AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My head full of Tatum.
“You look pretty serious.”
I turned and watched Tatum stretch, her arms above her head and her shirt climbing up to expose her stomach.
“Sleep good?” I asked.
She nodded and relaxed into the chair. “Pretty dang good for being curled up in a recliner,” she sighed. “How long was I out for?”
“A couple of hours.”
“What?” she squawked. “Why did you let me sleep so long?” She patted her pockets and looked around. She sighed and dropped her chin to her chest. “I keep forgetting I don’t have my phone. Or, well, anything. I don’t even know what time it is.”
“Half past seven, baby girl. I’ve just been keeping the fire going while you snored away.” I had also been keeping an eye out. Common sense told me that Brandt had no clue about this cabin, and he very likely was still under the impression he had been successful in blowing us to smithereens. I had tried to watch TV for a bit, but nothing held my attention.
“I can’t believe I slept through dinner.”
“We’re not on a schedule, Tatum. We can eat whenever we want.”
She pushed down the footrest and scooted to the edge of the recliner. “Ethel mentioned she had some leftovers we could have for dinner. You hungry?”
I could always eat. I learned if there was food available, you should eat. You never know what is going to happen next, and you should always be prepared. “Sure.”
She shuffled into the kitchen and worked on pulling containers out of the fridge.
I added another log to the fire and took a seat at the kitchen island. “What do we got?” I asked.
Tatum peeked in a few of the containers and quirked her lips. “Looks like you have your choice of pot roast, meatloaf, some type of noodle thing, possibly apple crisp, and half a pan of brownies are on top of the oven.”
“Jesus,” I chuckled. “I knew Ethel liked to cook, but that is a hell of a lot of food. We won’t have to make anything for a couple of days.” Or maybe even longer. Gravel obviously ate good.
“What do you want to have tonight?” she asked.
“Uh, let’s go with some of the pot roast and the noodle thing. You can pick what we have for dessert.”
Tatum nodded and put two containers back in the fridge. “We’re totally having brownies and ice cream for dessert.”
“Hopefully, Ethel has some stashed away.”
Tatum grabbed two plates from one of the cabinets and worked on spooning food onto each plate. “She does. Greta was putting a scoop of vanilla into each batch of margaritas she mixed up. She said it was her secret ingredient, which I think was good. I swear Gravel drank at least a whole pitcher by himself.”
I tipped my head to the side. “I wouldn’t think ice cream would be good in a margarita.”
Tatum shrugged and set the plates in the microwave. “I didn’t think it would be good either, but it gave them a creaminess. I am totally doing that if I ever make margaritas.”
“What did you think of everyone?” I asked. When Tatum and I dated, she had only met the guys and Greer. I had told her about the Devil’s Knights, but she had never met them. That would have crossed the line of making her more of my life. God knew if Meg and the girls met someone they liked, they wouldn’t let them go.
“They were all the same but different.”
I tipped my head to the side again. “Not at all what I thought you would say. Is that a good thing?”
She nodded. “Yes. I mean, they were just like you described them, but they were so much more. You never mentioned Greta or Lennox, but I’m assuming that’s because they were teenagers when we dated.”
“Greta is Meg fifteen years ago. Crazy and said whatever came to mind.” I shook my head. “Crazy.”
“I liked Greta,” Tatum laughed. “She’s very sarcastic but funny.”
“She was something,” I muttered.
