“But—” An imperious hand halted him.
“No, Vaughan,” she said. “You need money, we need a new bartender. Hell, we’re probably about to need more waitstaff too. One way or another, you’re covered. You can do Pat’s shifts behind the bar for now.”
“I only planned on being in town for a few days, a week at most.”
Lines appeared beside Nell’s mouth. “Fine. Whatever. Work while you’re here. You start at six. Don’t be late.”
“Okay. I won’t be late.”
“And bring Lydia with you.”
“Why?”
“I like her. She didn’t mortgage my childhood home.”
“Right.” Vaughan crossed his arms.
“Thanks for the coffee and pastry,” I said.
“No problem. See you later.”
It took a while for the man to make any move once his sister left. For a long while, he stood staring after her, lost in thought. Useless platitudes filled my head, the usual reassuring crap. For now, I let it all go unsaid. Neither of us was really interested in hearing the obvious.
This summer was genuinely proving to be a motherfucker.
Wonder what nonsense was being said about me around town. Not that it mattered. No way I’d be accompanying Vaughan tonight to find out. First, I needed to find somewhere to stay until things were settled with the Delaneys. And if I hoped to have anything to wear in the near future, finding my clothes in this jungle needed to happen faster.
I brushed off my hands, leaving the empty cup on the step to throw away later. “You okay?”
“Yeah.”
“Liar,” I whispered.
“Am not,” he whispered back.
“Are too.”
He gave me a look most dubious.
“That was a heavy conversation. All I’m saying is, it’s okay not to be okay after it.”
He snorted, pushing his shoulders back. “You want to talk about feelings, Lydia? Is that what you want?”
“Hell no.” I laughed. “After yesterday I’m pretty much emotionally wrung out. I vote we be as shallow as humanly possible.”
“Thank god for that.” A big hand reached out and smoothed down my most likely still psycho bed hair. “You had me worried.”
“But on the off chance it’s necessary,” I said quickly, “I do want you to know I’m here for you, just like you were there for me yesterday.”
“That sounds dangerously like feelings talk.”
“Not really.”
“Yes, really.”
“Fine. Take it how you will.” I shrugged, getting back into the search and rescue of my belongings. Something glinted among the long grass. An earring. “I want to do a drive-by egging of Samantha and Ray’s place, but they’ve got this big fence and gate.”
“Could be a problem.” Beside me, Vaughan dropped to his knees, rifling among the vegetation. “How about we toilet paper their front fence?”
“That could work.”
“Knew this guy once who dumped his girl by text. They’d been going out for like four or five years. Serious stuff. She got a couple of syringes full of fish oil and injected it into his car through the gap between the doors. Just squeezed it straight past the rubber lining and into the interior.” He gazed up at me with a hint of a diabolical smile. “Dude comes back from touring for a couple of months and the inside of his GTO stinks so bad it’s not funny. You couldn’t even get near the thing, let alone drive it.”
I all but clapped my hands. “That’s genius.”
“Isn’t it.” A pair of green silk underwear hung from his finger. “These yours?”
“No. They probably belong to someone else whose belongings were dumped in your yard. But I’ll take care of them for now.”
“That makes sense.” Carefully, he inspected them. “French-cut cheekies, huh?”
“You know your lingerie.” I frowned.
“Important to appreciate the finer things in life. Especially when they’re to do with a fine woman.”
“Smooth.”
“You know, I had you figured for those boy-short things,” he said with a smile. “Happy to be wrong, though. These are hot, babe. Like seriously hot.”
“Glad you approve.”
“But if you say they’re not yours…” He started to stick them into his back pocket.
“Give them to me, please.”
“Say you’ll come to the Dive Bar with me tonight.”
“Oh, boy.” I hesitated, everything inside of me rejecting the idea. “A public place. I don’t think that’s a good idea. I think laying low is my best option right now. Find somewhere to live for the next few days then get gone, start over somewhere new.”
“You stay here with me until you’re ready to leave,” he said, like it was obvious.
“Really?”
“Sure.”
“I wouldn’t be in your way or anything?”
“No.” He passed me my underwear. “Course not.”
Quickly, I dropped them into the nearest box of stuff. Given the DEFCON 1 embarrassment levels of the past twenty-four hours, a pair of panties shouldn’t have bothered me in the slightest. Perhaps it came down to the man doing the teasing.