Page 87 of All Yours
“Yes, let’s get out of here,” Sloane said.
“Do y’all want to meet at Lou’s?” Lauren asked.
“I’m beat, guys,” Sloane said. “I just want to go home.” She wrapped her hand around my arm.
“That’s my cue to take this pretty lady home,” I said. Now maybe with all this behind us we can move forward with our lives, unimpeded. We strolled hand in hand alongside Camden and Lauren to the car.
“You are still going to the Pennington Christmas Party Saturday night, aren’t you?” Lauren asked.
“We should go,” I said.
“I don’t want to,” Camden complained.
“It’s good for business,” I said.
“Oh, come on,” Lauren said. “We get to visit the Whitehouse Estate. It’s gotta be all gorgeous, decorated up from Christmas inside.”
“Darling, how do you put up with that old lady ogling me?” Camden asked.
“Be a woman, then come back and talk to me,” she said.
“Right,” Sloane quipped.
“What man is ogling you?” I asked. “Tell me, and I’ll put an end to that.”
She patted my arm like she was consoling a moron.
“You,” Camden said.
“I’m her boyfriend.”
“I’m talking about before.”
“Whatever.” I turned to Sloane. “I didn’t ogle you.”
I opened my truck door for Sloane and waited for her to slide in before closing it. We had a two-hour drive to get home.
Sloane pulled off her suit jacket and slumped back in the seat. We rode in silence for a while.
“Can I talk to you about something?” she asked.
“Anything.”
“You’re protective of me,” she said. “I appreciate it. But I don’t want you to be so hard on Eden.”
“Honey… I don’t want anything to happen to you.” I gripped the steering wheel.
“I realize.”
“And you have no idea what she’s gotten into.”
“Jonah, I know she’s hiding from a man. And that’s all I need. I don’t need to be all up in her business to want to keep her safe.”
“I guess not. But did you have to bring her into your house?”
“If it were me, and I needed help, would you be okay with someone putting me out and not helping just because I wouldn’t tell them everything from the start?”
“Okay, I feel like an asshole now.”