“Yeah. Okay.” He might as well tell me to flap my arms andfly.
“I’m serious, Jules. You know how much I love her, but Mama will smother you if you lether.”
I shook my head. “Easy for you to say. You’ve done your own thing all your life, butI…”
“Had to switch colleges and move home after Dad died. Had to be a surrogate father for Theo and me.” His lips twitched. “Had to sit through a billion of my high school football games even though you barely understood what was going on. Had to put that convertible of yours up on blocks and never drove it again. But you don’t have to give this up, too. Take a stand,Jules.”
Yeah, right.I’d taken a stand in the diner and now I felt like I’d pushed something into motion that I couldn’t stop or takeback.
I forced a smile. “Hey. Which of us is the olderbrother?”
“There’s never been any doubt about that, Jules. But there are a couple of things I do better than you. Knowing how to be happy is one of them.” He sighed and pushed to his feet. “Okay, I’ve gotta get home. Mama’s got me doing a couple landscaping jobs thisafternoon.”
Working at Ross Landscaping was an unavoidable part of life in our family—until the last year or two, it was how I’d spend my weekends, and I knew whenever Con wasn’t on duty, he was helpingout.
“That’s odd,” I said, distracted momentarily. “It’s too late in the season for mowing and too early for leafcleanup.”
“Gotta keep up with Micah’s Blooms,” Con said, rolling his eyes. “How dare someone else start a business that competes with ours, right? Now we work twice as hard for half themoney.”
I shook my head and stood. “Such a hellion, you are. Tell me again about the joys of irresponsibleliving?”
Con shoved at my shoulder. “I blame you for being a good rolemodel.”
Isnorted.
“Listen, I’ll do what I can to get people to shut up. I’ll tell themit’scomplicated.”He grinned. “Theo said even old Hen Lattimer from the hardware store is on ‘The Facebooks’ now, so he’ll getit.”
Oh, dear God.“Thanks. I appreciate it. Now I’ve gotta talk to Daniel. After I take a look at Macarena, ofcourse.”
Con frowned. “It’s gonna be okay, Jules. If he’s a decent guy, he’s not gonna be nearly as upset as you think he will just because you spilled the beans while trying to save hisreputation.”
I smiled, for Con’s sake, but I knew better. Daniel didn’t give a shit about his reputation. No, Daniel was going to be pissed because I’d made him an object ofspeculation.
He was going to be pissed because I’d lied, when I’d promised himhonesty.
* * *
~Last June ~
“Can we pause? I’m hungry.” I glanced over at Daniel, who was hiking up the path beside me. “And I’msweating.”
It was barely summer, and still cool thanks to the little bit of elevation and the shade from the trees, but I could feel the little rivulets sliding down the back of my neck and catching on the collar of my t-shirt, which was exactly as uncomfortable as itsounds.
Daniel wrinkled his forehead. “Sweating? Seriously?” He looked around us at the trees, mud, and ferns like he was searching for the source of the heat.Hewas fresh as a fucking daisy,naturally.
Of course hewas.
“Some of us don’t hike a million miles a day like it’s our job, Bear Grylls. Some of us get a tiny bit winded walking up amountain.”
“More like a hill,” he pointed out. “And not a very big one. Who or what’s a beargrill?”
I stopped walking and turned to stare at him. “Wow. Okay, we definitely need to stop so I can catch my breath, to better express my outrage over your stunning lack of pop cultureknowledge.”
He grinned at me, and it did absolutely nothing to help me catch my breath. His blond hair was gilded gold by a stray beam of light filtering through the trees, his high cheekbones were like something sculpted of marble, his broad shoulders carried his backpack like it weighed nothing atall….
And he wasstraight.
Straight, Julian. No lusty-lusty.
