26. Landry
CHAPTER 26
landry
“Well, hey, you two. Go on in and enjoy the game.”
I’m almost suspicious of the friendly reception when we walk up to the entrance of the Camellia High football field. I lead Daisy past the ticket booth, nodding politely to some of the familiar faces we cross as we make our way toward the bleachers.
“Hey, Doc,” Ethan calls out, making me cringe. I never told Daisy about his little blackmailing scheme, and I’d been doing my best to avoid him. “Hey, Miss Daisy,” he adds as he approaches.
I clear my throat and offer an awkward fist bump. “Good luck out there, kid.”
“Thanks. I was actually coming over to see if you’d gotten the chance to deliver that message we spoke about before.” His gaze locks onto mine, even as his pulls his helmet down, and Daisy looks on curiously.
“Uh, no. Not yet.”
“Why not?” he demands.
“Haven’t had the opportunity. Been busy doing grown-man shit,” I retort, and Daisy nudges me.
“No time like the present, right?” He tilts his head to gesture behind him as JD and Blake strut down the sideline together. I consider fulfilling my end of our agreement for a second, jogging over to offer an apology for the way I acted at my sister’s wedding reception and even for all of the times I was a jerk to both of them before that.
Then I glance around at all the witnesses surrounding us. It can wait.
“I’ll get around to it when I’m ready,” I say gruffly.
Ethan snickers. “Sure hope you’re ready soon. I’d hate for?—”
“Don’t worry about me. Just have yourself a good game, two-three.” I tap the top of his helmet, and he narrows his eyes at me one more time before he gives me a short nod and jogs off.
“What’s that about?” Daisy asks.
“Guy stuff,” I reply as I urge Daisy forward, and I watch as my sister bounds down the bleachers with one of the twins in her arms.
Tenley’s already leaning over the railing with a baby strapped to her chest while JD effortlessly pulls himself up the metal stands to give her a kiss. Blake repeats the same moves, except he hops up to straddle the railing as he greets both babies, since Tenley’s mom has come down with the other twin. All it takes is a subtle tilt of his head for Loren to grab him by the shirt and shove her tongue down his throat.
I scoff, though they at least have the decency to break it up after a few seconds, unlike JD and Tenley, who are still whispering to one another and squashing poor baby Jake each time they lean in for another kiss. For some reason, I can’t look away, though. I continue watching, reading Blake’s lips as he says, “I love you.” Loren says something back that shifts his expression to something smug, and I’m grateful I can’t make out her words.
Blake leans over and plants a kiss on Mrs. T’s cheek, then swings his leg back over the railing to hop down, dragging JD along with him, to Tenley’s dismay. JD smiles and waves to his mother-in-law before he joins Blake and the other coaches.
“Aren’t they adorable?” Daisy asks wistfully, bringing me back.
I grunt. “It just seems so … unnecessary.”
She frowns. “I think it’s nice. Why should they hide their affection in public? It’s not like they’re being inappropriate.”
“I beg to differ,” I return with a sneer.
“You’re such a fuddy-duddy,” she mumbles, pulling my arm toward the bleachers.
“I’m a fuddy-duddy because I don’t do public make out sessions?” I ask sarcastically.
“At this point, I’d be surprised if you did any make out sessions,” she retorts bitterly, and I take a second to think about what it signifies.
“Right. Well, I’m not exactly in a position to go out looking for a casual hookup at the moment,” I say after a while, calling her bluff.
She sighs. “I know, Landry. I meant that it’s okay for you to be happy for your sister. Isn’t that what we all want for our siblings? For them to find their soulmates, then fall in love and get married, have babies, and live happily ever after?”
I frown as she continues hauling me up the stairs. Loren smiles when she sees me, though her face doesn’t light up the way it did for Blake a minute ago, and she lifts Charley’s pudgy hand to wave at me. My heart admittedly softens as Daisy squeals with delight and waves back, but I tug her to a stop before she can take the next step.
“Is that what you think we all need to be happy?” I ask her abruptly.
She hesitates before she answers, and I’m afraid I’ve upset her for a second. “I’m sure that looks different for everyone,” she begins. “But, yeah, some form of true love and acceptance is required, I think, whether it’s from a spouse or a child or even a community.”
