“Thank God. I’m starving,” Blake whines.
“Because you’re hungover as hell,” Landry blurts out, and I prepare myself for the worst.
But Blake only cringes and rubs his head with a smile on his face. “I’m definitely that. Why’d you let me drink so much, anyway?” he asks Landry when he takes Charley to strap her into her car seat.
I watch as Landry’s expression shifts to something dark, and Blake flinches once he realizes what he’s said. “Ah, sorry, man. I was just kidding,” he leans in and tells Landry quietly.
“What?” Loren turns and asks once she senses the tension between them.
“They were just saying that some of us had a little too much fun last night,” I volunteer as I take a step closer to Landry, and he visibly relaxes. “Thanks for braiding my hair for me after I passed out on your couch, by the way,” I continue, directing my comment at Loren. “I imagine it would have been a mess this morning if I’d have slept with it down.”
Loren looks confused. “I didn’t braid your hair, Rapunzel.”
“Oh,” I reply thoughtfully. “Then … I wonder who did?”
“Yeah, I wonder,” Loren echoes, smirking at her brother.
Blake raises an eyebrow, and I instinctively follow his lead to check Landry’s reaction.
“I … I just thought …” Landry begins, and I could swear his ears are turning red. “You usually braid it before bed,” he sputters, then he shrugs and drops his eyes to the ground.
“Score one for Tipsy Daisy,” Loren mumbles, but I barely hear her.
I blink up at Landry in disbelief, because no matter how hard I try, I can’t wrap my mind around the image of him braiding my hair.
I woke up this morning with a foggy recollection of him carrying me to bed. But the only parts I remember are the way his arms felt cradling me while my hand rested on the back of his neck. It was already an unbelievably tender and sweet act on his part, and not at all surprising for the Landry I know. But stopping to tend to my hair?
“You know how to braid?” I ask without thinking.
He coughs and crosses his arms over his chest. “Lilley taught me before she moved away for college. For Lo.”
I’m still gaping at him when Blake chimes in. “Does that mean you would have held my hair back for me last night if I’d gotten sick, Lando?” he poses with a grin.
Landry growls, but Tenley’s mom saves us by interrupting to remind Blake and Loren that she has lunch waiting for everyone back at her house.
“Landry, Daisy, y’all come on,” she adds.
“Oh, we can’t impose,” I reply, thinking of Landry’s comment from a few minutes ago.
“Mais cher, you’re not imposing if you get an invitation. And you never need one around here, anyway.” Mrs. T winks and squeezes my arm affectionately.
“Thank you,” I tell her. “A good meal doesn’t sound so bad, right, Landry?”
“Of course, he’s coming,” Mrs. T says, patting his shoulder next. Landry forces a smile and nods, and we’re all ushered out to the parking lot.
“We don’t have to go to lunch with everyone if you don’t want to. I mean, I figure you might want some downtime after last night, especially since you’ll be seeing everyone for the wedding festivities all this week and into next weekend,” I begin rambling before he can crank the Jeep.
“Do you want to go?” he asks me.
“Well, yes. And not only because Tenley’s mom is a good cook.” I chuckle when I say it.
“Okay,” he says. “We’ll go. On one condition.”
“What’s that?” I ask curiously.
He sighs. “You forget the hair-braiding thing ever happened.”
I bite my lip to hide my smile. “I’m not sure I can forget it, but I can pretend I didn’t know it was you.”
