Page 61 of Reckless
“No,” she said.“I only get why you’re good with Hope.”
The table laughed.Then Charlie, because he lacked every healthy instinct God had ever distributed, looked at me and asked, “Well?Was it you?”
I should have let it go.Instead I looked at Kelly and said, “I asked if she wanted to escape one of your stories.”
Her gaze found mine so fast it felt like impact.I silently questioned her reaction as that had been our agreed answer.
But hearing it aloud in front of everyone made the thing tilt.We gave something specific that was easy to imagine.
Hope made a delighted sound.“That’s kind of romantic.”
“No, it isn’t,” Kelly said.
The room laughed again.
I watched Kelly recover from the moment in real time, drink, breathe, look away, come back.Good under pressure.Better than good.Excellent .
My mother sipped her tea and said, too casually, “I always knew there was something between you two.It was clear the first night I met Kelly as Xerses stayed close.And my son never stayed near any woman for long near me.”
Britney nearly choked on her own drink.Kelly, to her credit, didn’t even blink.
“If you say I was denying fate all this time,” she told my mother, “I’m leaving.”
My mother smiled.“I was going to say you looked good together and it’s clear my son likes you.”
Kelly’s face changed, enough as her blush grew.
She said, “You’re very kind to me.”
My mother laughed.“It’s not kindness.It seems I’m the trigger half my boys needed to settle down with the right women.”
There was tiny shift in Kelly’s body.That softening she couldn’t fully stop.
My father looked from Kelly to me and then to my mother with the expression of a man watching two valuable but unstable investments approach each other at speed.
I turned away and found myself watching Kelly’s fingers close around her tea glass and wondering what it would take to make her keep that look and not flinch from my touch.
I froze and then dragged my attention back to the conversation and found Charlie staring at me with all the subtlety of a fireworks display.
“What,” I said.
He grinned.“Nothing.You just look weirdly focused.”
“Focused?”
“On her.”
Silence hit the table for one potent beat.
Then Kelly, bless her for this if nothing else, looked at Charlie and said, “If you make me regret being nice to you, I’m going to tell Maman the truth about the jet-ski incident.”
Charlie recoiled.“You wouldn’t.”
Kelly took a sugar cube and dropped it into her tea.“Try me.”
Charlie shut up.
The rest of dinner went smoother.
