Meredith walked toward the end of the driveway. Since he didn’t see his brother’s truck, and Reenie was with Meredith now, he assumed they were walking down.
No reason not to.
“Damn,” Ford said. “She’s good for you.”
“Shut up,” he said, shoving his brother. All he got was laughter over that.
“Meredith,” Ford said. “Slow up.”
The two girls stopped and turned. “Yes.”
“I talked to Lana finally. She returned my call on Friday, said she was at work, but I wanted proof. She gave me names, and I verified them last night. It wasn’t her that threw the rock.”
“I should have realized it wouldn’t be that easy.”
“Nothing with you is easy,” Clay said.
“My mother always said I was put on this earth to spice up everyone’s life.” She had a smart mouth on her he was coming to appreciate.
“You shouldn’t be concerned with everyone’s life now. And start paying more attention to everything around you.”
“Don’t ruin the rest of my weekend, Clay. Unless you think there is something for me to worry about on your family’s property, then can we just drop it for now?”
“You never have to worry here,” he said.
“We should go on a double date,” Meredith said. “You and me and Ford and Reenie. That’s what Reenie and I were talking about.”
“Ugh,” he said. “Men don’t do double dates.”
“Then to dinner. We’ll go to dinner together and not call it a double date. You and Ford can talk about manly things like guns and beer, and Reenie and I will talk about the website for the wedding part. There, it’d be a tax write-off for you then.”
She turned on her heel and resumed walking, Reenie laughing and following her.
“She’s going to give you a run for your money,” Ford said.
“Yeah.”
At least she wasn’t upset over the gun he wore all the time. It was as if she had to recalibrate her brain to him having it on him and they moved forward.
They got to his parents’ house without him saying another word. His brother was used to that too.
Just like he thought, everyone else was there.
“And the new couple has arrived,” Gale said, clapping. “I should have seen this coming but didn’t think anyone could crack open Clay.”
“I wore him down all the times he had to catch me or kill a bug,” she said.
“That makes more sense,” Blaze said. “Nothing gets Clay’s blood pumping more than hero action.”
He lifted an eyebrow at his brother. “Says the man running from patient to patient in the ER. Meredith, this is Blaze. Not sure if you remember him or not. Try not to trip or dislocate a finger shaking his hand.”
She gave him a little shove when she walked toward his brother.
His siblings all saw it. He tried to ignore their grins.
“It’s nice to see you again,” she said. “I like to hug if you’re okay with it. Clay didn’t even remember who I was when he saw me and I’m sure if I tried to hug him, he would have run.”
He rolled his eyes while she hugged his brother. She’d done the same to Ash last Saturday when he’d come in to work for the wedding.
