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“Jameson? Now which Waters boy is he?” Mrs. Collins asks, still glaring.
“I’m the youngest one, ma’am.”
“The youngest one? You can’t be more than twenty. I remember when you were just a little thing.”
“I’m twenty-six, ma’am. And I’m all grown up. For a long time now.”
“I would have sworn that this one was Jarret? Isn’t this the one who was with you when I saw you on the street? The one carrying the paint?” Mrs. Barker is peering at me like she’s Mr. Peanut. All she needs is the monocle instead of her horn-rimmed glasses.
Lily smiles and turns to look at me. “Hmmm. No, I don’t think so. I know they all look so much alike. It can be really confusing. I can barely tell them apart either!”
My hand on her waist drops to pinch her ass in warning. The hell she can’t tell me apart from my brothers. I’m the one fucking her every night. I’m the one who loves her. The one she loves right back.
“And you two are…?” Mrs. Barker asks with a big smile on her face. She really is a nice old lady.
“We’re… dating?” Lily looks up at me, her eyebrow arched. Questioning. Like she’s not sure how to describe what we are to each other. I guess she can’t tell a couple of old ladies that she’s fucking me. Although that’s never really stopped her before. And it might sound a little weird to just announce to a stranger that she loves me. But dating doesn’t seem nearly big enough of a word for what we are to each other. “We’re together.”
“Isn’t he a little young for you, dear?” Mrs. Collins asks, eyeing me up and down and then doing the same to Lily.
Lily smiles at me. “Is he? I never noticed.”
“Well, he just said he’s only twenty-six…” she mutters. “And not a single one of the Waters boys went to college, did they? Not exactly improving themselves. It’s a good thing the oldest one made something of himself. The rest of them don’t have much to show for themselves, do they?”
I want to laugh, but my mom would have got out her wooden spoon for me disrespecting an old woman like that. I don’t give a shit what this old lady thinks about me. The fact that she lumped my brothers in with her insults pisses me off. Even if I know they wouldn’t care, either.
The only one I’m worried might actually care about this is Lily. This is exactly the kind of thing she was worried about. People’s judgment. About her. About us. About her being with me. And that’s what kills me. But if this bitter old lady’s words make Lily have doubts about us again, I don’t know what else I can do to prove to her that she belongs with me. I know I don’t deserve her. I know I’m not good enough for her and never will be. But I love her. And I’m not letting her go. Not unless she makes me. If this woman’s stupid comments are enough to change how Lily feels about me, what the hell does that say about her feelings for me to begin with?
Nothing she said was even a lie. I’m twenty-six. I never went to college. I never made anything of myself. I do manual labor on the farm every day. Jacks is the only one of us who left this town and made something of himself. And I never cared for a second about any of that until I thought it might change how Lily feels about me. Now I really fucking care.
“Thank you, Mrs. Collins. It’s so thoughtful of you to worry about me. But you know, I didn’t actually go to college either. Neither did Jacks. And as much as I love my best friend and am so incredibly proud of him, that man made it big by dancing around in his underwear and a pair of cowboy boots when he was eighteen. Unlike Jameson here, who works hard on his family’s farm every single day. He contributes to his family. And to this community. Not to mention everything he does for me.” Lily braids her fingers through mine on her hip and wraps her other arm around me. “So, I’m not worried about him being too young for me. Or too anything else you want to say about him. How is your son doing? I heard Missy kicked him out again. It must be so nice to have him back home. Although you must get that lucky a couple of times a year. At least.”
The smile Mrs. Collins gives Lily makes her look like a skeleton with the way her lips pull right over her teeth.
Mrs. Barker looks like she’s so embarrassed by this conversation that she wants to pull a fire alarm. She gives us a big smile and pats Lily on the arm. “It’s always so nice seeing you, dear. Thank you again for your wonderful contribution to the baking competition. You two look very happy together. And you are going to make very, very cute babies.”
Babies? I mean, yeah. I’d get Lily pregnant right now if she’d let me. But I’m always just a little afraid that all of this is going to be too much, too fast. And she’s going to try to pull away from me. My eyebrows are together when I turn down to look at her. But she’s not looking at me. She’s glaring at Mrs. Collins’ back as she walks over to the baking contest entries.
“You good, babe?”
Lily turns to me and gives me a big smile. She presses her hand against my chest. “Sorry about what she said about you, kid. That woman is a total asshole.”
“And my Lemon doesn’t take shit from anyone.” My lips quirk. Lily’s fine. Everything’s fine. We’re all good. “Remind me never to get on your bad side, babe.”
Lily runs her hands up and down my chest before giving me a sweet smile. “You’re always on my bad side, kid. You like it that way.”
“You know, I do,” I tell her, pushing her hair back behind her ear. All kinds of feelings are coursing through me, and I don’t quite know where to put them. It feels like yesterday she was afraid to be seen with me in public. And now she just told off one of the biggest gossips in Western Springs in the middle of a barn dance with more than half the town here for me. For me.
“You didn’t have to do that, Lemon. I don’t care what anyone says about me.”
She narrows her eyes at me. “No one is going to talk about you that way, Jameson. Not when I’m around. What a pompous piece of shit. Her son is a complete waste of space. The way he treats Missy should be criminal. And you did the right thing by just ignoring it. Even if you’d just said something salty to her, it would have been a bad look.”
“I know. But that woman is meaner than a grizzled old coyote.”
“That’s why you have me, kid. I’m cute and blonde, so I can be mean as hell and no one thinks anything of it. I’m like a honey badger. Cute, but will fight.”
“You are cute and blonde, that’s for sure, babe. But hold up. You’re not getting into any fights on my watch. If anyone touched a pretty blonde hair on this head, I’d have to kill them. And if I was in prison, I couldn’t do this whenever I want.”
Grabbing her ass, I pull her up hard against me and bring my lips down to hers. I’m still amazed that she lets me do this to her at all, much less in public. Lily’s arms reach up to wrap around my neck, holding me tight against her.
