He had a point.Sort of.And since Petula was no expert on love affairs, she’d have to give him that.
“Fine. But that doesn’t mean you all need to be monks, Pipes notwithstanding.”
Yeah, she’d long ago figured out that Pipes hadn’t received his nickname simply because he was a plumber.
“I’ll let them all know what you’ve decreed,” Stat said with a snort.
“Not good enough,” Petula argued. Now that she had her foot in this, she wasn’t letting up on the gas. “What you’lldois lead by example. Your crew has always aspired to being little mini-yous, anyway.”
Statler laughed. “Monkey see, monkey do, huh?”
“Exactly.”
“Okay. Fine. I promise I’ll start looking around.”
Petula groaned.
“This isn’t like buying a car, Stat,” she chastised. “You have to put some effort into it.” She tapped her lip. “How about…I arrange something with Julius so we can go out to some clubs with a few of his siblings and their wives. Maybe it’ll help you break into the scene.”
His skills would certainly be rusty, and he could probably use some help.
“Clubbing with Julian, huh?” Statler got a mischievous spark in his eyes. “I think that might be somethingyou’relooking forward to, not me.”
Petula huffed. “Maybe it will help both of us. You’ve always been vested in making me feel comfortable, so what if I told youI was up for going out in public like that, but that I’d feel more at ease if you were part of the group.”
“Then I wouldn’t hesitate,” he told her sincerely before letting out a huge sigh. “Fine. Next time you talk to Julian…”
“Monday night after work,” she supplied.
“…tell him to set it up.”
“Great,” Petula rejoindered. “Now what do you say we do something fun today? It’s sunny out, and really warm for the end of March. The ice has broken up. We could…go fishing,” she suggested.
Statler brightened immediately. “You’re right. We could.” He got a sly look on his face. “Do you want to invite your new boyfriend?”
Did she?
It only took Petula a second to make up her mind.
“Nope. Not today. Today is siblings only.”
She owed her brother that much, and besides, she kind of wanted to keep Julian to herself a little while longer. Already, she could tell that the man’s sisters-in-law were involved with his stratagem to date her, and once the floodgates were opened, she and Julian would becomeeveryone’sbusiness.
That could wait.
“Okay,” Stat agreed easily, not pushing her any harder. “Let me get our gear out of the shed and blow off the winter cobwebs, then I’ll meet you at the truck.”
“Take your time,” Petula told him, getting up from the couch. “I’m going to make us some sandwiches.”
“Sounds like a plan,” he answered cheerily, also arising.
Petula was relieved that whatever tension had been between her and Stat, had evaporated.
She pranced off to put lunch together.
Half an hourlater they were emerging from their truck just a short jaunt from their favorite fishing hole. Blessedly they were all by themselves.
There were any number of popular spots nearby where the anglers seemingly outnumbered the available fish, but she and Stat had stumbled across this fairly remote end of the pond a few years back, and it tended to be pretty much ignored.
