"Look, I love all four of you, but if you think I'm going to stand out here when I haven't had dinner yet and let you lecture me, you can get back in your cars and leave."
They looked chagrined. But it was Clayton who spoke up first.
"You haven't eaten yet? It's nearly eight o'clock." He was already pulling out his phone. "The only place open is the pizza joint. You want your usual?"
I shook my head. My usual was a deep dish supreme but pizza wasn't agreeing with me right now. "I want the grilled chicken and vegetables with angel hair."
They all gave me strange looks. Not because I never ate vegetables, because I did, but because I never wanted anything but pizza when we ordered from the "pizza joint." They served other Italian fare, but most people in town just ordered their pizzas because they were pretty good.
"You don't want pizza?" Clayton asked as if it was a concept he'd never considered before.
I shook my head. "My stomach can't handle the sauce. I'll be up all night with heartburn or nausea, or worse, and I have work and studying to do tomorrow."
I was also supposed to meet J.J. at the courthouse on my lunch break so we could get our marriage license, but I wasn't going to bring that up.
Clayton didn't say anything else. He just walked out into the yard toward the tea glass and picked it up as he held the phone to his ear.
I looked at my other three brothers. "Are y'all gonna behave if I let you stay?"
D.J. pokered up a little. "It's Granny's house, I don't see why I need permission to stay—"
I was saved from telling him to get off my property by Robert, who elbowed him in the ribs. "Shut up, Deej. You know Granny left it to her. She pays the taxes and lives here, so it's hers now."
D.J. sighed. "Sorry, Lee."
He'd always been like that. Any time he felt his authority as "the oldest" was challenged, he had to double down. I let it go. This time.
Next time, I'd give his wife, Letitia, a call and we would hatch a plan to show him why it was a bad idea.
"Come inside and get something to drink. Since you're here, I guess I'll tell you what we have planned for the wedding."
They all stopped at once. It was a little funny to see all of them quit moving in unison.
"You're seriously marrying J.J.?" Scott asked as he came up onto the porch, pocketing his cell phone.
"Yes, I'm seriously marrying him." I smacked my arm when a mosquito landed there. "But we can talk about it inside. The mosquitos are eating me alive."
They trooped into the house and toward the kitchen. Clayton said the food would be here in thirty minutes as I got them all a glass of tea.
"So, what happened?" Scott asked when I finally sat down with another glass of tea for myself.
I gave him a droll look. "Well, you see, when a man and a woman are attracted to each other, they sometimes like to take off their clothes and—"
"Oh, goddammit, Lee, that's not what I was asking and you damn well know it."
I pointed a finger at Scott. "That's one. If I get to three, you're out of here."
They knew how I felt about them cussing at me because it was the exact way my mother and grandmother had felt.
With four foul-mouthed boys, the only way any of us could have phone conversations or take them anywhere in public without offending half the very conservative population of Farley was to put a moratorium on the cursing. Otherwise, it was a tornado of f-bombs and assorted curses flying out of their mouths every other word.
He raised his hands in surrender.
"Now, I've always liked J.J. and we spent some time together before Cam's wedding and I realized that I was still attracted to him and one thing led to another. It was my decision and he didn't push me at all. So, don't take that caveman attitude that he must have seduced me or deflowered me or something ridiculously chauvinistic like that. I made a choice and so did he. I thought it would only be a short-term relationship since I didn't realize he was moving back and I was perfectly satisfied with that. But he did move back and he wanted to date, but y'all know how busy I am, so that wasn't going to happen."
"So you decided to marry him? Like that won't take up a lot of time?" D.J. asked.
"I don't have insurance, Daniel James Prescott, and he does. Also, he wants to be a part of the baby's life."
