It wasn’t until the pies and cakes were cut that she noticed his sister Allyson staring at her with a calculating eye. Was that because she had finally noticed that Shay and James had been playing footsie under the table for the past hour?
“I’ve got a bone to pick with you, Shay.”
“Allyson, be nice.” James’s mother flashed Shay an apologetic smile.
“No, we need to establish some things right up front.” Allyson folded her arms. “I’ve heard about your reputation and I don’t care what the family says about being polite. I don’t think I can ignore it.”
Shay stiffened and jerked her foot away from James. “Okay. I know you must have heard a lot about me, not all good.”
“I don’t know about that. What I’m talking about is my brother bragging on your ability to fry oysters. That’s my claim to fame in this family. The best oyster fryer in North Carolina. What do you have to say about that?”
Shay glanced uncertainly at James. Grinning, he folded his arms and leaned back in his chair, clearly enjoying the confrontation.
Shay turned back to Allyson. “I respect your position in your family. However, if we’re talking best ever—”
“Ouch! You’ve been dissed, baby.” Allyson’s husband, Mike, seemed to find this very funny.
“Sounds like a challenge that needs to be met.” That comment came from James’s dad.
Allyson’s two sisters just sat and smiled very satisfied smiles while various other members of the family more or less ignored the culinary challenge in favor of dessert.
Allyson sized up her opponent with the barest hint of calculation. “Tomorrow is Black Friday so that’s shopping and leftovers day. But come Saturday, you’re on, if you’re up to it.”
“I don’t know if I’ll be here Saturday.” Shay didn’t dare look at James.
“Oh, so you’re backing down?”
“No. I’m just saying, I might have to bring in my own oysters.”
“I volunteer to drive to the coast tomorrow to buy gallons of oysters.” James’s father looked remarkably like his son when he smiled like that.
Shay shrugged. “Sure. I’m going to need a few secret ingredients. I’ll get those. And stuff for slaw.”
“You’ll make hush puppies, too?” James looked very eager for a yes.
Shay glanced down at Bogart who was napping on the floor between their chairs. He had already wolfed down his part of the Thanksgiving meal. “If you promise to keep Bogart out of the oysters this time.”
James grinned. So, Bogart had eaten hers that first evening. She’d offered him what was left, and lied about the fact. She’d been protecting Bogart and looking after his handler, even when she claimed not to even like him. Shay Appleton was a mystery that might never be completely solved. But that was okay. Because he planned on having all the time in the world to figure her out.
“Did everyone hear about James’s ex?” Allyson smiled slyly.
“Now, Ally,” her husband cautioned.
“Oh, but you all will want to hear this. She dropped that lawsuit against our little brother and Shay. Which I say is great news. She told reporters she had been misinformed and regrets any embarrassment she might have inadvertently caused.”
Shay stared so hard at her serving of lemon meringue pie it should have caught fire. Inadvertent. That meant unintentional, unplanned, accidental. Jaylynn’s lawsuit had been the exact opposite.
“Jaylynn also announced she’s been offered a new job out of the state.”
“What’s she going to do?” James’s tone was not a particularly encouraging one.
“That’s the best part. She said it’s with a morning show in Mobile, Alabama. But the girl who does my hair also does Jaylynn’s. She says Jaylynn confessed it’s as a weather girl because she couldn’t find any other openings.”
Shay lifted her gaze to Allyson.
Allyson met it and smiled. “Sounds to me like Jaylynn’s a sore loser liar who needs to get out of town before the truth gets out.”
“More pie, anyone?” James’s mom held out a sweet potato pie.
A little later, when they had a moment alone while washing up, a job they volunteered for, Shay nudged James aside with her hip as she moved to rerinse a glass he’d left soapsuds on.
“Your family’s different.”
James nodded. “They like you, too.”
“They like confrontation.”
He grinned that irresistible smile. “Cannons love a challenge.”
She grinned back. “So that’s why my attitude didn’t scare you off.”
“No, this is why.” He kissed her, quick enough not to get caught but long enough to be a promise of much more later. “The attitude was just familiar.”
He turned back to the dishes but Shay was tired of hiding her feelings. She slid between the sink and him, and slipped soapy hands behind his neck. She kissed him again, long enough to reveal that she would be more than holding her own later, and quick enough to keep him from taking her on his mama’s kitchen floor.
James nuzzled her neck, measuring the odds of getting caught versus assuaging the new hunger that had just sprung up.
She really did smell like forever, but he wasn’t going to tell her that for a while, maybe in a few months. Maybe sooner.