24. You’re A Catch, Leo Bennett
You’re A Catch, Leo Bennett
Zoe
‘Zoe, you made it.’
Cara’s face lights up, excited, as she greets me at her front door with a hug.
We are all spending the afternoon up at Cara’s place for a barbecue to celebrate her and Doug being together and happy after all the shit they’ve been through — officially, it’s a housewarming, but she’s lived in the house for months now, so unofficially, it’s just a come see how happy and in love we are party.
I smile softly. I’m ecstatic for my brother and my friend, but I’m exhausted. I’ve hardly slept at all these past couple of days after that weird conversation with Leo.
Where in the hell did that come from? Where does this leave us?
‘Of course, I did. It’s not a party without me. You know that.’
I follow her through the house, passing Mama and Lucy, Buck’s fiancé, in the kitchen and saying a quick hello before heading out back with Cara and meeting my sister and our friend Missy.
‘Hey, twinnie,’ Bree says, holding up her finger. I press the tip of mine to it as I lean in to hug Missy.
‘Sorry I’m a little late,’ I offer as I sit next to them on the blanket on the lawn. ‘Delivery took an age to put away.’
‘That’s okay. I’m just glad you came.’ Cara smiles sweetly, and I can see the happiness and pride pouring out of her.
The moment I met her months ago, I knew she was going to be perfect for Doug, and I was right. I’ve never seen my brother smile so much, and we’re over the moon to have her, too. She immediately became a friend to Bree and me and brought Missy into our lives. I never had so many girls around me, and I love it.
‘Oh, sweet lord, y’all know some fine men,’ Missy says, and my heart immediately starts to race as I follow her line of sight. I exhale with relief when I see she’s looking at Nick, who’s talking to Doug and Buck over by the grill.
‘Are you talking about Buck or Nick?’ Bree smirks.
‘Since I don’t know who either of those people are, I have no idea.’
I laugh, still watching Missy brazenly eyeing Nick over the top of her sunglasses. ‘All I know is Doug is hot, that snack talking to him is hot, the daddy with them, also hot,’ I shudder at her calling Buck that, but laugh, ‘and damn,’ her line of sight changes, and I follow it, my heart coming up to my throat, ‘Leo is hot too.’
I concur. As I watch him heading toward his dad and his friends, a beaming smile on his ridiculously handsome face, there’s no denying it, Leo is definitely hot, too.
I manage to tear my attention away, even though his laugh raises goosebumps on my skin as it floats across the backyard. Despite my attention wanting to drift to him, laughing with the girls is fun.
Cara and Doug have been talking about setting up a business together flipping properties for profit, so she talks happily about that for a bit, and I’m all ears, so I’m distracted when the familiar scent of him stops my heart, and all eyes fall on the man standing over me.
I turn to look up at him as he smiles and squats down, then hands me a bottle of beer without a word. I reach up and take it.
‘Hey, ladies, how y’all doing?’
‘Hey, Leo,’ Bree smiles at him, but I’m still frozen, the cool glass in my hand my point of focus.
‘Shrimp, good to see you.’
I feel his eyes on me, and I know he’s going to say something, so I panic.
‘ Bo Bo ,’ I call out when I see my niece behind him, and she runs toward us.
‘Uncle Leo,’ Bowie shouts, and Leo wordlessly hands me his beer, which I also take without question.
Bowie leaps at the man, knocking him off balance, and they fall backward to the ground, laughing.
‘Miss Bowie.’ He sits up, still holding her, and she gazes up at him like he hung the moon. ‘Where you been, girl?’
‘I was upstairs, silly.’
Cara laughs, and I turn to her.
‘She’s set up a little playroom up there for her and Jonah.’
‘A playroom, huh. That’s cool,’ Leo says enthusiastically. ‘But who is Jonah? Do I need to talk to this young man about his intentions?’
Missy giggles next to me, and I snap my attention to her, silently asking: what the hell was that?
‘Jonah is my son. I assure you, his intentions go no further than watching Paw Patrol and stealing her snacks.’
‘Sure, that’s how it starts.’ Leo scowls, and Bowie, with no idea what’s going on except that she adores the man holding her, cracks up.
‘Uncle Leo, come and see my tree.’
‘Your tree?’
‘She found a tree up here and fell in love,’ I explain, and those green eyes turn on me finally, making me realize he hasn’t actually made eye contact with me yet.
‘I see, well,’ he turns back to Bowie, ‘falling in love is easy, so I get it.’ He puts Bowie down and stands, then holds out a hand for hers. ‘Come on, Miss Bowie, show me your tree.’
Watching Leo walk away hand in hand with my favorite person in the world is one thing. Watching him laughing with my mom is another.
‘You look good, honey,’ Mama compliments easily, and he wraps an arm around her shoulder. It started to rain, so we moved the party indoors, and we are all situated in Cara’s huge kitchen while the kids watch a movie in the living room.
‘You too, Lynnie. I swear you age backward. I know where your girls get it from.’
Mama laughs and taps his chest, then pushes him away playfully.
‘Quit flirting with my mom, jackass,’ Doug growls from where he stands, leaning against the countertop with his arms wrapped around Cara’s waist, holding her back to his front like he can’t bear to let her get away.
Leo laughs. ‘I’m not flirting. I’m admiring.’
‘Just as bad.’
‘You need to stop doing so much admiring ,’ Mama says pointedly to Leo, and he smirks. ‘When are you going find yourself someone and fall in love?’
‘Ah, Lynnie, it’s more, when am I going to make the right girl fall in love with me? That’s the question.’
I chew my lip and start to busy myself with refreshing everyone’s drinks so that I don’t have to make eye contact.
‘ Oh , does that mean there’s someone in your sights?’ Mama asks excitedly behind me as I search for the bottle opener.
‘He’s decided his player days are behind him,’ Doug says, humor lacing the words, and where is that damn opener?
‘I have indeed,’ Leo replies before coming to stand right next to me, making me freeze, and my lungs forget how to work. He reaches across me and grabs the bottle opener — which was right in front of me the whole time. ‘There you go, munch.’ He hands it to me. ‘I want to settle down, get serious, but I know I have some work to do to show the right woman I’m capable of that when I’ve never done it before.’
‘Well, you’re a catch, Leo Bennett,’ Mama says, that caring, loving tone in her voice, ‘the right woman is just waiting for you, and she’d be a fool to let you get away.’
He laughs and puts his arm around her shoulder again.
‘Thanks, Lynnie. I think so, too.’
Grabbing a bottle of beer, I head out onto the front porch and find Bree texting, a serious look on her face. The rain is still coming down, pouring off the porch roof and running down the hill of Cara’s drive in a constant stream.
‘What’s wrong with you?’ I ask, and my twin pockets her phone as she turns to me.
‘Nothing, you?’
I take a breath and turn back to the house to check I closed the door.
‘Leo.’ She raises her eyebrows and glances toward the kitchen window as his laugh filters out. ‘I need a girls’ night, Bree.’
Smiling, my sister nods just once.
‘I got you.’