“Hey,” she laughs. “I’m not avoiding relationships. I’m just picky.”
“Quinn, seriously? The only person that is more afraid of a relationship than you are is Clay. He’s so phobic about it he’s still driving three towns over to hook up with chicks. Look at you! All I have to do is say the word and you’re cringing.”
She narrows her eyes.
“Relationship,” I throw her way, enunciating the word slowly.
“Shut up!”
“Re-lay-shun-ship!” I yell.
“Whatever. I’m not afraid of them. I just haven’t met someone worth my time.”
“What about Travis? Or Michael? Or Brett? Or—” I start laughing even harder when she holds her hand up and throws daggers my way with her eyes. “You haven’t met anyone worth your time because all you’re willing to give them is a sliver of you. You can’t know what they’re worth when you aren’t willing to try. Mark my words, one of these days you’re going to fall on your ass over a guy, and I, for one, can’t wait to see that happen.”
“Well, until then I’m going to just enjoy falling on my ass with guys for a whole different reason.”
I roll my eyes. “I swear you have a man’s mind. All you think about is sex.”
“Speaking of—” she starts, and I hold my hands up immediately.
“Don’t you finish that thought unless you really want to know. You’re my best friend and I’ve never kept anything from you, but you’re also his sister. Awkward doesn’t even begin to touch that one.”
She huffs impatiently and lifts off where she had been leaning to walk toward the fridge. Luckily, she picked the fridge that I keep stocked just for her and Clay’s random drop-bys to raid my stuff. “You’re the only one making it awkward. Just because he’s my brother doesn’t mean I can’t high-five my girl for getting some much-needed dusting on her meat curtains. Plus, aside from the fact he’s my brother, there isn’t anything awkward about it. I’ve known you just as long as I have him.”
“Did you . . . I . . . meat curtains?”
She shrugs.
“I’ve been neglecting you. Is that it? Are the guys down at the shop corrupting your mind again? We need to have a girls’ night of pampering so you remember what it’s like to think like a girl.”
“What’s wrong with meat curtains? Is vagina better, Leigh? Pussy. Love tunnel. They’re all the same thing, just a little more pizzazz.”
“Hooha!” Jana yells through the open doorway leading into the main floor. I hear snickers following her bellow.
“Right, and hooha,” Quinn adds with a nod.
“Don’t encourage her,” I yell toward the doorway. “Okay, I get it. You are apparently a wealth of knowledge for vagina terminology. Should we talk about your brother’s big huge cock now?”
She shrugs again, bravely. “You aren’t going to shock me.”
That felt a whole lot like a challenge. Quinn and I have never had boundaries when it came to dating, men, or sex, but I know her, and she might think she wants to know, but doesn’t.
Well, Quinny, challenge accepted.
“Oh, Q, let me tell you, that man has a monster in his pants. I’m not even sure how I’m able to walk. Don’t even get me started on the things he can do with his tongue, though. They should be illegal. Just this morning, he took me so hard in the shower that I feel like my insides are permanently branded.” I finish and bite down on my tongue to keep from laughing at her expression.
Her face, the normal tan glow, is pale, and she is frozen still. Fork in hand halfway to her mouth with cherry filling falling onto the floor.
“Perhaps”—she starts on a gulp—“I can be shocked after all.”
I wink, turning to finish cleaning up the mess I had made with the last pies of the day. I should have known better than to think she would have been mortified into complete silence, though.
“You should probably be more careful if his big giant monster cock permanently branded you,” she mumbles through a full mouth. “That can’t be safe for your lady parts, and Leigh, I need you to protect those parts better until I get my niece.”
I turn, woodenly, and look at her like she’s lost her mind. “I’m not even sure which part of that to touch first.”
“Probably the big giant monster cock,” she snickers.
My eyes widen. “You are something else.”
She beams.
“I’m not sure that’s a positive thing.” I laugh.
“Whatever. Don’t keep things from me. I don’t like it.”
“Okay, okay. All joking aside, though, things are amazing, Q. I feel like I should pinch myself and make sure I’m not dreaming. All of those fantasies I’ve had all these years of being his—they pale in comparison to what the reality of being loved by him feels like.”
She abandons her pie on the counter, grabbing a napkin to wipe off her hands and face before walking over and enveloping me in a big hug. “I’m so happy for you guys. I really am.” And then she pinches me so hard on my side that I scream. “There, not dreaming,” she adds with a laugh.
I join her, laughing at her crazy antics. I love her special type of crazy. She goes back to her pie, content in the silence, while I finish cleaning and closing down the kitchen. The only chatter coming from our back and forth trying to decide where to go when we close tonight.
“What about heading to the Coop?” Quinn asks when the dishwasher noise finally settles to a dull hum.
“That sounds good. Let me text your brother and see if he wants to meet us there. Last time I talked to him, he said he was going to have dinner with Clay.”
“I passed them on the way here. I think they were going to that new pizza place just outside of town.”
I fire off a text to Maverick before going about my business. Quinn is so used to my routine at closing that she silently starts to help. When Jana locks the door behind the last customer, we’re able to knock out the rest of closing in ten minutes. By the time we were done I still hadn’t heard from Maverick. I wasn’t worried, though, knowing that he was spending some much-needed time with his brother.
“Let me send Mav another message and just let him know to meet us at the Coop, then we can head out,” I tell Quinn, my face in my phone.
“Are you comin’?” Quinn asks Jana.
“Honey, I wouldn’t miss this for the world. You better let that handsome cowboy know he’s on designated driver duty,” she adds with a hoot.
Let it be known, you should never trust Jana when she mentions needing a designated driver.
In the two hours since we got to the Coop, she’s been making sure my drinks are never empty, between her bouts of line dancing and loud belly laughs. I lost count a long while ago.
“Why issshhhhhh everyone looking at me?” I slur, leaning into Quinn. At least, I think I’m leaning. Everything’s been spinning for the past hour. We just got back from another dance-off in the middle of the crowded dance area.