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“You’re shy.”
“Say what?” he laughs. His eyes shift away from me, though.
“Oh my God! You really are. You’re shy, Slater.”
He looks around and frowns at me. “You weren’t spanked enough as a child.”
“Jan and I both say that to her all the time. Marigold, you haven’t introduced me to your fella. That’s not very nice of you.”
“Oh, Lord,” I mutter under my breath, pinching my nose, while holding my head down.This is not good.Rule number one in the Lucas Clan Fight Club, stay under Mom’s radar. Rule number two is never talk about rule number one because she has supersonic hearing.
“Yeah, Marigold, how come you haven’t introduced me to your mother?” Slater says, looking so satisfied with himself that I want to laugh.Poor boy, he has no idea what he’s about to unleash.
“She’s always forgetting her poor, saintly mother. You’re one of my boy’s new players, right?” Mom says. I just sit here, waiting for the shoe to drop. I let Slater bury himself. I could probably throw out a lifeline, but I can’t find a reason why I should.
“That’s me. Slater Daniels, at your service.”
“At my service. Did you hear that, Marigold?”
“That I did, Mom, but go easy on the boy. He knows not what he’s doing,” I quip.
Slater looks at me and I wonder if I see a sliver of fear in his expression. It makes me grin.
“He’s not a boy,” she tsks, shaking her head. “Why, look at those muscles. He’s all man.”
I practically giggle because you can’t mistake the fear that lit up his eyes just then.
“Uh…” he says, but Mom being Mom, cuts him off.
“I’ve been looking for someone to help me with a little project down at the barn. It requires some muscle. Somehow, in his infinite reasoning, God seemed to give most of the strength to men. I don’t mean to question the good Lord but at some point, in my afterlife, me and Him are going to have a good long talk.”
“What kind of project?” Slater asks and you can tell he’s trying to be cautious, proving he has brawn and brains.
“You arenotinstalling ceiling fans in your barn, Mom. You try and I will tell Dad,” I warn deceptively. The last time Mom liked the muscles on one of the family’s boyfriends, she had him installing ceiling fans in a hundred-degree weather—while turning off the air conditioning. There’s no doubt in my mine she has similar plans for Slater. The only reason my sisters Petal and Maggie were spared from this behavior is because Mom watched Bryant grow up. With Luka, honestly, until the last couple of years, we all thought Mom hated Luka. Now, we’re pretty sure he might be the favorite. She fawns over him trying to make up for the past. Luka’s a good guy, though. He deserves Mom’s extra care. My Mom can drive you insane, but she has the biggest heart ever made and if she lets you into her tribe, she circles around you like a momma hen protecting her little chicks.
I freeze when I realize what I’m thinking.Slater is not my man.We haven’t even kissed. I’m not getting serious about anyone. I have plans, damn it!
“Marigold, I can’t believe you. You’d choose Jan over me? You put me through three days of hard labor—labor that went into my back, I might add. Your head was so big that I had over thirty stitches, too,” she lies.
“Mom, you forget I’m a nurse who trained in the hospital you gave birth to me in. I was the quickest labor of all your children. The doctor said in his notes that I was already out and seen to by the time he made it to the delivery room.”
“You read my medical records?” she gasps.
“I’m nosy. I take after my mom.”
Mom frowns at me, giving me a stare down that has made many of my siblings hide and run from. They’re weak.
“Don’t have children, Slater. They walk on your feet when they’re little and walk on your heart when they’re older,” she grumbles, making me laugh.
“I probably won’t get that chance, Ms. Lucas.”
“Oh really? Why’s that? Are you shooting blanks?”
“What?” Slater asks, his posture changing immediately and his body shifting in his seat. I giggle. I can’t stop from it.
“There’s no shame in it, son. Don’t go defensive on me.”
“I don’t shoot blanks,” he mutters.
