“Sit down and look pretty.”
She crossed her arms. But her fingers fidgeted, and he didn’t miss the glance she shot up to his clock.
“Or you can go take a real shower before I feed you and take you home.”
Surprised the heck out of him when she did just that.
“She might be okay for a Yankee,” Louisa said. She dumped water in a pot and brought it over the stove. “But you didn’t really marry her, did you?”
“Nope.”
“Gonna let Momma meet her?”
He scratched his head. Momma and Anna in the same room would be a mite bit more interesting than Louisa and Anna. Long as neither of them got any ideas. Much as he liked Anna Grace, he wasn’t interested in staying in anything long enough to watch it go sour.
He reckoned she wasn’t either.
They matched up nice that way. Plus, she was smart, she amused the dickens out of him, and last night had been worth the wait.
Thought he might’ve even seen a few colors beyond shades of blue and green sometime in there.
If she could handle him putting up emotional road blocks, he could handle her sticking around a while.
Maybe not long enough to have to meet his momma, but awhile.
Still, Louisa didn’t have to know that. “Ain’t decided yet.”
About the time breakfast was ready, Anna came back out, her straight hair darker and dripping on the ends. Jackson slid her a cup of coffee. She went to the silverware drawer.
And laughed.
Prettiest thing he’d heard all morning. “What?” he said. “It’s organized.”
“Nice try, but I have homework.”
“Next time then.” He’d found some sticky notes to label parts of the drawer. Silverware slid all over tarnation every time he opened it, but he could mostly find a fork when he wanted a fork and a spoon when he wanted a spoon. And now Anna Grace had a good reason to come back and visit him again. He’d just have to make mention that he found a drawer organizer.
“Homework?” Louisa asked.
“Mm-hmm.” Anna moved to the table to set three places. “Trying to finish my degree and get a few certifications at work. What do you do?”
“Little as possible.”
Jackson’s ear twitched at the truth ofthatstatement.
“I tried that once.” Anna plunked a fork down, then a spoon and knife on the other side, and pushed up the bottoms until they were even. “Didn’t last long. I got bored.”
He pulled the biscuits out of the oven and dished up. Louisa took a plate for herself and moved to the table. “I don’t have that problem.”
“Gonna have other problems real soon,” he said.
He felt her scowling at him. “Guess maybe if I wasn’t a girl, then I might’ve been good enough for the family business. But seeing how I am, it doesn’t do me much good to fight it, does it?”
He started a second plate. He kept his hands steady, but he was getting mighty annoyed. “Getting your grades up might do you some good.”
“If you talked in plain English when I ask you a question, I might could.”
Anna snorted into her coffee.
