Chapter 9

CHAPTER NINE

Laney

It takes four rounds of bingo on Tuesday evening, but I finally win my foot spa.

Mimi looks over from her place on the opposite side of Percy and narrows her brown eyes before raising two fingers and pointing them at her eyes, then shifting them over to me in an I'm watching you gesture.

I raise my eyebrows in challenge, and she finally cracks, laughing as she shakes her head and clears her board for the next round.

"You know you're still giving her that foot spa, right?" Percy asks under his breath. "She's trying to lure you into complacency with her charm."

"Fully aware," I say. "And probably I'm going to let her have it."

"Sucker."

"She saved me her Boston cream pie from dinner because she knew it was my favorite. How can I truly argue with her?"

"You're asking me? The biggest Mimi pushover on the planet?"

"There are worse things to be," Mimi says from beside him, and we both laugh.

We play a few more rounds while I pepper Mimi with questions about Ethel and Roberto's lightning-quick courtship and how she really feels about it, then milk her for the "dirty details" she promised about a certain Mr. Martinson who has been coming to visit her every evening to watch Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! . Apparently, they've come up with a game they play as they watch. Every time one of the contestants guesses an incorrect letter or misses a trivia question, they kiss.

"The more idiots on the show, the better," Mimi says with a twinkle in her eye.

"Oh, good grief," Percy says, but I have to respect Mimi.

"She's getting more action than either of us," I say.

Percy laughs. "Sad, but true."

Another round ends, and we clear our boards for the final round. It's only six forty-five, but bingo at Shady Pines never lasts past seven PM or residents tend to get cranky. At least according to Mimi.

"So when are you seeing the man who isn't ready to kiss you yet?" Percy says. "Did you ever make plans?"

"Don't make me regret telling you what he said," I say as I cover up a square in my g column. "And yes. He's coming over to watch a movie tomorrow night."

"Think he'll be ready to kiss you then?"

"He did promise next time," I say. "That's tomorrow night, so I'm assuming he will be. "

He'd better be, I think. Because I was more than ready when he dropped me off last Friday night, my body practically vibrating with the need to kiss him. I can't think about it too much, because every time I do, a faint sense of embarrassment washes over me.

I have zero doubts that Adam wanted to kiss me as much as I wanted to kiss him. And we've been texting almost nonstop ever since. I just can't figure out why he wasn't ready.

Maybe he has a no kissing on the first date rule?

Maybe he…was worried about bad breath?

Maybe he has a secret long-distance girlfriend and wanted to break up with her before starting something new?

Oh, gross. I hate that last thought. Adam has been so open with me about everything else, I can't imagine he'd lie about something so big, but women have been duped before. I'm too practical not to acknowledge that if something seems too good to be true, it probably is.

But a bigger part of me wants to believe Adam really is perfect—at least perfect for me.

"I don't know," Percy says. "I still say it's weird."

"It's not weird. He said he wasn't ready. Why aren't we celebrating a man being honest about what he wants and when he wants it?"

"Fine. I'm celebrating. But I'd be celebrating more if he'd slipped you a little tongue."

I swat him in the shoulder, then gasp when Mimi says, "Mr. Martinson could give him some pointers."

Across the room, someone calls out bingo, and I breathe out a sigh of relief. "Finally," I say. "I'm done with you troublemakers."

I clean off my board and start picking up my chips when my watch vibrates with an incoming call. I glance at it, my heart skipping the tiniest bit when I see Adam's name on the screen. I grab my purse from the back of my chair and nudge Percy. "Adam's calling. Clean up for me? I'll be right back."

He nods as I leave the table and move to the back of the room, where refreshments line the wall, and answer the call.

"Hey!" I say.

"Hey." The deep rumble of even just that one word sends a delicious shiver down my spine. "How are you?"

"I just won bingo at Shady Pines, so I'm absolutely fabulous. How are you?"

"Actually, I'm in a little bit of a predicament, and was hoping you might be free to help me—but only if it won't mess with your evening."

"Not at all. Things shut down early around here, so we're almost done. What can I do? Is Taylor okay?"

"Yeah. She's great. Still no puppies. But none of my regular volunteers are free, and I'm stuck in Asheville traffic with Sarah. I know this is a really big ask, but do you think you could drive out to the rescue and handle the dinner routine for me? They usually eat around five, and we're still an hour and a half away with no sign of any movement on the interstate."

"Does she know I'm your sister?" a voice says somewhere in the background. The call must be on speaker phone or piped through the sound system in Adam's SUV. "I'm his sister, Laney. He's with Sarah who is his sister. "

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Adam says. "I've told her you're my sister."

I smile at the irritation in his voice because it's exactly how I talk to my sister when she's driving me crazy .

"Just making sure," Sarah says. "I didn't want her to think you were on a date. You have to be clear about these things."

