“You’re welcome. And thank you for giving my brother a chance.”
She smiled and gave a little laugh. “He’s… something special.”
“He is. And he’s the kindest, the most logical, and the most loyal of us all. You pass him up, you’ll never meet anybody else like him. And I mean that, not because he’s my brother, but because of the caliber of male he is. He stands head and shoulders above me. But don’t tell him I said that, he’ll never let me live it down.”
Chapter 10
Havoc went outside to wait for Analise and the kids, while Giada did her best to concentrate on work.
Twenty minutes later, Analise pulled into the parking lot and smiled at Havoc as he waved her into a spot near Ronan’s beater truck.
She parked, turned off the car, then before she could even open the door, Havoc was opening it.
He leaned in to kiss her. “I missed you.” He kissed her twice more.
“I saw you a few hours ago,” Analise said, taking his hand as she got out of the car.
“Yeah, but I’m always happy when you come home. I hate it when you leave.”
“Aw, that’s sweet.”
“Okay, so…” Havoc said, beginning to tell her what she needed to know.
“Oh, Lord,” Analise said, rolling her eyes.
“What?”
“When you start with the ‘Okay, so…’ that means you’re up to something.”
“Kinda, but not really. But it worked, so it’s a good ‘Okay, so’.”
“What worked?” Analise asked, her hands on her hips and her hip cocked out while she waited for his confession.
Havoc glanced at his kids strapped into their car seats, knowing they were listening to every word their parents said. He closed the door and led her away a few feet. “So, Giada was still steady pushing Ronan away. Wouldn’t even give him a chance. But he could tell she liked talking to him. So we set it up whereshe’d think he was going away to school, and she was not happy about it.”
“You tricked her.”
“No, all I said was that I wanted to see him before he left for school and he was supposed to be here, so did she see him? Eventually, he came out of the back, they talked and she was all, ‘I can’t believe you were just going to leave and not even say goodbye’. And he was all, ‘Giada, you’ve made your feelings clear. Why would I say goodbye when you don’t care if I’m here or not?’ And she was all, ‘It’s not that I don’t care!’”
“Havoc, get to the point, baby,” Analise encouraged.
“Long story short, she cares and now she knows she cares. They got a date tonight, and Ronan told her the kids could come, but I said she should let us watch them so they can talk about adult things and not have to worry about little ears overhearing something they shouldn’t.”
“And that means it worked?”
“Yeah! They got a date. She cares.”
“Hmpf.”
“Don’t hmpf me woman. You know what I’m saying and that it worked.”
“We shall see. In the meantime, you wanted me and the kids here so she could meet us, and we could see how the kids get along.”
“Yep. I said that on the phone didn’t I?
“You did.”
“Okay. So, anyway, she knows he’s going to school at Tulane now, so it’s not like you have to lie or anything.”
