“What? How am I supposed to know? You haven’t introduced me to your ladyfriendyet.”
“I was trying to, but you always beat me to the punch,don’tyou?”
“So you’re notAlexis?”
“No, I’m Emma. It’s very nice tomeetyou.”
Shelby shook her hand and said, “Oh, what a relief. I was about to punch you intheface.”
I was busy dying just a little bit inside. Shelby was nothing if not brutally honest, and her in-your-face personality had a tendency to break even the heartiest of souls. I shouldn’t have worried. Not only was Emma a girl who could appreciate sarcasm, but she was also clearly one who could stand up forherself.
“Nope, not the skank,” she answered, grinning. “At least I hope not. I’m a friend ofFinn’s.”
“Not just any friend,MOM. She’s the woman who rescued me after you sent me off to die in thedesert.”
“Oh, well, you’re welcome.” She grinned at me and then gave Emma a full and incredibly impolite body audit. “So then I guess a ‘thank you Shelby’ would be inorder.”
Emma’s eyes flickered withamusement.
“Coming here like this… bringing him home to his mama, you must’ve really enjoyedsavinghim.”
Nooo. I flashed Emma my sincerest apologies. What had I been thinking, bringing her around Shelby? She was too unpredictable to expose to thepublic.
“I did,actually.”
“Oh, I’m sure.” She nodded knowingly. “My Indy’s acatch.”
I groaned. The last thing I needed was my mother playingwingman.
“Yes, he is,” Emma confirmed. She caught my eye, doing a little downward scan. Okay, so maybe my mother wasn’t the worst co-pilot.
“Sorry about the paint ball pellets to your car, hun, but don’t worry, they disintegrate. The kids have been peppering Indy’s car all day, and you don’t see a markonit.”
“Yeah, it’s no problem. They were already disappearing before wecamein.”
“Why were you letting them shoot at my car?” I asked, disbelieving but kicking myself for even beingsurprised.
“Yours was the only car in the driveway.” Shelby shrugged, as if her logic made perfectsense.
“Except for the pile of junk that Bucky towed back – you know, the one that’s already many different paint colors… and is parked directly in frontofmine.”
Shelby sighed, like my questioning was totally unreasonable. “Hey, I raised my kids. I’m not responsible for thosebrats.”
That wasn’t accurate in the least. Not only had Shelby never actually raised any of us, but she was also now the primary caretaker for Rocky’s two kids, Posy and Nike, now that he was in jail and their mother was off pursuing other loser leads. Not wanting to get into a fact-finding mission with Shelby, I just letitgo.
“Why isn’t the paint coming off my clothes, if it’s so harmless?” Iasked.
“I don’t know, maybe you have to wash them. Go get some of Rocky’s clothes. God knows, he won’t need them for a while. Did Indy tell you his brother was inprison?”
Boom. That explosive piece of information had the desired effect on Emma. She was sufficiently shocked. I’d almost forgotten how perfectly honest a chat with Shelbycouldbe.
“No, he didn’t, but you know, we just met,” she said, fumbling over her words. This time it was Emma who flashedmetheapologeticlook.
“Shelby, good lord,” Gigi derided. “You have to ease people into that type of sensitive information. Do you see me blurting out about my gastrointestinal issues with justanyone?”
“You don’t have issues, Grandma,” Shelby fired back. “You were diagnosed with phenomenal gas. That’s not adisease.”
While they argued over verbiage, I grinned sheepishly to Emma and then formed a gun with my fingers and finished myself off. She laughed, touching my arm and sending a jolt of electricity through me.Damn. Our eyes met, and hers were filled with warmth and entertainment. She was not horrified by the display my relatives were putting on, and somehow, that made her all the moreperfect.
