Chapter 9 Upgraded Partnership #2
“It was mutual.” Chip gestured vaguely. “My parents have shady characters coming and going at all hours. People they don’t want me around. My moving out made it easier for all of us.”
Yeah, it sounded like he was better off in the barn loft. Tucker made a mental note to talk to Mallory about getting Chip moved into one of her guest rooms where they could keep a better eye on him. “You ready to face your parents? ”
“Not really.” Chip stared straight ahead as Tucker drove out of the parking lot. “They aren’t gonna be too happy about my missing game console.”
“I’ll tell them it was my fault and offer to replace it.” Tucker made up a story on the spot about how he’d supposedly knocked it out of the truck by accident and broken it. “That sound okay to you?”
Chip’s hopeful expression said it all. “You’d really do that for me?”
“Consider it done, bro.” Tucker waited until the kid met his gaze again. “Mal considers you to be family, and I’m about to become her number one guy. You know what that makes you and me?”
The emotions warring in Chip’s gaze were both heartrending and humorous—worry, astonishment, fear, and cautious joy. He was an emotional wreck, but Mallory was determined to champion him, which meant Tucker needed to do the same.
“I’m gonna talk to Mallory about moving you inside the house,” he added.
Chip’s jaw dropped. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”
“Why not?” Tucker wasn’t planning on taking no for an answer.
“My parents already don’t trust me,” the teen declared in a high-pitched voice. “I don’t wanna give them any reason to think I ratted ‘em out to the police.”
“You haven’t.” Mal isn’t the police. Technically, he was, but Chip didn’t know that . “I’m sure the boss lady will come up with a convincing reason to keep you close. Your only job is to play along so we can protect you.”
Chip leaned forward to prop his elbows on his knees and drop his head into his hands. “If you guys can pull this off, I’ll owe you for the rest of my life.” He didn’t sound overly optimistic about the odds of their succeeding.
“Just play it cool,” Tucker advised. “There will be plenty of distractions to keep your parents occupied. My marriage to Mal is just the beginning.” There would likely be another showdown with the cartel soon. As a precaution, he was going to stick like glue to Mal.
They bumped their way up the gravel driveway leading to Evans Ranch and parked beside Mallory’s Jeep in the driveway. As Tucker climbed out of the truck, he could see her embracing Martina on the wrap-around porch.
“I have a huge surprise!” Mallory’s happy voice wafted their way as she hugged her dark-haired bookkeeper. “And I wanted you to be the first to know about it.”
After a brief hesitation, Martina hugged her back. She caught sight of her son walking their way. Her eyes flashed fire, then immediately gentled to a motherly smile. “Hey, sweetie! You’re back!” Her gaze moved to Tucker, and her expression grew withering. “What are you doing here?”
“He proposed, and I said yes.” Mallory danced joyfully to Tucker’s side to wrap her hands around his arm.
“That’s my surprise. Technically, you’re the second person to find out, because we ran into Chip in town.
He more or less caught us in the act of doing this.
” She rose on her tiptoes to brush her lips against Tucker’s.
Go big or go home. He wasn’t about to let one of her kisses go to waste, so he gave as good as he got.
Chip indulged them in a few gagging noises like he’d done before, and Mallory was sporting a real blush by the time Tucker raised his head.
“Well!” Martina folded her arms, looking utterly astounded. “From spitting matches to… ”
“To swapping spit,” Chip finished for her, with such a comical grimace that Mallory dissolved into laughter.
She wrapped her arms around Tucker’s middle. “It was meant to be.”
“When did this happen?” Martina gestured irritably at them. “I didn’t know you were even dating.”
“Recently.” Tucker grinned indulgently down at Mallory, thoroughly enjoying how discomfited Mrs. Silva was.
He especially liked how the shock of finding out they were engaged seemed to be taking the heat off of Chip.
“All it took was one kiss. The next thing I knew, she was down on one knee, and the rest is history.”
“Ha. Ha.” Mallory’s tone was scathing. “The way I tell it is different.”
He couldn’t wait to be regaled with her version of it. In the meantime, he took great satisfaction from announcing, “I’ll have a construction team out here tomorrow to get started on our remodel.”
“Remodel?” Looking alarmed, Martina glanced between the two of them. “What remodel?”
Though Tucker and Mallory hadn’t discussed anything of the sort, Mallory didn’t miss a beat.
