AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Just to bug him? Get back at him a little bit?”
If she wanted to get back at anyone, it’d be Lynn more than her father. Well, maybe not. She held her father accountable for allowing Lynn to do what she’d done. So maybe she was subconsciously taking some sort of joy in becoming one of Leo’s favorite people. But it wasn’t anything she was doing specifically for that reason. “Making Leo love me wouldn’t be enough to give me any sort of revenge. He loves everyone.”
Talulah eyed her closely. “What about makingHendrixlove you?”
“That would be impossible,” she said with a laugh, pretending to dismiss it out of hand. But she wasn’t entirely convinced of that anymore. He’d just asked if he could come back to her house sometime. Why? What did he want?
The way he’d looked at her when she was wearing her robe and how he’d behaved ever since made her think he wasn’t just seeking peace. And yet she couldn’t fully believe he wanted more than that, either.
Twelve
As expected, Lynn wasn’t happy they were late.
“Where’ve you been?” she demanded as soon as he and Leo walked through the front door.
Hendrix would’ve preferred to be the one who answered that question. He would’ve remained vague—said they got caught up, apologized and left it at that. But Leo piped up with the full truth before he could respond, which was also predictable. “We were at Ellen’s, Mom. She took me to the store, and I bought sidewalk chalk, and I drew all over the driveway.”
Lynn almost dropped the casserole she’d been taking from the oven. Hendrix reached out to grab the hot dish but fortunately didn’t have to because it landed on the stove with a thump, sloshing a little over one side. And Stuart, who was already sitting at the table waiting to eat, jerked his head up.
“Did you sayEllen?” Lynn’s eyes narrowed accusatorily as she glared at Hendrix. “What’s going on?”
Hendrix did his best to downplay the fact that he knew he’d been doing something she wouldn’t like. “Nothing, really. Leo saw Ellen while we were driving through town yesterday and asked if he could help at the diner again. She said yes. So I took him over there earlier today.”
“She doesn’t own the diner,” Lynn said. “Talulah does. Why’s she there every weekend?”
“It’s noteveryweekend,” he explained. “She helps out now and then, which is kind of her. Otherwise, Talulah would hardly ever get a break.”
Lynn’s mouth parted as though his response had taken her off guard. “Kind of her...” she repeated, stunned.
“You can’t hateeverythingabout her,” he said drily.
Probably because there was no rational way to argue with that statement, she didn’t follow up on it. “Why would she let Leo come to her place?”
“Why wouldn’t she?” he countered.
“You know why. She hates all of us.”
“No, she just hates you, Stuart and me. She doesn’t hate him.”
“She’s taking advantage of the fact that he doesn’t know to stay away from her. She’s been trying to hurt us any way she can ever since she came to town. She’s just switched weapons, that’s all.”
“Not really,” he said as he took a piece of watermelon from the bowl that was waiting to be placed on the table, then popped it in his mouth. “She’s still going after our business.”
“And you can be friendly to her, considering that?” she cried.
“We wronged her first.”
“In what way?” she demanded.
“In just about every way,” he replied.
She threw her oven mitts into the sink. “What the hell are you talking about?”
He swallowed the watermelon. “I’m not trying to upset you. Just...calm down, okay?”
“I’m not going to calm down!” she snapped. “I want to know what we’ve ever done to hurt her!”
Hendrix should’ve backed off. His aunt had a temper, and it took her a long time to forgive and forget—if she ever did. But the truth was the truth, and it was high time someone said it. “If you’ll just take a moment to think about it, you’ll know,” he said, speaking as gently as possible.
