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That was how long it had been.
I pulled into Reynolds’ and jogged inside.
“Hey there, handsome,” the hostess said, making me extremely uncomfortable, seeing as she was clearly a teenager.
“Hello. I have a pickup order for Maddox Lancaster.” I didn’t smile. I didn’t need this child misreading me.
“Maddox, nice to see you,” Hugh Reynolds said, coming around the hostess stand with a large bag of food. “Thanks for ordering.”
“Of course.” I wasn’t about to tell him it was for his sister.
“Georgia called ahead to make sure they didn’t mess up the order. She told me about the mix-up at the other place.” He chuckled.
Wow. These were some close siblings. They talked a lot. I didn’t have that kind of relationship with my brother because we weren’t big on the emotional stuff in my family.
Clearly.
And now her brother probably thought I was a big pussy for complaining about the food.
It had nothing to do with the fucking red sauce.
“Yeah. I probably sound like an asshole. I was just in a mood.” I shrugged.
He studied me for a long moment and then clapped me on the back. “Been there, man. No worries. Hopefully we got it right, and this is just a sign that you should be eatingallyour meals here.”
I nodded and took the bag from him. “The food is damn good. Thank you.”
“Hey, Maddox,” he said, as I started to step away.
“Yeah?”
He moved closer, as we were standing off to the side from the hostess stand now, and the place was busy once again. Clearly, they had the best food in town. But no one was paying us any attention.
“Georgia is all sunshine and smiles, but she has a tender heart.”
What the fuck did that mean? I knew she said their mom was a therapist, so maybe they were all very open about this type of shit.
“Well, she’s pretty sweet to everyone at work aside from me, so I don’t know what that’s about,” I said, trying to make light of whatever the fuck we were talking about.
He chuckled. “I think you know exactly what that’s about, my friend.”
I didn’t. But I assumed he knew there was a bit of a gray area with us, because God forbid, she didn’t tell her family everything.
“I think she hates me most of the time.”
“Georgia doesn’t have the capacity to hate. She’s exactly what you think she is—all goodness, man. She’s always been that way. Just… don’t go there unless you really want to go there, all right? You got me?”
I now knew why she didn’t tell her family about her car being stolen. This guy was my size and looked like a salt-of-the-earth dude, but he also gave off the vibe that he’d hunt me down and kill me slowly if I hurt his sister.
“I got you.”
“Good. And nice move with all the desserts. That’ll score you big points with her. She’s got a sweet tooth. See you later, brother.” He barked out a laugh before clapping me hard on the shoulder and turning around to walk toward the bar.
Why did I feel like I was leaving with a bag of food but also a warning?
Like, enjoy the ribs, buddy, but if you fuck up, you’re going to find a horse’s head in your bed tomorrow morning.
When I got to the house, I hurried inside and turned on the fireplace and set the food out on the table.
