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“I didn’t take you for a slumlord.” He opened the growler, pouring us both a pint and pushing the warm mug in my direction as he sat down at the dining room table.
Probably as much of an invitation as I’d get.
I took it and sat opposite him. “I don’t have property in my portfolio. Yet.”
“Well, at least, financially, you can take care of Nora.” He ground out the compliment like it physically hurt him. His jaw grew tight and his face hardened. “She sent you here?”
I shook my head. “She told me not to come. She’s afraid you’re going to knock me out.”
That got a smile. He laughed under his breath. “And you came anyway?”
“I felt like I had an obligation,” I said with a shrug. “I’ll be out of town for the next month.”
“Aren’t you important?” he muttered, softening the words with his drink.
“I am,” I said smugly, breaking through Cal’s annoyance and getting an exaggerated eye roll in response. “But I want to make sure everything’s fine between you and Nora before I go. That I haven’t caused too many problems.”
Cal sat back in his seat with a frown. “You think I’d blow off my sister just because she married an asshole like you?”
“No,” I answered carefully. “But you know Nora.”
“I certainly know her better than you,” Cal cut in.
“Then you know she doesn’t realize you’re just avoiding me. She thinks you’re avoiding her.”
He exhaled, his massive body heaving with the effort as his lips twisted. “I guess that explains why I fixed her car a week ago and she hasn’t come by to pick it up.”
“She thinks you’re mad at her.”
“I’m not mad at her.” He softened, barely perceptible, but enough.
“Regardless of how we got here, I love Nora.” I pushed past the nagging feeling at the back of my head that I should be telling this to Nora, not her brother. “And she loves you. So, this marriage won’t work unless we can get along. I’m not asking you to be my friend. Hell, I’m not even asking you to like me. I’m just asking you not to scare your sister off because you don’t want to be around me.”
“So, you just want me to be civil?” He shook his head.
“At the very least.”
Cal groaned, downing the last of his beer and pouring himself another.
“Besides, what’s the worst that could happen? I think I’ve done as much damage as I can in this family,” I asked with a shrug.
“You divorce Nora and marry Bunny?” Cal said with a grin.
“I’ll do my best not to cross that line.”
“You’re really gone for a month?”
“That should give Nora plenty of time to warm you up to the idea of this marriage.”
“You’re a real shit husband.”
I shrugged. “Don’t I know it? But she’s starting classes next week, so it’s not like she can tag along. Besides, she’d be bored out of her mind.”
“At least you got her a dog.”
“Yeah, swing by and meet him. He’s a strange little thing, but Nora fell in love.” I shrugged.
Cal laughed. “That’s the exact reason Len would never let her get a dog. He said she’d fall for the first sad sack she stumbled on. I guess that’s why she married you.”
