Page 85 of How Dare You
Devon waves at me through the window to join her, so I excuse myself and head inside.
“You never told her we golf together?” Hector asks, as I’m closing the back door.
I shrug. “Never came up.”
“Hmph,” Hector glares at me, but his words come out with good-natured teasing. “I’ll be holding that against you for at least a day or two.”
“I’ll accept that.” I slide my arm around Devon’s waist.
She looks up at me. “Hector and Brian are finally ready to do the addition on their house we’ve been talking about for years.”
“I’ve been trying to talk him into it for years,” Hector adds, pointing a thumb at his husband’s chest. “And one day last week he was just ready.”
Brian flashes me a conspiratorial smile.
“Congratulations, you guys. That’s a big deal.” I pull Devon in close to my side, the words meant more for her than anyone else.
“In two days, when I forgive you, we’ll have to talk about custom woodwork. I’m told you’re the best in town,” Hector says.
“I’ll schedule a tee time,” I answer.
“Oh, so you do admit we golf together?” he laughs.
“He doesn’t mean anything by it,” Brian says. “But we have to get going. Wanted to make sure to talk to you both about this before we left though.”
Devon thanks them for coming, and they leave to make their rounds and say goodbye.
“This is perfect for you.” I say quietly as soon as they’re out of earshot. “An addition, a hotel, a restaurant. It’s all coming together for you, mama.”
She closes her eyes on a deep breath in, then releases it with a broad smile. “It really is.”
Hours later, as the night’s winding down we gather in Devon and Sadie’s living room, the same combination of people that were here the night Devon found out about the blog, plus Cam.
But tonight has the opposite energy. No one’s stressed or scared or deeply focused on avoiding a disaster. Everyone’s laughing and lounging against each other in their cocktail attire, sneaking snacks to all three dogs when they think Luke isn’t looking.
Devon comes back from the kitchen with a fresh martini and sits on my lap without spilling a drop. She leans back against my chest, and I drape a blanket across her bare legs as she folds them across me.
“So, when exactly did this adorable development, develop?” Cam asks, pointing between Devon and I.
“Well, my friends kidnapped me,” Devon’s explanation is cut off by a chorus of objections from her friends.
Sadie leans from her place on the couch across the coffee table, explaining to Cam, who sits on the ground with his legs stretched long in front of him, “These two just needed a little push. There was zero kidnapping involved. But Devon spent a couple weeks in the desert with trailer daddy over here, and he—”
“I’m so sorry to interrupt you, love,” Cam says through a laugh, briefly resting his hand on Sadie’s outstretched arm, “but trailer daddy?”
My eyes flash to Devon, who looks equally as confused as I am. She shrugs, shaking her head.
“You two are a little clueless, aren’t you?” Bea laughs. “You left it on the whiteboard that day we came to visit.” She says, pulling out her phone and passing it to Cam.
He inspects something on the screen and guffaws, folding forward and holding the phone out for everyone to see. On it, there is a picture of our whiteboard.
Dinner will be ready at 7.
-Rhett
I’ll eat on my own.
-Devon