Page 67 of No Cap
Hollis was halfway through hers.
I’d have to tell her later that we didn’t eat until everyone had their food.
But seeing her enthusiasm as she ate made me want to never tell her. She’d be embarrassed.
“Oh my God.” Hollis groaned. “This is divine! And also, I can’t feel the roof of my mouth because it’s so hot. But it’s too good to wait for it to cool off.”
“It’s easy as heck to make,” Mom smiled. “Dump a can of peaches, a box of Krusteez cinnamon cake mix, another can of peaches, another box of cake mix, and three sliced up sticks of butter into a crockpot and cook it on low for four hours.”
“Wow, that is easy.” Hollis lifted her spoon and licked it clean.
It made my dick harden completely in my pants—it’d been half-mast since she’d sat down next to me at dinner.
“It’s the best thing ever,” Mom agreed, eyes sparkling. “But I can’t take credit for it. We saw the Don’t Mix It lady make it on a video, and ever since then we’ve just been making easy desserts.”
An hour later, we were the second group to leave.
My phone rang, and everyone at the table groaned but one.
Poor Hollis had no clue what a ringing phone meant in the Carter household.
As long as I have a face, you have a seat.
—Quincy to Hollis
QUINCY
“Hello?” I answered, dreading what I would hear on the other line.
“We have a dead chick at the gas station on Twenty-ninth,” the operator, Athena Murphy, said without preamble.
I groaned. “Dammit, Athena.”
Just as I said that, Gable’s head snapped up, his eyes intense.
So Gable had a thing for Athena.
He wasn’t willing to admit it, so he just lived for tiny glances and snippets of conversations involving her.
“Sorry, boss,” Athena murmured quietly. “If I could send anyone else, I would.”
“10-4,” I murmured. “Thanks, darlin’.”
I hung up and immediately stood up.
“What…”
“Caught a call,” I said. “You ready?”
She stood up, gathering her plates.
My mom stopped her before she could take two steps into the kitchen. “Thanks, honey. I hope that your day was better.”
Hollis’s shoulders drooped. “You have no idea how much better it turned out to be. Thank you for the lasagna and the dessert.”
Then, surprising both my mom and me, she wrapped my mom up in a hug.
Mom wasn’t a huggy-touchy type person. The job had hardened her.