A woman interrupts to order a box of pastries and two large coffees. I pour hot coffee into the cups while Opal places pastries into the box. “That doesn’t sound at all creepy, Opal.”
“It’s just a fact, sugar. People are interested in who’s seeing who in this town. And that’s especially going to be true when it comes to you and Killian Saint.”
“You’re seeing Killian Saint?” the woman interrupts, her box of pastries in hand.
“No,” I quickly reply. “Of course not. No one is seeing anyone. There’s no seeing going on.”
The woman takes her coffee, eyebrows raised. “Of course not.”
“Not that it’s anyone’s business who I’m seeing or not seeing,” I say pointedly.
The topic of Killian doesn’t come up again until a couple of hours later when I’m in the kitchen taking advantage of the late morning lull to work on a cake. Opal walks through the door and stands by the counter, looking at me expectantly. “Well?” she asks.
“Well what?”
“You know what.”
“I’m not dishing details, Opal.”
“I don’t want details. I want to know why you’ve got a bee in your bonnet after boning Killian.”
“Did you just use the word boning to describe sex?”
Opal shrugs. “It’s what the kids call it. Because of the guy’s boner.”
“Yes, I gathered that much. Where do you get this stuff?”
“I told you. It’s important to stay current. You need to get yourself a little more current, child.”
“Chloe ratted me out to my mother.”
“And?”
“And what? She called him my boyfriend.”
“Good.”
“What do you mean, good? He’s not my boyfriend.”
“He should be.”
I distract myself by rolling out a piece of fondant. “No. He shouldn’t be. I don’t need some guy waltzing into my life – into Chloe’s life – and then turning out to be…”
“Like her father?”
I haven’t told Opal anything about Chloe’s father, not the details anyway. Just that he wasn’t a good guy. “Yes. Like her father, okay? Just because I slept with him doesn’t mean that he’s my boyfriend. Or that I want to get into anything else with him. It’s casual.”
Opal snorts. “Sure it is.”
“You’re the one who told me I should have something casual!”
“Yes. I was also in favor of you being less neurotic.”
“I am so not neurotic.”
Opal chortles. “So when that boy asks you out on a real date, a proper one, you’re going to say yes? You’re not going to second-guess everything?”
I stare at her. “I don’t know. I don’t even know that he’s going to ask me out on a date. It was awkward afterward. When I kicked him out, he was… He said he understood. But it was weird. And I haven’t exactly heard from him.”
“You kicked him out?”
“I wasn’t going to let him stay over and have to explain it to Chloe in the morning. I’m being a responsible parent.”
Opal sighs. “You know, Chloe would love to have a sleepover at my house so you could have a date.”
“I’m not sending Chloe off to your house so I can… sleep with my boyfriend!”
“He’s your boyfriend now?”
I groan. “You know what I mean.”
“I’m sure her grandparents would love to come down for the weekend so you can have some adult time.”
I laugh. “I’m positive my mother would be more than happy to do that. She’d also be more than happy to have me engaged to him by the end of the week.”
“That’s because she wants you to be happy.”
“I’m happy. Geez.”
Opal raises her eyebrows. “I’d think you would be happier, what with the boning and all.”
I pick up a hand towel and throw it at her. “I’m not talking to you about that! You need to mind your own business, old woman.”
Opal shakes her head. “If I minded my own business, you would have been as old as I am before anything happened between the two of you. Your vagina should be thanking me.”
29
Killian
“You could have brought the girl from the bakery.” Luke leans close and speaks low as he hands me a platter of cider-glazed pork chops with blackberry something-or-other sauce – he just finished reciting the menu to me but I zoned out halfway through. I give him shit about his fancy culinary skills, but if I'm honest, Luke's cooking really is nine kinds of awesome.
“I don’t know what girl you’re talking about,” I state.
My cell phone is practically burning a hole in my pocket. I should have texted Lily today, but last night left me on edge – not the being-kicked-out part, but the part where I got back to my cabin and actually missed being at her house.
“You wouldn’t be ashamed of your siblings, would you?” Luke follows me out to the dining room in his and Autumn’s house, setting two more platters – brown sugar pecan sweet potatoes and almond green beans – on the table after me.
“Who’s ashamed of us?” Elias yells from the other room. “I haven’t even taken off my leg or anything.”
River slaps his arm. “That’s not a funny party trick.”