Rolling my eyes, I made a point of smiling sweetly to Brody as I walked over. “Well, your mother is very nice. Thank her for making these for me.”
“She sort of forced me since you haven’t been by this week.”
“I only had time to drop off her order.”
“Well, she was worried and kept saying over and over again that something must be wrong and that I had to stop by to make sure you were okay.”
“I’m perfectly fine.”
His gaze shifted warily to my neighbor, who I just realized had come to stand beside me. Glaring at him, I thought he might back off and mind his own business, but instead, he crossed his arms and stared Brody down.
“Next time, stop for the cookies. I haven’t heard the end of it for the last week. She calls me at work just to find out if I’ve heard anything about you.”
“I will. I should have more time this week.”
“Maybe,” JR grunted.
“Excuse me?” I asked, spinning to face him.
“Well, who knows. You might be hiding under my porch or sneaking around with the dog.”
Brody chuckled nervously. “Um…am I interrupting something?”
“Just a neighborly dispute.”
“Yeah, she won’t stop feeding the damn dog.”
“And that’s a bad thing?” Brody asked, his eyes searching for the dog.
“It is when the dog isn’t mine.”
“So…she’s feeding a stray dog.”
“She’s feeding the dog on my property,” he bit out.
“Because the dog likes you!”
“That doesn’t make him mine!”
“Okay,” Brody chuckled. “Well, this has been fun. Really. But I think I’ll head out now.”
JR stalked forward, a menacing scowl plastered on his face. “Yeah, why don’t you do that.”
“JR!” I gasped.
“Do we have a problem here?” Brody asked.
“No,” I said quickly, hoping to diffuse whatever pissing match JR was trying to start.
“Why are you really here?” JR asked.
“Because I was dropping off cookies. You can see them. They’re in her hands,” Brody said, his attitude kicking up a notch. “Do you have a problem with that?”
“Nope. No problem at all. Just keep your cookies on that side of the property and we won’t have a problem.”
“Well, since I don’t intend on bringing you any cookies, I think we’ll be just fine.”
“Good.”