"I just had dinner with Laney last weekend, and I'm seeing her again tomorrow night. You really think I would date someone else in between?" Adam asks, and his tone is so genuine, I instantly know he would never do something like that.

Sarah tsks. "You poor, innocent man," she says. "Do you know anything about your own species?"

"Do you know anything about me ?" he shoots back.

"Okay, that's fair," Sarah says. "You would never do that. But I just wanted to make sure Laney knew too."

I chuckle at their good-natured back-and-forth. "It's nice to finally talk to you, Sarah. I hope I meet you in person soon."

"Me too!" Sarah says. "I've heard so much about you. Did Adam for real tell you about me already? The man does not like talking about his private life."

"He did," I say. "He mentioned you pretty quickly, actually."

"Aww," Sarah says. "That makes me happy. And gives me a very good feeling about you. I bet he tells you all his secrets."

"Sarah," Adam says, a slight edge to his voice.

"What? I didn't say I was going to tell your secrets." She clears her throat. "Or that you even have any. I was just talking about…hypothetical secrets. And saying that if you did happen to have any, you probably wouldn't share them with just anyone."

"Are you finished?" Adam asks when Sarah's rambling finally stops.

"Completely," she says. "No more secret talk. "

Somehow, Sarah's insistence that he does not have any secrets only makes me more certain Adam does.

"What do you say, Laney?" Adam asks, ignoring his sister. "Can you help? I'll try my volunteers again if you can't, so no pressure to say yes."

"I'm happy to help," I say. Across the room, Percy and Mimi move to the door, and I step into the hallway, following after them as they head toward Mimi's room. "Can you send me instructions? I don't think I remember enough to do it on my own."

"I'll text over a detailed list of instructions. It's the same one our volunteers use, so it's basically a full play-by-play. That should make it really easy."

"Perfect."

"Be sure to pull it up before you go to the barn though," Sarah adds. "Because the reception is terrible out there. You won't have service."

"Got it," I say. "I'm with Percy right this second, but as soon as I drop him off, I'll head straight there."

It's stupid I'm so excited to do this since Adam won't even be there, but it feels good that he called me. That after just one date, he trusts me to unlock his house and take care of his animals.

"Thanks, Laney," Adam says. "I owe you one for this."

I almost tell him I'll accept payment in kisses, but I don't have the nerve to say it in front of his sister, so I simply say, "Don't worry about it. I'm happy to help."

We say goodbye, and I hurry down the hall to Mimi's room. She's just sitting down in her favorite chair when I step through the door. She looks up and smiles, eyes twinkling. She's had a good day today, her mind clear and sharp. " I thought you might have left without saying goodbye," she says as she holds out her hand.

"I would never." I take her fingers in mine and crouch down in front of her.

She gives my hand a little squeeze. "Thank you for spending your evening with a bunch of old ladies."

"Are you kidding? I won ten dollars and a new foot spa. This was a perfect way to spend my night."

"Pretty sure you mean I won a new foot spa," she says. "But I'll let you keep the ten dollars."

"You're terrible, Mimi," Percy says. "And I love you dearly."

Mimi smiles up at him, warmth in her eyes. He told me once how terrified he'd been to come out to his grandmother, but she'd surprised everyone in the family when she'd patted seventeen-year-old Percy on the cheek with tears in her eyes and said, "Oh, Percy. I already knew, baby. And it doesn't change a thing." Then she'd asked him to make her a tomato sandwich with a side of french onion chips, and that was that.

"I love you too, but get on out of here before Mr. Martinson comes. You'll cramp my style if you're still hovering over me like a bunch of hens when he shows up."

"Understood," Percy says with a laugh.

I lean forward and kiss her on the cheek. "Bye, Mimi. I'll come by next week, okay?"

Percy only grumbles a little when I explain why we can't go get our typical post-bingo dinner like we planned.

"You can always come with me," I say, "then we can go get food after."

"Are you kidding?" he says. "I spend all day taking care of other people's pets, and you want me to spend my evening doing the same thing? Remember, I don't have the same sexy lumberjack incentive that you do. There is nobody who is going to kiss me thank you at the end of the night, so I'll just go home, please and thank you."

"You're still calling him a sexy lumberjack? Even after you saw him when he picked me up on Friday?"

"Until he shaves, he's a sexy lumberjack," he says as I pull into his driveway.

I roll my eyes. "I won't even see him. He's not home. That's why he called me in the first place."

He looks at me like I'm five cards short of a full deck. "So feed the dogs slowly, " he says. "Make sure you're there when he gets home so your next time can be tonight."

I sit up a little taller in my seat. The thought hadn't occurred to me, but now that Percy has suggested it, I realize it's not a terrible idea.

"Yeah," Percy says, clearly reading my expression. "Laney's gonna get her some."

"Stop it. I am not."

But as he climbs out of the car and I back out of his driveway, turning toward Hope Acres, I can't help but hope that maybe Percy is right.