Pops scoffs from the dining room. “He remembers how to play, Hank.”
“We’ll find out, won’t we?” Bob says with a broad smile.
“Grab a drink, you two,” Mrs. Mackey orders with a quick gesture toward a big cooler before she sits back down to peek at her cards.
“I’ll get the drinks. You make sure Bob and Linda aren’t stacking the deck over there,” I mutter in Sawyer’s ear.
“Just get me something caffeinated. I’m still not recovered from the other night,” she says under her breath.
I give myself a mental pat on the back for that and stoop down to grab us both a pop from the cooler before taking my seat.
“Wes, it’s so good to have you back here. You and Sawyer are just so sweet together. You’d make such beautiful babies,” Linda gushes the second I sit down.
Sawyer shoots me a wide-eyed look, and I glance at Pops in the dining room, his cards hiding his face as his shoulders shake with quiet laughter. I’m certain he somehow set it up so that I’m at Linda’s table on purpose. She’s the biggest gossip in Cottonwood Creek.
“Linda,” Bob snaps as he deals out the cards.
I clear my throat uncomfortably. “Uh, I don’t think we’re quite to the point of having babies, Mrs. Andreasen.”
She waves me off as she looks at the cards in her hand. “Well, from what Darlene told me, it looked like you two were well on your way when you were coming out of the corn maze at Fall Fest.”
Sawyer chokes on her drink, red creeping up her neck. I glance heavenward and pray for patience before I say, “I bid six.”
We end up beating the Andreasens as we fend off a million questions about how many kids we want and the pros and cons of having a spring wedding.
Once all the tables are finished with their first games, wemove up to the table in the dining room where Pops and Harold are still seated, and Mrs. Mackey brings out the pumpkin bars, eliciting moans of delight from everyone.
When I sit between Harold and Pops, Harold holds out his hand to his friend. “You owe me $5. I told you they’d beat Bob and Linda.”
“I should have known better than to make that bet,” Pops mumbles, withdrawing his wallet and placing a wrinkled five-dollar bill in Harold’s hand.
“Betting against me, Pops?” Sawyer asks in mock hurt.
Pops’ mustache twitches as he jabs his thumb in my direction. “Not you. I thought Linda’s incessant chatter might throw this one off his game.”
“I don’t think she stopped talking long enough to even look at her cards. Poor Bob was playing on his own,” Sawyer replies.
“She all but had our wedding date set and our future children named,” I gripe.
“Linda means well. She just gets a little ahead of herself,” Pops says, dealing out a hand to start the game.
“A little?”
He shrugs. “We’re old. This is the stuff we live for.”
“What stuff?”
“Butting into your love life and making you feel all discomfited. The way you looked at me the other night when I caught you sneaking back in the house was priceless. It’s like you think I wasn’t doing the same thing with Grams when I was your age.”
I really did not want that image in my head.
I slam my eyes closed, shaking my head vigorously back and forth. “Please, stop. I’m begging you.”
“Yes. Please,” Sawyer says, her lips curling up in disgust.
“Look at the two of you finally agreeing on something.”
Harold chuckles. “Oh, this game should be fun. Sawyer, honey, Dr. Dillard was just telling me the funniest story this morning about you and Wes going in there a couple nights ago because Dixie ate...”
