Page 80 of Unlikely to Stay
“Kelda is going to insist on a wedding.She’ll try to say something like you’re living in sin.”
“She’s been shacked up with Burt for a year!”Breckin exclaimed.
“What does she always tell you?She’s ninety-one.The rules don’t apply to her anymore.”
Breckin sighed.“I don’t want to get married just because I’m pregnant.I’ll get married if she and Burt get married.”
CC gasped.“Be careful what you wish for.She might just decide to plan a double wedding.”
“So I hearyou’ve been spending quite a bit of time at a certain red-headed woman’s other business in town.”
Brant was currently perched on a barstool at Griff’s, a plate of loaded cheese and bacon fries and a beer in front of him.As soon as he had walked into the bar and sat down, Griff and Megan had bombarded him with their presence and questions.
“Isn’t anything in this town a secret?”he asked, rolling his eyes and stuffing fries in his mouth.
“Haven’t you learned anything by now about living here?”Megan asked.“The old people gossip mill keeps everyone in the know.There are no secrets in the town of Parker.Kelda makes sure of it.”
Brant wasn’t going to comment.So far, his and Colleen’s luck had held.No mention of their kiss had come from anyone other than Kelda and the knowing looks from Sadie when he grabbed his morning breakfast and coffee at the café.He was sure Colleen told Sadie, Annie and Breckin, but as long as they kept quiet, all would be well.
“How’s it going at the gym?”Griff asked, stealing a fry off Brant’s plate.“Getting anything accomplished?”
“It’s going well.We’re getting a lot done, actually.Colleen is really good at working on stuff.”
“Yeah, she helped Breckin’s dad a lot when the girls were in high school.Learned a lot from him.I think she did it to keep her house from falling down because her mom sure as hell didn’t do anything to keep it in good condition.”
“Well, it’s looking good.”
“It better be.My meemaw sure was pissed when CC closed the shop to work on it.She was going to stomp into the gym and give CC a piece of her mind but I took a picture of the letter CC wrote and posted it to all of my meemaw’s social media accounts.”
“Why would you do that?”
“So her followers would know she’s a possible rule breaker.Meemaw has an innate fear of people unfollowing her.It’s weird.”
Brant chuckled.“I think your meemaw is one of the weirdest ninety-year-old women I’ve ever known.”
“You’re probably right about that,” Griff said, grabbing another fry.
Brant glared at him.“Last time I checked, I’m the one who ordered these.You’ve practically eaten half of the fries on my plate.”
Griff shrugged.“My bar.My rules.Hey!Did I tell you I scrolled through my meemaw’s account, too, just to see what she’s been up to?You’d never guess what I found.”
Brant nearly choked on the fry he was chewing.Taking a big swig of his beer, he stammered, “Wh…wha…what did you find?”
“A picture of a well-dressed derriere with the hashtag Doc McBuns.Then another hashtag that said yum.Any idea whose body might belong to those yummy buns?”
Brant could feel his face turning red.“Nope.No clue.”
“Hmmm…that’s funny.I seemed to remember a pair of suspenders attached to the top part of the pants.”Griff looked pointedly at the pair of ocean blue suspenders Brant was currently wearing.“Still no clue?”
Brant took another bite of fries.“I plead the fifth.”
Griff grinned before laughing.“I thought you might.”
“Did Kelda take a picture of your ass?”Megan asked loudly.
Brant quickly covered her mouth with his hand.“Hush, you!I don’t want the entire town to hear about it!”
Megan pulled his hand away from her face.“First off, don’t ever cover my mouth with your germ-infested hand.”