Landry chuckles as JD reaches around him to knock Ethan in the back of his head.
“Ow!” Ethan objects. “Okay, I know this dude’s getting under your skin, but touch grass, bro. He’s not really trying to get with Aunt Ten. He just wants to make someone else feel as lame as he does.”
JD grunts as we approach the Jeep.
“He’s right,” Landry slurs. “Don’t worry. I know Tenley would never stoop to my level again, even if she weren’t happily married.”
“Again?” Ethan asks, perking up.
JD pretends it’s an accident when he bumps into Landry, crushing Ethan against a car. The kid groans and promptly drops the subject.
“Either way, I’m not brave enough to hit on her now,” Landry continues, squinting his eyes and pointing a finger at JD. “Not because you scare me though. It’sherI’m afraid of.”
I can’t help but giggle softly at that one, and JD even bites back a smile while he lowers Landry into the backseat. Then I go around the other side and slide in next to him.
CHAPTER 22
daisy
“Straight there,no detours. Drive under the speed limit and stop for ten seconds at every intersection. I’ll get Therese to meet you there,” JD instructs Ethan.
Ethan nods from his place in the driver’s seat and snatches the keys from the cupholder, grinning a little too eagerly for my liking. Then he pulls out his phone and poses for a selfie. “Aye-aye, sir. Sure you don’t want me to pass by the drive-thru liquor store, first?”
“Are you done being a smartass yet?” JD growls.
“Eh … mostly.”
“Good. Now hand your phone over to Miss Daisy and don’t touch it again until you text to let me know you’re all home safely.”
“Fine,” Ethan concedes and passes his phone back to me.
JD walks back inside, and Ethan continues adjusting the seat and fiddling with the mirrors. Landry laughs to himself, his head lolling back as we pull out of the parking lot of the reception hall.
“What’s so funny?” I ask, still annoyed with him.
“How much would it take for that dude to act like half the douchebag I am on a good day?”
“You could have threatened me,” Ethan pipes up. “That’ll do it.”
“Don’t give him any ideas,” I tell Ethan, and he chuckles.
“I just wanted a good reason to hate one of them, for once,” Landry goes on. “They’ve been taking everything important from me for as long as I can remember. My QB1 spot, the college scouts … Tenley, Loren, my dad, the twins … even Lilley and Emmett like him better than me. Next thing you know, Blake’ll be my mom’s new favorite, too.”
I frown as he heaves out a sigh. His eyes are closed, and he runs a hand through his hair before it drops between us. Then he lets out a sardonic laugh. “I take that back. I’ll be stuck looking after my mom forever while my sisters get to live their own lives with their husbands and their kids and never have to worry about our mother relapsing.”
I glance up, and Ethan’s eyes meet mine in the rearview mirror. He reaches out to turn the radio louder when we stop at the town’s only traffic light.
“You’re only thirty-three, Landry. It’s not too late for you to start a family of your own,” I offer reassuringly.
“Pfft,” he blows a loud raspberry with his lips. “I’ll never have a real wife …” My heart speeds up as I wait for him to say more and expose our fake marriage. “Or kids. No one can stand me. And all that soulmate shit is a load of crap, anyway.”
I cover his hand with mine, and he turns his wrist to intertwine our fingers. “You don’t mean that,” I whisper.
“I do,” he replies, his voice thick. “Why do you think I’ve been so hard on Blake? I know he thinks he’s doing the right thing, but marriages never last. And if they do, it’s only because they’re both too stubborn to admit they’re miserable later.”
“That’s not true.” I squeeze his hand, scolding him. He squeezes mine back weakly, and it almost breaks my heart. “My parents have been happily married for nearly forty years, and you know half of my siblings are just as content. Lilley and Emmett are happy, too, aren’t they?”
“Stubborn, not happy. And your parents may be the only exception. Must be all the weird, hippie sex.”
