“We can’t all afford to just buy a new car whenever we want. Some of us are on a budget.”
“You act like I’m buying new BMWs left and right. I drive a ten-year-old Corolla. But a new car is not a luxury when your current vehicle dies every other day.”
There was a long pause while Callie played with the end of her braid. Noah couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen Callie with her hair down, but he remembered the way it hung around her face in loose waves, the feel of it between his fingers…Shut it down.
“Can you lay off with the overbearing thing, please?” Callie finally asked. “If I wanted to spend the entire trip fighting, I would have gone to Ohio with my mom.”
“What are you two fighting about now?” He hated that he wanted to know.
“The usual.” She looked out the window to avoid his curious glance. “But it’s ten times worse since Liv got engaged.”
Noah smiled as a memory flashed in his mind. “Do you remember that time you and Liv were playing dress up and you tried on your mom’s wedding gown?”
“We didn’t just try it on. We took it out of its archival storage box. I thought I was going to be grounded for the rest of my life.” Her smile matched his own. “That was all Liv. She wanted to pretend to be Ariel fromTheLittle Mermaid, and my mom’s dress had those same God-awful puffy sleeves.”
Noah laughed. “Your mom takes weddings very seriously.”
“She does,” Callie said, her smile fading. “She’s going to be in fine form. A whole week for her to sigh and fuss about how worried she is that I’ll never get married.”
Noah’s stomach soured at the idea of Callie getting married. He knew she dated—he wasn’t naïve enough to think that her childhood crush on him would still be a factor, and anyone with eyes could see that she was gorgeous. All that red hair and big dark eyes and curves you could lose yourself in…
Not that he cared, but Callie tended to date assholes. Each time Liv would mention a new guy in Callie’s life, Noah found himself awake at three in the morning with a half empty bottle of Scotch deep down the rabbit hole of the guy’s social media profiles. None of the suits she’d dated were good enough for her. He told himself it was nothing more than what a big brother should do, the same as he would do for Liv—only he couldn’t remember the last time he’d Facebook stalked someone Liv had dated. He certainly didn’t write and delete a thousand texts he never sent asking her what the hell she saw in those guys.
He cleared his throat and stubbornly focused his attention on the bumper of the car in front of him. “Is your date meeting you there?”
She didn’t answer at first and he thought he was going to crawl out of his skin. “No date,” she said, her voice light in a way that didn’t sound totally convincing.
“What happened to what’s-his-name? The short finance guy.”
“How do you know about Ian?”
Shit.He tried to sound casual, even though he could feel the heat creeping into the tips of his ears. “Liv mentioned something…”
“Oh.”
When she didn’t offer anything further, he grunted out his impatience. “So, what happened?”
“He got transferred out of state. Not everyone’s cut out for long distance relationships, I guess,” she said, turning her head to look out the window.
Goddamn it.Now she was sad, and he did not want to have to spend four hours playing therapist while she talked about some guy who’d broken her heart. “At least you’re not the only one without a plus one,” he offered.
“Yeah, but no one’s holding their breath waiting foryouto get married.”
Noah scowled. It was one thing when Wolf MacMillan and Uncle Stu leveled accusations about his love life, but it was another thing entirely coming from Callie, though he didn’t want to look too closely at why.
“Come on. When was the last time you were in a serious relationship? Or any relationship for that matter?” she asked. He pressed his lips together and shot her a pointed glare. “That’s what I thought.”
“I date,” he said, not at all liking the direction this conversation was taking. Sad would have been easier.
“I think you need to see the same woman more than once for it to qualify as dating.”
“I’ve never had any complaints,” he grumbled.
“I believe that.”
He glanced at Callie, his eyes moving over the upturned end of her nose, the dusting of freckles high on her cheek, the hollow of her throat. He refocused on the road before she caught him staring, turning up the music as the song switched to something folksy.This is going to be a long week.
Chapter 2
