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At these thoughts, inexplicably, panic overwhelmed me.
Sensing it because he was a freak of nature, Lee’s head immediately turned to me.
“What’s the matter?” he asked.
Self-preservation kicked in over the panic and I lied.
“Nothing.”
He turned fully to me and his arm went around the back of my chair again, his other forearm resting on the table, fencing me in.
“What’s the matter?” he repeated.
“Nothing!” I snapped.
He watched me for a couple of beats and then he said calmly, “We’re gonna have to work at kickin’ your lying habit.”
“I’m not lying,” I lied.
He leaned in. “What we have here is good, and if you’d get over your thoughts that it isn’t gonna last, you’d realize how much better it’s gonna get if you’d just relax.”
See! He totally knew me. It was beginning to be scary.
Since lying wasn’t going to work, I changed strategies and went for annoyance.
“Get out of my brain, it’s pissing me off,” I warned him.
Then I learned (or more to the point realized) something new about Lee. Something he’d been showing me for days.
Lee didn’t play games and he didn’t like me doing it either. Perhaps surviving life-threatening situations and living a life filled with danger made you more honest and less apt to waste precious time.
“What kind of underwear are you wearing?” he asked.
“What? Why?”
“Because if you describe it to me, I might decide you’re worth the trouble.”
It was best to cut my losses so I crossed my arms on my chest and glared at him.
He turned away, completely unperturbed.
I caught sight of Dad, who was sitting down the table from us. There was no way he could have heard what we were saying because Lee had his back to him and spoke low. Still, Dad was shaking his head.
“What?” I snapped at my father.
“Jesus, it’s uncanny. You’re just like your mother.”
* * *
Everyone dispersedto get ready for Burgundy Rose’s show, Ally taking responsibility for Tex, Lee taking me home in his Crossfire.
I’d showered before Beau Jo’s, but hadn’t prettied myself up because most of my makeup was at Lee’s. We walked up to the bedroom so I could change and Lee saw the bag.
“What’s this?”
I didn’t want to admit what it was and what it meant that I packed it. Since Lee saw through most of my lies, or was cocky enough to zip it open and see for himself, I came clean.
“I was running out of stuff at your place so I packed more provisions.”