“And what about Rosemary? She’ll never be married.” I’m referring to one of her sisters who joined a religious community a few years ago and seems to be happily living out her life as a nun in training.
“She is married,” Daisy corrects me. “To Jesus.”
“Is that how that works?”
“Yes, but come on, we can talk about this?—”
“Wait, is that what you need to be happy?” I’m not sure why I have to know her answer right now, but I do.
She smirks. “To become a consecrated virgin? Or to marry a man who wants to make out with me at a high school football game?”
“The second. And to have babies,” I clarify.
“While I’m grateful for my friends and family, yeah, I’d still love to get married for real and have kids one day,” she says.
“But I thought you wanted to be independent?”
She shrugs shyly. “I don’t know. I’m starting to think independence is overrated.”
“Hmm,” I hum thoughtfully. “Wait, can you even have children? Safely, I mean.”
Her eyes flicker away, but she answers the question. “My neurologist says I should be able to handle pregnancy, so long as I take a few precautions. It’s the postpartum time that’s more likely to be dangerous, so I’d need a lot of help from my husband.”
“Oh. Well, that’s … good.”
“Yeah, sure,” she murmurs, continuing up the bleachers.
“So once you and I go our separate ways, you’ll start dating … in Camellia?” I blurt out the question without thinking, and my stomach instantly turns at the thought of having to see Daisy with someone else. I imagine it’d be just as disturbing as when Loren and Blake first got together. Maybe even … worse.
Daisy’s answer pulls me up from that dangerous rabbit hole. “I suppose I’ll have to start dating if I want to find a loving and supportive husband. Although at this point, I’d settle for someone who takes care of me half as well as you do, as long as I can squeeze a little PDA out of him every now and again.”
“You shouldn’t have to settle,” I say flatly, ignoring the way the very idea of being forced to watch her with another man makes me see red. “We’ll find you another one of those douchey Bourgeois brothers. You deserve the annoyingly wholesome yet inappropriately handsy man of your dreams.”
She shakes her head and rolls her eyes at me. “Well, since you’re volunteering to help, it’d be nice if he was a Catholic, too,” she adds, and I let out a short laugh as we reach the others.
Loren turns and plops Charley into my lap as soon as I sit behind her, and I’m instantly reminded of how much I love being an uncle. I lift Charley to nibble at her neck and belly, making her giggle. It’s the sweetest sound in the world.
Daisy nudges me before she leans over and whispers in my ear. “Deny it all you want, but I still think all that stuff would make you happy, too.”
“What?”
She smirks as she reaches out to tickle Charley, and I can’t help the way Charley’s belly laugh makes me melt again. “You want this ,” Daisy repeats. “Babies.”
I shrug and try to keep my expression neutral. “So I like kids. We get along. They’re easier to figure out than adults. That doesn’t mean I’ll never be content without having them.”
“That’s exactly what it means, Landry,” she replies.
“I’m a pediatrician and an uncle. I’m already surrounded by babies. I don’t need a soulmate to make me happy. I have a fulfilling career and a family.” I gulp and avoid her gaze, but it’s not because I’m lying. I’m worried she’ll point out the holes in my plan, especially since she knows exactly how my family feels about me.
“Mm-hmm. And what happens once you retire? What are you going to do when these girls grow up and go off to live their own lives, just like Lilley’s kids will? Who’s going to keep you company when you’re old and lonely?”
I frown as I stare at Charlotte. It’s hard to imagine her growing up and moving away or starting a family of her own one day, but it’s likely it will happen. I sit her in my lap and kiss the top of her head.
“I’m a single doctor who never spends his money. I’ll use my fat retirement checks to pay people to take care of me. And my great nieces and nephews will visit me on occasion to secure a piece of my inheritance, regardless of how grumpy and senile I get.”
She snorts and pats my shoulder affectionately. “Maybe I’ll encourage my future grandkids to check on you and try to weasel their way into your will, too.”
“You keep mentioning all these children and grandchildren,” I say, shooting her a side-eyed smile. “But you know it’s gonna take more than a little PDA to make some of those, right? Better choose your second husband wisely.”
