“Somewhat,” he said.
“I think you two would get along. Neither of you really smiles.”
The firm line of his mouth finally gave way to a small smile. “Fine. I’ll concede to a brother-in-law.” His phone buzzed. He frowned while he read the message. “Dad said one of the guys will hang out with him until we return if we’re late.”
“Okay, I’ll call Jonah.”
“I can take you home. You don’t have to be with me for all this.”
“It’s okay. This is an exciting night in my world.”
The corner of his mouth tipped up. “That’s nicer to hear than you’d imagine. I’ve gotten reports of terrifying nights out in my line of work.”
“Does all this seem boring?” I bit the inside of my cheek. I didn’t need the confirmation.
“It’s refreshing, Autumn. I never hated the small-town life. I only hated mine.”
He was returning to the part of his past that wasn’t a good place. His dad had measures in place, but Gideon didn’t. I had to get him out of that headspace. “You know what the difference is between tonight and nights like this when we were younger?”
He shook his head.
“We’re towing a vehicle instead of getting it stuck.”
He barked out a laugh. “Too true. Give Jonah a call. I need to get this done so I can show you how not boring the small-town life can be.”
“Oh, I think you’ve given me a couple of glimpses.”My cheeks grew hot and warmth bloomed between my thighs.
“I plan to give you more than a glimpse.” He leaned over the console. “Because I didn’t meet Dad until ten this morning so I could run to Bozeman and get some condoms.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Gideon
I entered the house. The cat was on the couch. She blinked at us, then closed her eyes and went back to sleep.
Dad was safely home. His pickup was in the shop he’d had the party in, only there were no tools other than what was in the bed of his pickup. Jonah and Summer had left.
Jonah hadn’t said a word about the sale. He hadn’t said much at all, just gotten to the task at hand. The guy was different from what I remembered. He was younger than me by a few years, but he hadn’t been the bearded, quiet man then. Autumn had told me about his accident and the death of his brother fifteen years ago, and I could see how it’d changed him. Taught him to seek peace in his own head. I knew the feeling.
Now, I had Autumn home, but I couldn’t put those condoms to use. I was dirty and had grease stains onwhat had been my good casual clothes. Autumn was as fresh as a daisy. Her cheeks were pink from laughing with Dad.
My chest grew tight at how easily they had chatted. Dad hadn’t talked about his meeting, but Autumn had told me that was a thing, hence the anonymous part.
She gave Sprinkles some scratches and got a trilling sound in return. I could bend this woman over the couch, and I wouldn’t care what an eyeful the cat got, but I didn’t want to mark that creamy skin with the grunge from earlier tonight.
“I gotta shower.”
“Okay. Leave your clothes outside the door and I’ll put some spray on them.”
“You don’t have to do my laundry.” Other people had been doing my laundry for years. It was one of the perks of living on the premises. But not Autumn.
“You can’t grow up a Bailey and not learn how to get grease stains out. It’s fine, and don’t worry, it won’t be a regular thing.” She smiled, but it slipped immediately.
I was about to ask her what was wrong, but theregular thingpart of her comment stood out. Our relationship was scheduled for mere weeks.
“Go ahead and clean up,” she insisted, skipping past the odd silence. “I’ll find us something to eat.”
“Thanks.” We only had about three weeks left. Did I want us to be longer?
