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“Why is he not allowed to text a woman?” Conway asked.
Sera responded almost immediately. Ignoring my brother, I held up my phone triumphantly, though I was a little wary of reading what it said. “See? She answered.”
“Let me see that.” Faith yanked the phone away from me.
She read my text first. “Hey, how are you doing? I get back to Nashville tomorrow. You can bring the kids on Saturday to go riding if you don’t already have plans.”
Faith eyed me. “So she responded, ‘Okay, that would be so great, thanks. They’ve really missed riding.’” She threw my phone on the end table in disgust. “You have friend-zoned yourself.”
“How am I in the friend zone if we’ve had sex?” I heard it though. Faith was not wrong. The text exchange was not sexy, not flirty. I tried not to wince. That had definitely been an impulsive rookie move to text her like that.
“Dude,” Conway said. “You led with her kids. You’re in the friend zone.”
“And why the hell should I listen to you two?” I demanded, just to be contrary. “I don’t see either one of you all wrapped up in a relationship. Y’all are single.”
“By choice,” Faith said.
“Yeah. By choice,” Conway said. “Big-time choice.”
“Doubtful,” I said. “What am I supposed to do now then, you love gurus?”
“How did you get her to agree to go to Mexico in the first place?”
I grinned. “How do you think?” I thought about telling Sera all the ways I would fuck her and how she had tried to resist but couldn’t… “It wasn’t the promise of parasailing, that’s for damn sure.”
“Well, okay, yuck,” Faith said. “But that’s your angle. Work it.”
It wasn’t a solution. But it might be a start. It had worked the first time and look at what a great time we’d had. Surely by now she was thinking she wouldn’t mind a little lovin’.
My father came out onto the porch. “Your mother needs help with lunch. What are you doing out here anyway?”
“Fixing Cash’s love life, Daddy. Y’all know I’m a love expert.” Faith smiled at him.
“The only thing you’re an expert on is being too big for your britches.”
That made me and Conway laugh.
“Hey!” Faith said. “Daddy, what are you saying?”
My father offered his hand for Faith to stand up. “That you’re as pretty as a peach.”
“Why are you always blowing smoke up Faith’s ass and not mine?” Conway asked.
“You’re pretty too, Conway,” my father said. “Is that what you want to hear?”
My brother wasn’t as big as me, but he was close. He also had broken his nose twice and was covered in tattoos.
Glad no one was talking about me anymore, I laughed.
“Yes,” Conway said, shooting me a grin. “That’s what I want to hear, Dad. Everyone needs reassurance.”
“Jesus Christ,” was my father’s opinion. Then he eyed me. “How are things with your girl?”
“What girl?” I asked, genuinely curious who he might be talking about.
Faith paused with the screen door open, also clearly curious.
“That Sera woman. I saw you talking to her after the game Thanksgiving weekend. When we went to that restaurant.”
I was speechless. I hadn’t even had an opportunity to introduce Sera to my parents before she’d decided to leave with her kids. She hadn’t even eaten. What the hell had my father seen in that exchange?
He shrugged. “No? You sure looked smitten to me.”
So I was that obvious.
“They went to Mexico together,” Faith chirped.
“Can you just shut up for once in your life?” I asked, annoyed.
“Don’t tell your sister to shut up,” my father said.
“See?” Conway said. “Y’all spoil Faith.”
“Don’t be jealous,” Faith said as she held the door open for all of us to pass into the house. “There can only be one favorite.”
“I don’t have favorites,” my father said. “You all irritate me equally.”
I laughed, looking forward to whatever my mother would be cooking up for lunch. I never went hungry back home.
I had definitely enjoyed my time with my family.
But I was ready to go back to Nashville.
Back to Sera.
