“There will be plenty of stew,” I assure him. “I’ll make a triple batch.”
Sighing, Lawson nods. “Ma? Y’all wanna come over for dinner? Yes, to Oakley’s. Of course Noah’s uncle is welcome. Yeah, okay. Six-thirty?”
I realize Lawson is asking me and nod.
“Six-thirty,” he tells his mom. “Yep. See ya soon.”
Lawson drops his phone on the couch with a deep sigh. Bell takes the opportunity to stick her face against his, startling Lawson. He rubs behind her ears, a line of drool on his cheek that has me smirking. I walk over with a washcloth and wipe it away.
“Thanks,” he murmurs, eyes soft as he looks at me. “Once they go, I’m sleeping for ten years.”
“I’ll join you.”
“Tell me again what I did to deserve a family like that?”
I drop the washcloth in the sink. “You’re an amazing son, brother, and father?”
His head rolls on the back of the couch to see me better. “Was that my mistake?”
I bark a laugh, and Lawson looks pleased.
His expression shifts, though, into something more pensive. “What’d you talk to Laura about?”
I heave out a breath, not surprised by his question, even as I’d hoped he wouldn’t ask. “If I ask you to let it go, would you?”
He looks at me for a long time. “You want me to?”
“Please,” I tell him, not wanting to dredge up bad memories from a past none of us can change. Lawson said himself, thinking about that time he tried so hard to fit with a woman he never could fit with is painful for him. It wasn’t at the time, and I believe him in that. But that doesn’t mean he’d do it again given the chance.
Maybe he should know Laura suspected he was gay and said nothing. Or maybe it’d only hurt him worse. Given the choice,I know Lawson would do anything he could to protect the people he loves.
I want to do the same for him.
“I’ll let it go,” Lawson says. “But if it’s ever something that involves Wendy—”
“I’ll tell you right away,” I cut in. “I promise.”
“Lots of promises lately.”
“And I intend to keep them.”
“Is that so?” he asks, watching me move around my kitchen. I check the crisper to see how many carrots I’ll need to buy.
“You doubt me?” I ask, checking the pantry for potatoes next.
“No,” he says simply. “Just wondering.”
“About?”
“When things changed.”
That has me pausing. Lawson and I haven’t had a chance to talk about the phone call. Not really. There hasn’t been time for it, what with him at the hospital and now a whole host of Darlings to feed in mere hours. But I don’t doubt the conversation is one we’ll be having soon.
“I think,” I say slowly, “you asking me to dick you down might’ve been a turning point in our friendship.”
Lawson laughs so hard Bell startles, her cowbell tinkling as the disgruntled bovine lifts her head off Lawson’s lap and stomps away. “It is a very nice dick.”
“Oh, Lord. What have I done?”
