“Youwannago now?”Dutch asked inreturn.
“Yeah, if you—”
Dutch pushed up to his feet, saying, “Let’s go.”
Carlyle pushed up too, but he did it with his eyes to GrahamBlack’s grave.“Do you want a minute to say goodbye?”
Dutch looked down at the tombstone and said, “Later, Dad.”
A burst of quick, deep laughter came from Carlyle and Dutchreturned his attention to the kid.
“Just like that?”he asked.
“Sure,” Dutch said.“My dad was a seriously laidback guy.”
Carlyle was grinning as he bent to grab his throw.
Dutch nabbed his.
They were walking to Dutch’s truck when Carlyle queried,“You think your dad would like me?”
He told him the truth.
“My dad liked everybody.”Dutch lifted his hand and squeezedthe back of Carlyle’s neck and left it there before he finished, “But he’dreallyfuckin’ like you.”
Carlyle did the same to Dutch’s neck and replied, “My dadwould dig you too.”
They held on that way for a bit, until they both felt it wasweird, then they let go and finished walking to the truck.
They got in.
And Dutch drove Carlyle to go visit his dad.
“Babe,” he growled into the phone.
And he’d become accustomed to the growling gig consideringGeorgiana was now a fixture in his life, and proof was that night they werecelebrating their one-month anniversary, or what Georgiana had declared wastheir one-month anniversary.That being one month from when he picked her upfrom the airport.
She’d made them a reservation at the Palace Arms.
He’d set Tyra and Elvira on a mission.
Which was where he was heading to discover the results, withhis phone to his ear, listening to his woman say shit that did not make himhappy.
“Dutch,” was her only response.
“I thought this decision was made,” he said, and pointedout, “byyou.”
“She’s sold so much stuff, it’s insane.I’ve seen thereceipts.And she’s working so many shifts, she’s bleary-eyed.The only goodpart about that is she’s not at Dad’s much, because if she hears anotherfootball game droning in the background, she might bomb NFL headquarters.Andif she wakes up to Michelle making her breakfast to order again, she mightthrow herself off a cliff.”
“Dutch!”
He stopped on his way from the shop, across the forecourt,heading to Tyra’s office at the garage, when he heard Rush’s call.
He looked toward the Compound, saw Rush jogging his way, andjerked up his chin to the brother.
“And she’s going to pay rent,” Georgie finished in his ear.
“How ’bout you give her more time to prove herself,” hesuggested.
