Let her? Let her? Have you even met her, man?” I’m trying to keep it light because Reed is on the edge and I really don’t want to finish my first introduction to Keith Cole by beating the shit out of the guy he considers a son. But I will if I have to.
He growls, turning to Keith. “You told her no more racing, right?”
Errk, all stop. What the actual fuck? Does Reed think Keith would actually do that? Hell, would he? I feel like he understood where Erica was coming from upstairs, but he forbade her once and it nearly destroyed her, taking away something she loved. Now that it’s even more important to her, and all out on the table, I think it’d destroy both of them.
