“He’s thirteen years younger than me,” Spur said, watching them. “We don’t have to act like that.”
“I would shoot you dead if you growled at me,” Olli said.
Their eyes met, and Spur had time to inhale before she started laughing. He joined her, easily putting his arm around her waist as she leaned into him.
Something nagged at him still, because he and Olli needed to convince a stranger that they were falling for one another in just one week. If he couldn’t even convince his parents, what chance did he have of fooling a businessman?
You’re not trying to fool anyone, he told himself as his mom gestured wildly for Duke and Allison, and Spur and Olli to join them under the pavilion. This is real, Spur. You both agreed it was real.
If it was, why did everything still feel fake? Why did he feel like he needed to prove to his mom and dad that he was dating Olli?
He didn’t know, but he thought about it through the prayer, and while he put food on his plate. He looked at Olli as he sat across from her, and his blood turned to liquid lava. He liked her. He just had to figure out how to make sure everyone around them knew it, so she could get the grant she wanted.
If she lost that because his performance wasn’t convincing enough, Spur knew it wouldn’t matter how much he liked her. She’d kick him to the curb and send him a bill for taking up the last two weeks of her precious time.
“Where did you guys go on your first date?” Ian asked as he sat next to Olli.
She looked at him, half-smiling though her mouth was full of food. “Six Stars.”
“Is that right?” Ian asked, looking at Spur. He could tell what was going to come out of his brother’s mouth before he even opened it.
“Don’t,” Spur growled.
Ian grinned for all he was worth.
“What’s…what?” Olli looked between Spur and Ian, still smiling herself.
“Just that Spur takes all of his first dates to Six Stars,” Ian said, popping a potato chip in his mouth. “He likes to impress the ladies with his dancing.”
“That’s not true,” Spur said as Olli looked at him, her eyebrows up, though it pretty much was. Could he help it if women liked a man would could dance? No, he could not.
“Name the last woman you went out with where your first date wasn’t at Six Stars,” Ian challenged.
“Name the last woman you went out with,” Spur shot back, darkness gathering in his soul.
“Theresa,” Ian said without missing a beat. He grinned and turned fully to Olli. “What else has dear Spur done for your dates?”
“Enough,” Spur said, shooting a glance a couple of places down where their mother sat. He leaned forward and glared at Ian, his voice soft as he asked, “Why aren’t you on my side here?”
Ian laughed, and Cayden bumped into him from behind, sending him toward the table. “Hey,” he said.
“Oops,” Cayden said, looking at Spur and not Ian. “Sorry.” He clearly wasn’t sorry, and he’d obviously bumped Ian on purpose.
Spur wanted to thump him over the head, and the only thing he could think about was how dysfunctional his family could be sometimes.
“Ian,” Olli said. “You’re one of the brothers that was married. Like Spur.” She looked at him with innocent eyes, but Spur knew her a little better than that. “Right?”
The laugher fell from Ian’s countenance. His wife of only six months had only married him for his money, and she’d left huge gashes on his heart. He still wasn’t over Minnie, and Spur knew exactly how that felt.
He’d tried to talk to Ian about it, but his younger brother didn’t want Spur’s advice or commiseration. They’d actually drifted further apart instead of bonding the way Spur would’ve liked.
He watched his brother struggle to even breathe, and Spur knew the awful way that pinched in a man’s chest. “Olli,” he said quietly. “It wasn’t…” He shook his head.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Olli said, and she sounded like she meant it too. She patted Ian’s arm, and he just nodded. “Really, Ian. I didn’t know.”
“It’s okay,” Ian said, looking from her to Spur. Something brotherly did pass between them then, and Spur thought maybe this picnic wouldn’t go completely up in flames.
Then his mother turned to Cayden, who’d sat on the other side of Olli, and asked, “Why didn’t you ever think to ask out Olivia Hudson? She’s just been next door for ages.”