Her mouth popped open when he pulled a whole roast from the fridge to use. “Ooh, we’re eating well tonight! Good thing you know what you’re doing or we’d starve!”
“You’re not getting off that easy. Tomorrow you can fix usyourmomma’s favorite recipe.”
“Are you kidding? I haven’t talked to her in years.” Eva took the roast beef. “I can’t even figure out her favorite lipstick color.” She poked the meat like a caveman trying to figure out how the wheel worked.
His ears rang at the odd admission. “Years?”
“Don’t fret… we’re not that bad!” She must’ve heard the shock in his voice because she quickly waved away his concern with a casual hand. “She has a new boyfriend, so that’s why she’s too busy to catch up. Ya know? They’re in India right now, I think, for a wedding. It’s so beautiful! She has a TalkieTalk sooo I can keep up pretty well…”
Cole’s stomach curled in on itself. She excused her momma’s absence in her life like she excused West’s. Now Cole understood where the habit came from.
He changed the subject. “Try our ‘Mountain Man’ spice on that.” He swiped the bottle off the shelf for her, too.
“Mountain man?” She searched the label. “It says ‘Rocky Mountain’ spice.”
“What? Weird. I guess that’s just what we call it,” he said with a laugh. The two worked companionably side by side to make a potluck dinner with absolutely every side available. It was a nice distraction.
Lizardman inched next to Eva’s feet in an army crawl, catching a few scraps here and there, most of them dropped on purpose.
As soon as they had the table set, Eva eyed Cole’s bare legs. She couldn’t believe that West even owned shorts so ridiculously short. Good thing Cole was so adorable—he pulled them off with style. Her nose wrinkled. “I have a present for you… remember, you promised to try on what I bought, so…”
“Forget it,” he said. “I’m not up to a fashion show right now…”
“Well… okay, but some of those clothes came in today and they’re super cute andyou’resuper cute.”
He couldn’t believe that she thought she could flatter him into cooperating. This was blackmail. “Return my jeans,” he said, “and I’ll think about it.”
“Wear what came in today, andI’llthink about it.”
He flopped down on the chair, having no intention of doing that. “You know what happens to thieves, right?”
“Nothing good,” she replied, pouring water into her cup. “I’m willing to sacrifice for fashion.”
Cole was kind of at a loss at what to do, since he didn’t have sisters. Normally, he’d wrestle his brothers down by now and force them to do the right thing. He tried to buy time. “What’s in this magical shipment that you’ve got?”
“Oooh, well, Henley tops, shawl neck sweaters, cuffed jeans, rolled up slacks—in charcoal, indigo, chocolate. I even tried mustard.”
Was anything a real color? He was starting to squirm and sweat all at once. “You can’t buy things for your brother-in-law. It’s just not done.”
“West approves.”
Right! Because they had their weird little “understanding.” The traitor.
“Ah, and I got you a puffy coat with sweater sleeves,” she said.
His whole stomach dropped. “You know, I can buy some new jeans at Harold’s to replace the ones you stole,” he said.
“C’mon!” She poked his forearm with her pinky. “You can wear it to the Pumpkin Spice and Everything Nice Festival.”
“The last thing I’m thinking about is what I’m wearing to the festival.”
“I know, right? That’s whyIam.”
He rubbed at his eyes, feeling the fight drain from him. “If I agree to your terms, then you’ll give me my jeans… now?”
“Yes. Well, after dinner.”
He took a steadying breath. His gaze was caught by her laughing eyes. Her blonde hair fell over her face while she dished up her plate. “I have a different idea,” he said.