Ben smiled, it was small but sweet, almost boyish. "Fine. I'll give you three minutes."
I grinned back. "More than long enough."
I walked outside and approached Brody. "Hey, you okay?" I asked him.
"Yeah," he answered softly. "Just wondering if I made a mistake yesterday when I took Cam to the movies."
I shook my head. "No way." I hesitated. I didn't want to break the girl code, but I was afraid Brody would back off and hurt Cam's feelings if I didn't say something. Cam could be mad at me later if she wanted. "Look, she likes you a lot, okay? She keeps saying y'all are friends, but she's always had..." I trailed off and then Ben's words from last night came back to me. "A thing for you. Even when you made her so mad she could spit fire."
Brody shot me a sideways glance. "You think so?"
I laughed. "I know so." My smile faded. "Did J.J. warn you away from his baby sister?" I asked.
It was Brody's turn to chuckle, but it contained little humor. "Not really. I think he's more worried she'll break my heart than about me breaking hers."
I rolled my eyes. "She doesn't date much, so J.J. thinks she's not interested in relationships, but I'm pretty sure he's wrong." I knew I was saying too much, so I settled on adding, "Go by and talk to her this afternoon, see what she says. I made her take the day off, so she'll be home."
Brody studied me. "Aren't you violating some kind of super secret friend law by telling me this?"
I waggled a hand from side to side. "Maybe a little, but I don't think she'll be too angry with me."
"Okay," he answered with a sigh. "I think I'll do that." He grinned at me, looking a lot like his brother, only with bright green eyes rather than hazel. "I'm glad you came out to talk to me, Sierra."
"Me, too," I answered. "Now, go inside and get something to eat. I'll be in momentarily."
As he walked inside, I looked around the McClanes' pretty backyard, thinking about how complicated family could be and wondering if I was blessed or cursed for not having a bigger family.
It hit me then, all the possible complications I would have to deal with when Cam and Brody got their shit together. And I had no doubt they would. Ben and I had only hooked up twice and planned to keep things casual, but I was fairly sure that it wouldn't be long before Brody and Cam were serious.
Years ago, Colette had confided in me that she thought Brody was perfect for her daughter if they could just stop bickering. After seeing them together now, I agreed with her. If he annoyed her that much, she wouldn't have engaged. She would have frozen him out, refusing to say more than a few words to him whenever she saw him. I'd seen it before, after her college boyfriend cheated on her. She said her piece and then pretended he didn't exist.
If she really despised Brody, she would have done the same thing to him.
Now that she was on that path with Brody, I knew I needed to stop hooking up with Ben. Their relationship was just starting, but I was pretty sure they would be together for a good, long while. That's the type of people they were. Relationship people. And they didn't give up on the people they cared about.
And what were Ben and I? We'd just met and only had sex twice. We weren't anything.
I also knew Cam. She put other people first. If Ben and I stopped seeing each other, even if it was amicable, she would feel awkward. Even though it wasn't a real relationship. I didn't want her to feel like she had to take sides.
A few minutes after Brody had gone back inside, Ben appeared in the back door with a concerned expression on his face. "Hey, you okay?" he asked.
I nodded, my brain moving too fast for my mouth to form words.
"What happened? Did Brody say something?"
I shook my head.
"Are you the robot version of Sierra Watkins?"
His wild question pulled me out of my silence. "What?"
Ben's eyes twinkled, but he didn't smile. "You weren't speaking. I was worried the alien robot invasion had started."
"Har, har. I do know how to be quiet."
"I guess I haven't really seen that side of you yet," he said. "But I'll be sure to pay attention when it happens."
Shit. He would never see my quiet side. Because we weren't going to keep doing this.
