Page 34 of Collins
While I know I won’t be getting an ounce of sleep, I think this is about to be the best rest my soul has known in a long time.
Maybe ever.
CHAPTER 19
johnnie
THEN
I was surprisedto find two of my favorite people conversing over sweet tea when I returned home. Not at all disappointed, though.
“You know you’re drinking tea from margarita glasses, right?” I kick off my shoes and remove the crossbody from my shoulder, placing it on the hook beside the door.
Nan looks at their drinks, cocks her head, smiles, and says, “Well, would you look at that? Sometimes my old mind gets the best of me.”
“Works just fine for me,” Collins speaks up. “I think it tastes better this way.”
He gives her a flirty smile, and she beams at him in response. Collins raises his glass toward Nan, and they clink their glasses together. As he takes a drink, his toffee eyes find mine over the rim, and he winks.
When he does that—when he winks at me—my insides start to absolutely melt. I’m a complete puddle when it comes to him.
By the evening’s end, the tea has turned into tequila for Nan and Collins, the record player on full blast. As I make my way back to them after a shower, I find Menace and Mayhem, the unlikely duo, in the middle of the living room, dancing. Collins has his long arm around Nan’s shoulders, she has an arm around his back and they both sway and sing to Willie with their glasses raised in the air.
“You two look like drunk dudes at the bar.” I don’t think they can even hear me over the music; all I get in response are smiles and their singing voices amplifying, monumentally out of tune. It’s one of the cutest things I’ve ever seen in my life. Walking through the haze of smoke ghosting between the walls, I take a seat on a barstool.
“Whiskey river don’t run dry,” they both sing to the ceiling panels, and I can’t hold back my laughter.
I also can’t hold back my love for this boy. If I wasn’t already in love with him before tonight—in this moment, dancing and singing with Nan—I definitely fall all the way.
Eventually I convince them to switch over to beer, figuring they’re less likely to spill liquid from a can than a large-rimmed glass. Taking care of these two tonight must be payback for Collins having to deal with me after the party the other night.
When it’s about time to call it a night, I start doing dishes and cleaning up the kitchen while they still carry on like teenagers.
“Nan!” I call, trying to raise my voice above the music without much success.
No response.
“Nan, it’s time to take your medicine.”
Gathering the nightly pills in my hand and making my way over to where she’s moving the needle on the record player, Ihand them to her. She grins, eyes narrowing, then takes my offering and slugs them back with the rest of her beer.
“You really should take those with water, you know.”
Swatting the air between us, she kisses me, then Collins, on the cheek. The force of nature that is my grandmother takes off across the room, dropping ashes in her wake. Through a crackling cough she bids us good night, stumbling down the hallway. “See you tomorrow, kids!” She kisses two fingers and presses them against the photo of my grandad on the wall as she passes.
Collins takes a seat on the stool beside me. “Are you mad at me?” He looks like a child about to be scolded, and even so, still manages to look sexy as hell.
“Why exactly would I be mad at you?” I look at him, quirking an eyebrow.
“I might have accidentally gotten drunk with your grandmother.” He presses his lips together and opens his eyes wide. I’ve never met someone with funnier facial expressions in my life. He has the best energy. He’s addicting.
Yes, I think I’m addicted to him.
“I’m just glad you two had fun. I’m not mad.” I scrunch my nose at him and cross my legs, spinning around in the barstool. I get going pretty fast when two long arms come down on each side of the stool to slow me, making me laugh. Collins doesn’t have a smile on his face anymore. He puts his forehead down on mine and bores those eyes that never fail to hypnotize me, right into mine. I swallow hard just as I notice his Adam’s apple bob on a gulp of his own.
“Are you going to kiss me, Collins?” I lean slightly more forward angling my lips to the side of his mouth.
“I’m going to kiss you, Johnnie.”
