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Most days, I was usually home by six with dinner in the oven because Kline’s cooking was one of hisonlyflaws and I was a bit of a control freak about my meal selections, but today’s chaotic photo shoot had me runningwaybehind schedule. My husband, being the kind of guy he was, didn’t even balk at the change. Truth was, if I’d have let him, he’d have gladly taken more of the meal responsibility off my shoulders on a regular basis.
Kline: I’ll order takeout.
Me: Yay! My vote is for pizza, but I’d also go for burgers or tacos. Whatever you want.
Kline: Okay. Drive safe and stop texting. I’ll see you soon. Love you.
The light turned green, and I quickly sent a heart emoji before setting my phone back in the cupholder to finish the drive to our house. Suddenly, a nagging thought popped into my head, so I grabbed my phone, scrolled to the number I wanted, and hit call to pull up the connection on my hands-free speaker through the stereo.
I’d been meaning to make this call for a couple of days now, but knowing his tendency to ramble, I’d put it off. Still, I had a quick moment now that would hopefully aid in my ability to end the call swiftly, and as it wasn’t technically texting, I figured it’d be a lesser evil in the world of distractions.
Three rings later, and Thatch came on the line, booming over the speakers so forcefully, I swerved a little before reaching forward to turn the volume knob down. “Well, well, Georgia girl. How are you, sweetheart?”
I smiled and shook my head. Thatch was a character, and I found it unbelievably hard not to love him, even when I hated him. He was my best friend Cassie in male form come to life, and I didn’t know how the world survived having two of them.
“Hey, Thatch,” I greeted much more softly. “Sorry to bother you, but I’ve been wanting to touch base about a favor, if you wouldn’t mind.”
“A favor for you?”
“Yes,” I confirmed.
“You got it. Lay it on me, sister.”
See? That right there. That’s why I always found myself loving him.
“Okay, great. I’m sure you know, but Kline’s thirty-fifth birthday is coming up at the end of next month, and I’m planning on surprising him with a party.”
“Righteous!”
I laughed. “Well, I was hoping you might be willing to help. Maybe with some of the planning, but mostly—”
“Oh, you bet your sweet ass, babe. I’m in. I’m agreatplanner. Terrific planner. Much better than your husband, as it turns out, but that’s a topic for another time.”
My eyes widened at the huge, running stream of word vomit coming out of his mouth, so I waded back in to try to get control of the situation.
“Well, that’s great. Really. I appreciate your willingness. I just probably more need you for distracting Kline, getting him there. That sort of thing.”
“Are you sure you don’t want me to handle some of the arrangements? Honestly, I’m pretty damn good at it,” he urged again, the confidence in his voice making me imagine him cocked back in his desk chair with his feet up on his desk. Still, I didn’t need a co-planner. Not really anyway. Cassie had already volunteered for the job, and she was more than enough crazy to handle.
“I’m good. If you can just stand by for instruction from me on the specifics of distraction and escorting him to the party, I’ll be forever grateful.”
“Well, then, you got it, doll. I’m at your service.”
I took one last right turn onto our quaint, suburban street and a left turn into my driveway, and I was finallyhome sweet home.
Thank goodness. Now I had an excuse to end the call before it got out of hand.
“Okay, then. Thanks again. I’ll talk to you soon.”
“You bet. Oh, and Georgia girl?”
“Yeah?”
“Have agreatweekend.”
My eyes narrowed at his weirdness, but I didn’t focus on it for too long. The thing with Thatcher Kelly was that there was always at least a little weirdness.
“Thanks. I will. Bye.”
