He snorted. “What a pain that would be.”
“And it is already set up.”
He kicked up his feet, knowing he had won. “My point precisely.”
Taking another seat, I pulled out my phone. “Guess I’d better call Blake.”
“Oh, she’s already on her way. You know, she didn’t seem too happy about this setup either. That is, not until I told her I had dinner waiting for her.”
I rolled my eyes at how easily he had played us both. But there was something nice about sitting around the fire with my brother, just like old times.
“Is Liam coming?”
“Are you kidding? That grouch would ruin the night for us. He can have his moaning and whining at his own place.”
“His place burned down.”
“Then he should have bought a tiny home like you did. Then he could have parked it wherever he wanted,” Jeff said, snagging a beer out of the cooler by his side, tossing one to me.
I popped the top and took a drink, leaning back to stare up at the stars. It was a little chilly out tonight, but with the fire roaring, it was perfect.
Headlights appeared down the drive, and I wondered what Blake would think of our new living arrangements for the evening. Hopefully, she wouldn’t be too upset. I wasn’t in the mood for an argument.
But when she got out, she actually looked a little nervous. Surely not because we were at my brother’s place. That would be just weird. Stuffing her hands in her back pockets, she hesitantly walked closer.
“Um…so we’re staying here tonight, huh?”
“Jeff took it upon himself to move our house. Wasn’t that nice of him?”
She laughed nervously. “That’s something.”
“Everything alright?”
“Me? Oh, yeah. Everything’s fine. Totally fine.”
“Then why are you standing over there? Come get warm by the fire.”
She glanced back at the truck, then to me. “Um…I have something to tell you.”
“Uh-oh,” Jeff chuckled. “Leaving you already. Damn, that’s like some kind of record.”
“She’s not leaving me,” I hissed.
“Sure looks like it. She won’t come any closer. She has that deer in the headlights look. And it’s you.”
I whipped my head around to face him. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“Oh, come on,” he scoffed. “Remember Gina what’s her face?”
“Who?”
“You know, the girl who ran out on you after prom.”
“Tiffany?”
“Same difference,” he shrugged.
“They’re completely different girls. And they don’t even have names that sound the same!”