I watch her carefully as she gets visibly flustered. “Just when I think I understand you, you go and say something like that. And you claim other people are hard to read,” she tells me.
“What do you mean?” I ask, my smile widening.
“It’s just that you … well, to be honest, you come off as a prude half the time. But every once in a while, you throw in one of those comments in your sexy-doctor voice,” she says, lowering her tone, “and I’m not sure what to think about you.”
I narrow my eyes at her. “And just how much time have you spent thinking about my sexy-doctor voice, Blondie?”
Her lips part in shock, and her eyelashes flutter. I can’t tell whether she’s guilty or embarrassed, but I’ve obviously hit a nerve. “Don’t make me answer that,” Daisy pleads quietly, and a wave of heat surges through me, just as Charley begins to whine.
I clear my throat and bounce the fussy baby over my knee a few times. What the heck am I even doing right now? That felt dangerously close to legit flirting, and the absolute last thing I should be doing is flirting with my wife. Because she’s also my much younger, very naive, overly romantic, extremely vulnerable, practically untouched best friend’s baby sister, as well as my roommate.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper after a moment, but my apology is drowned out by cheers when the football team busts through a huge banner and stampedes onto the field.
“What?” she asks, squinting.
“I said I’m sorry,” I reply a little louder.
Daisy shakes her head. “You’re what ?”
“I’m sorry for making you think I’m so sexy!” I yell, just as the crowd quiets down and stands for the National Anthem.
A handful of heads turn to gape at me, and I cringe. “Sorry for that, too,” I add. Daisy covers her mouth, but a snort and a giggle still escape from behind her hand.
“Landry Nicholas! Give. Me. That !” Loren shrieks, snatching Charley from my lap. But she’s barely disguising her own amusement.
I scowl in return. “What, I’m not allowed to say ‘sexy’ in front of your offspring? As if their parents haven’t said worse.”
She scoffs. “You should have heard the offer I just made to their daddy in exchange for getting them both to sleep after this game,” she declares, making me groan. “But you’re not allowed to use my babies to pick up women, especially since you’re already a pediatrician. Charley’s too cute, so it creates an unfair advantage, and Daisy deserves a level playing field.”
“But … I’m not …” I shake my head. “Nothing’s going on between Daisy and me. That’s why I apologized for accidentally flirting with her.”
I realize I’ve said too much, because my sister’s smirk stretches across her face like an evil villain formulating a master plan. I half expect her to cackle, and— dammit , there she goes.
“Oh, dearest brother, there is no accidental flirting ,” she corrects me. “Only involuntary seduction.”
“No,” I reply forcefully. “None of that. There will be absolutely zero seduction happening here.”
Loren purses her lips and glances at Daisy, and my eyes dart over reflexively to find my wife tucking her hair behind her ear and staring back at me with her eyes wide, her cheeks rosy, and her lips pouty.
Whoa, hold on—why do her lips look so pouty? Better yet, why am I looking at her lips in the first place? And why do I keep calling her my wife inside my head?
I swallow hard and force my gaze away, but I need something better to distract me before I do something stupid, like allow myself to be attracted to Daisy. And if I so much as think about her mouth again, I’m totally done for.
Her mouth …
Hand-foot-mouth disease … oral candidiasis … erythema infectiosum …
There. Nothing sexy about childhood viruses and infections.
“Landry?”
“Huh?” I straighten.
“I’m just teasing,” Loren says, adjusting Charley in her arms. “Loosen up, all right?”
I roll my shoulders back. “Who says I’m uptight?”
“That constipated look on your face, for one.” I roll my eyes, and she mumbles, “Unless that’s just sexual frustration,” under her breath.
“Enough, Lo,” I growl.
“Fine. You’re no fun.” Then she turns to Daisy and cups her hand around her mouth as she adds, “Maybe I’ll train you to become an involuntary seductress. You could always use your skills to hook someone better than my lame-ass brother.”
I keep my eyes trained on the field and pretend I don’t hear when Daisy giggles through her reply. “I’m open to learning, especially from the best.”