"You're hardly in with MI6." Mom rolls her eyes.
"Ach, I'm a pirate, I'd never go to the government. In my circles we have a saying..."
"Another saying?" Rhys asks.
"Aye, and here it is. If at first you don't succeed..." She pauses and Rhys looks at her with rapt attention. Granny sits up taller, she crooks a fingerso Rhys leans in closer. She holds up a hand to the side of her mouth and stage-whispers, "It's onlyattemptedmurder."
A beat passes before the room erupts in laughter.
Granny Franny is the master of tension diffusing. I’m merely an apprentice.
"And on that note." Mom says as she stands and collects the empty mugs.
"I best be getting back." Rhys says as he stands too. "Thank you for the tea and the company."
"Thank you for helping get the ship out of the harbor." Granny says as she pulls him down into a hug.
"And for the hosing." I add on and his eyes flash to mine.
"Come anytime!" Delilah nearly yells the first word and I roll my eyes.
"Don't you mean come back anytime?" Rhys asks.
"Nope!" She winks as she hands Rhys the bag full of his muddy clothing.
"C'mon, let's go outside before my family makes any more openly sexual innuendos."
"Oh, ooooh." Rhys says and his cheeks pink slightly.
"Like I said, very open in the Paisley home."
"Clearly."
We get out to the porch and Rhys fiddles with the saddle.
"I'll um, bring the clothes back tomorrow." He says as he pulls on the leg of my sweats.
It is entirely too enticing to see him in my sweats. The joggers hang off his hips and cling in all the right places. The sliver of space between the hood of the sweatshirt and his neck catches my attention. I sort of want to tell him to keep them but that’s preposterous. Except, he wasn’t uninterested when I got naked earlier. I wonder. "Instead of coming here would you want to meet at The Pub?"
"Oh, umm. I dunno."
"Right, too public."
"No, it's fine. It’s just, well, I'm supposed to be sulking."
"Supposed to be?"
"Yeah, heartbroken and moping around the highlands like a wayward ghost."
"Supposed to be, as in, you're not?"
"I guess I've found myself a pretty nice serving of fruit salad."
I pause because I know what he's saying but I don't think he knows what it sounds like.
"Are you calling me fruity?"
"Oh god!" He reaches forward and my bicep flexes under his hand before I’ve thought about doing it. "I'm so sorry, no, I didn't mean it like that. I meant it like…"
