“Arugula.”
He shudders. “I might actually eat this salad.” Pulling out one drawer and then another, I give up waiting for an answer and slide the meatballs into the oven.
When I turn around, he’s got a knife and cutting board out. “Natalie is a super nerd, and don’t get me wrong, that’s fine. But she also has this tone when she talks to Durban.” He swirls the tip of the knife in a circle. “And she would rarely speak to me and Iverson. Durban was like her little cowboy fetish or something. So trust me, I’m glad to see that he’s moved on. Finally.”
“Even if it’s to me?”
He frowns and slices through the tomato. “What’s wrong with you?”
All the excuses that Stanford gave me pile into my brain. “I’m impulsive. Messy and forgetful. I can’t hold a job and had to come home to work for my parents.”
“Aw hell, Campbell, that’s just being normal.”
Again, I’m punched with the urge to cry, but not from fear. I want to shed tears for that young Campbell who felt so alone and misunderstood. “If I had more Durbans and Havens surrounding me, I might have fought both times I was unfairly terminated.”
He stops slicing and frowns at me.
“Both times?” Durban asks from the mudroom.
I whirl around to see him in the same spot Haven was in when he first busted me. The panic from earlier resets. Shit, shit, shit. Haven’s cool with us, and the apprehension of Durban’s reaction was forgotten.
It comes roaring back and tears poke the backs of my eyes.
He doesn’t bother taking his boots off. He closes the distance between us and grabs my shoulders. “Hey, it’s okay. We’re here now. What happened?”
It’s me he’s worried about? Not his reputation or what his brother thinks? “No, it’s not that. I’m over that.” He doesn’t let go and he’s looking at me like he doesn’t believe me. Right. I only told him about the one time. “Um, so, I legitimately got fired from my first job out of college because I was always late. Fair. Then I got a job at a senior center, a bougie one. My boss was cutting our hours for bullshit reasons. Like, oh, ‘that was training and it doesn’t count.’ Or she’d demand we be twenty minutes early, but we couldn’t clock in, yet she put us to work. That’s like, a couple hundred a month!When I confronted her about it, she fired me and made up complaints from the residents.”
“You didn’t kick her ass?” Haven asks.
I shake my head. “I was, um, dating Stanford and he thought I should get something better, and I didn’t want my parents to know I’d lost another job.”
Anger etches Durban’s hard features. “You didn’t lose it. She should’ve been fired.”
“I was a girl with a lot of resources but no support.”
“The resources were conditional,” Haven says as his knife steadily clicks on the cutting board. “We know all about that, don’t we, Durban?”
He grunts and pulls me into him. I soak in his heat and the faint hints of hay, dirt, and animals.
“You aren’t mad?” I ask against his brick of a chest.
He pulls away. “Why would I be?”
I slide my gaze to Haven. “He thought you were cheating and I told him about the breakup.”
Durban’s features turn pinched. “About that. Thought it might help hide how Campbell and I are sneaking around through the wedding. Don’t want to worry Iverson and Jamison.”
There’s that disclaimer again. I have to forget about how my feelings are growing and enjoy my time.
“Haven can keep his mouth shut.” Durban looks over his shoulder at his brother. “Since we’re feeding him.”
“My lips are sealed.” He mimics zipping his mouth shut. “Your girl asked me if I’d like some balls. She didn’t specify and I almost turned her down.”
“I didn’t know it was him coming into the house.”
“I’m hurt. I thought I was the only one sneaking up on you.” Durban grins and gives me a kiss. It’s way morechaste than it would’ve been were we alone, but I sink into him.
“Hey,” Haven says, but Durban doesn’t break away from me, “did you hear I’m going to be a favorite uncle again?”
