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“What’s that?” she whispered.
“That you shouldn’t ever fucking lie to me.”
“Fair enough.” Yikes. “But I still want to know what you said to Brooks.”
“And I told you, Spitfire. Guy stuff. You ever grow a dick, you’ll get it.”
“Ew.” She wrinkled her nose.
“Did you just say ew?”
“Um, yeah. Dicks are kind of ew.”
He rolled his eyes heavenward, which she thought seemed overly dramatic. “Did you hear that? She thinks dicks are ew.”
“Do you believe in God?” she asked.
“I believe in something. Maybe not God.”
“You talk to him.”
“Gotta pray for some patience. Maybe he’ll grant me some.”
“Are you saying you need patience to deal with me?” That seemed awfully rude.
“Yep.”
“Hey! I’ll have you know I’m a very sweet, nice person. I never rock the boat. I never make people angry or upset. Basically, I’m Switzerland.”
“Switzerland?”
“Yeah, the peaceful spot in the middle.”
“In the middle?” For some reason, his voice was strangled and he was pretty sure that she had that saying a bit wrong.
“Right. In the middle. Switzerland is landlocked, right? I wasn’t very good at school, so maybe I’m wrong.”
She was wrong a lot.
“Baby, I don’t know who is telling you that you’re like Switzerland, but they’re lying to you. Because you’re trouble. Pure and simple. But if you want to be in the middle . . . I’m down with that.”
“In the middle of what?”
Her phone ringing interrupted him. “Uh-oh.” Drat. She should have turned it to vibrate.
He stared down at her phone. “Uh-oh? What is uh-oh?”
“Um, well, it’s Grady. And I think he might be mad. Because I’ve already had three missed calls on top of this one.”
“Three missed calls? Really.” He looked thoughtful. “We’ll get to Grady in a moment. First, we’ve got to talk about a few things.”
“Like what Brooks said to you? Has he been having trouble with the principal? Those boys? Are they bullying him? Oh my God! They’re bullying him, aren’t they? I’m going to have to call their mothers.”
Shoot. Effie wasn’t good at this sort of thing. But she had to do it. This was Brooks. He was hers and she had to protect him.
“You’re not doing anything. I’m taking care of it. And you don’t need to worry about Brooks. He’s a good kid.”
“You’re taking care of it?” she asked with alarm.
