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“Get the hell off of me.” CT shrugs him off and laughs. “No wonder my brother never drives down, he’s probably worried Quinn will get the wrong idea.”
“How are they doing? Her little girl is adorable,” I ask, leaning against the counter. I set my beer down to rub at the charcoal coating my hands.
“They’re good, as far as I know. Alex still takes lessons and now has been calling me ‘Uncle Cade.’” His smile betrays his grumbled response. It was pretty clear to us all that the Trevors family fell completely for Graham’s woman and her little girl. They would be hard to resist.
We stand around catching up for a while. Archer explaining how he’s trying to find more work in the landscaping biz—one of the many job Archer has had—and is looking for some more work around town. CT explains that business has been picking up at his ranch since the festival and he’s been going nonstop.
“Feels good, though.”
“Getting back in the saddle?”
“Ha ha.” He flips Derek the bird and then turns to me. “How about you and… fuck, what was her name again?”
“Jane,” Derek supplies, going to the fridge and pulling out items for dinner. “Jane the bane.”
“The bane?” I ask, thoroughly confused.
“Jane, the bane of my existence, for taking my friend away.” He fake pouts and I shake my head.
“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard,” Archer replies, his face blank. “Like, I’ve heard a lot of stupid shit come out of your mouth, but… that… that was the worst.”
I laugh at Archer and nod my head. “Agreed.” Then I notice CT looking at me with a brow raised. “She’s… busy, I guess.”
“Uh-oh,” Archer mumbles and takes a sip of his beer, taking a side-glance at Derek.
“No ‘uh-oh,’” Derek says sternly, then turns to me. “No ‘uh-oh.’ Why ‘uh-oh’?” His genuinely concerned face almost makes me laugh but I refrain.
“It’s nothing,” I reply. “I’ve been working my ass off and so has she. We just don’t have a lot of time right now.” I shake my head. “We’re also having… issues—”
“In the bedroom,” Derek interrupts, his face serious.
“No.” I shake my head again. “Not in the bedroom. Fuck off.”
He shrugs. “Nothing to be ashamed about.”
“Well, that’s not the issue. The issue is, for some reason, her mother wants her to marry some rich prick heir of organic foods or whatever it is. It’s been creating some… distance.”
“Why?” CT asks and I raise a brow in question, because didn’t I just explain why? “I mean, why is it creating distance? Is she going to marry this guy?”
“No,” I answer and sigh, taking a quick drink. “No, she doesn’t want to be with him at all. She’s… we…” I hesitate, hating saying shit like this out loud, especially to my friends. I much prefer writing things in poetry and making people guess. Not sitting around having a powwow with my friends. “We love each other.”
CT drinks. “So, what’s the issue then?”
“The issue is, she needs to stick up for us to her mother,” I blurt out with a sarcastic laugh. “Honestly, we aren’t going to make it if she continues to let her mother insert herself between us all the time. It’s fucking ridiculous.”
“And you can’t tell her mother to fuck off?” Archer asks, raising a brow.
“It won’t do any good. She clearly hates that I’m in the picture, which I don’t care about, but she makes Jane second-guess herself constantly. Makes her feel like a little girl instead of the strong, independent woman she is.”
They fall silent and for once, Derek doesn’t have commentary on the situation. This entire thing has been making me crazy and finally talking to people who don’t immediately defend Beverly Leads helps me work through it.
“Bottom line is…” I let out a breath and lean against the counter again. “She needs to stick up for herself, or she’ll never do it for us.”
“Well,” CT says and clinks his beer against mine. “Here’s to Jane sticking it to the man.”
I snort at Beverly Leads being called “the man,” then cock my head because, well, it’s a pretty accurate description.
Chapter Forty-Nine
