Okay, well, preferring to give her attention to the pencil was not promising. He waited. She was busy. He got that. But he also didn’t stay where he wasn’t wanted.
Which meant… what would Linx do?
Easy. Linx would walk away. Linx didn’t fuck around with anyone who didn’t appreciate his presence or want him there. No matter how pretty the woman was, or how much he had an intense pull to that person.
That’s what nearly broke up the band. Linx’s demand for everyone to be their best. They started screwing around and Linx said no. Moved on.
So, yes, history indicated that’s what Linx would do.
Tanner tapped a quick knock on the counter.
“See ya later,” he said, even though she couldn’t hear him over the grinding of the wood.
Might as well make the trip worth it and visit his friends. Issue a cease and desist so they could all move along with their lives and stop pushing him and Sam together. Clearly, that’s not what she wanted.
A heavy weight pressed against his chest.
Hell, without Sam in the mix he could even try out his new talk-to-pretty-women superpower and see where it got him. Spend one-on-one time with Linx to get a better idea of how he ticked. What he’d do, so Tanner could mimic that. Push this game of pretend a little further.
He stopped. Paused. Swallowed.
He didn’t want that.
He wanted to give in to the magnetic tug between them. But what he wanted, he couldn’t have. He’d never know how Sam tasted, what she loved, hated, wanted.
“Tanner!” Babushka caught him at the door to the dining room. “Velcome.”
“Hey.” He stuck his thumbs in his pockets. What was the best way to start with this? The best way to explain that they needed to lay off?
“Everything is perfection vith Samantha, yes?” Babushka asked. “A vedding vill be soon?”
Ha. Uh. They hadn’t even made it past the pencil shaving stage of things.
“No.” He shook his head. “Look, thanks. She’s not into it. So let’s let it go? Spread the word so everyone else will let it go, too.” This wasn’t a question. This needed to happen.
Babushka’s eyes went wide. “Vhat happened?”
He glanced at his sneakers, then back to his friend. “Doesn’t matter. She’s not interested. I respect that.” He paused. “You and everyone here need to respect it, too.”
Babushka frowned. “I do not care for this.”
Well, he didn’t either. So, yeah.
“It’s not yours to care or not care for.” He shrugged. “It just is. Promise you’ll leave her alone about it?” And him, too.
Babushka harrumphed. “I have things to do.”
He just bet she did. Perhaps she had a grandchild who needed some of her non-requested help. That would make things much easier for him and Sam, honestly.
Tanner turned to the dining-room door to let himself in and check in with Etta and Betty Jane, Agnes, and Carla. Maybe join them in a game of Skip Bo. His hand was on the door handle when Babushka let out a screeching wail. This one did not seem to be fake. He glanced behind and she leisurely laid down, then sprawled on the hallway carpet.
Did he catch her readjusting her left leg for better sprawl? She did that. Right in front of him.
“My hip!” She laid her hand on her right hip. “So much pain!”
“Shit,” he said, pulling open the door to the dining room.
She moaned with a decent impression of agony.