“Ours is a Miss Old-Fashioned meets Mr. New-Fangled kind of relationship. He doesn’t think my mid-century closets will hold all of his manly gear.
Plus, he fancies himself the next Iron Chef, so the kitchen will receive a complete makeover. ”
It wasn’t a bad comeback for a woman who’d received no forewarning of the topic. It was almost as if she’d popped off with her actual wish list.
The triumphant sparkle in her gaze confirmed his suspicions. Nicely played. He didn’t mind indulging her, though, since the two projects would give him the perfect excuse to come and go as he pleased .
“Oh, and one more thing.” Tucker snapped his fingers and pointed at Chip, who backed away from him in feigned terror. “This joker agreed to stand up as my best man.”
Martina coughed. “You agreed to do what?”
Mallory rolled her eyes dramatically. “Agreed might be a stretch. More like voluntold.” She sent a sunny smile to the woman she’d once considered a dear friend. “That’s what he gets for being like family to a gal who has no family.”
Martina struggled to school her expression into some semblance of empathy. It wasn’t easy, though, to mask the apoplectic color riding her cheeks.
“To make things even more exciting, we’ve decided to tie the knot before Christmas.
” Mallory stepped away from Tucker to give a giddy twirl.
“The wedding reception will be here, so we’re gonna be overrun by landscapers, decorators, you name it.
It’s the only way we’ll be able to whip this place into shape in time. ”
Martina abruptly took a seat on the top porch step. “It all feels so sudden.”
Because it is. Tucker was enjoying every second of her witchy discomfort. He hoped she felt inconvenienced. Boxed in. Thwarted. Lord willing, her discomfort would extend to an orange jumpsuit soon.
Martina spread her hands. “What about your grieving college friend?”
The speed at which Mallory’s joyful smile faded was worthy of an Emmy Award.
“We haven’t told her yet,” she confessed, sounding rueful, “for obvious reasons.” She let out an award-worthy sigh as she tipped her face up to Tucker.
“It didn’t seem right to flaunt our happiness, given her recent and tremendous loss.
I’ll, um, have to figure out a way to break it to her gently. ”
Three days later
Mallory fluffed the pillows on her guest bed and smoothed the red-and-white checkered quilt into place. If Martina decided to pop her head into the room today, Mallory didn’t want there to be any evidence that Chip had slept there the previous night.
Once the bed was made, there was no evidence that the room had been used.
For an eighteen-year-old, Chip was heartbreakingly capable of coming and going without leaving a trace.
He was the polar opposite of most messy teenagers.
She couldn’t wait to scuff up the place a little to make it more man-cavey for him, but not yet.
As long as the narco rustlers were running roughshod over her ranch, her guest room needed to look unoccupied.
A pounding of footsteps outside was followed by a frenzy of knocking on her back door.
She hurried across the kitchen and found Chip standing there, which made her smile since he’d spent the night in her guest room.
As agreed, he was making a show of tromping up her porch stairs in full view of the cottage where his parents lived, making it look like he was reporting for duty.
She was thankful he was keeping his word, because she had a huge list of chores for him.
He wasn’t alone. Tucker’s enormous German Shepherd, Braveheart, was standing beside him. He yipped and wagged his tail at the sight of her.
“Look what the dog dragged in,” she joked, pushing the door wider to let them inside. “Did Tucker leave him here overnight?” While Braveheart launched himself joyfully at her, she poked her head out the door in search of the private investigator who was never far from her thoughts.
“Nah, he got here early.” Chip gestured at the back pasture. “He and his work crew are out there repairing a fence.”
“Oh?” She raised a hand to shade her eyes, but Chip surprised her by reaching for her elbow and tugging her back in the house, exhibiting strength that belied his weedy frame.
“Hurry up and put me to work,” he grumbled, staying in his pre-agreed upon role as a crabby, reluctant teenager.
“Mom says I have to help whip this place into shape for the wedding.” They didn’t speak freely in her home for fear of being eavesdropped on.
It was a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse with the drug cartel, where they had to assume the walls themselves had ears.
“You’re the best best man ever,” she said sweetly while bending over to hug Braveheart. Over the top of the dog’s head, she scanned Chip from head-to-toe to make sure everything was okay with him.
Chip gave her a thumbs up to assure her that he was. “She’s also letting me off the hook on helping her out at the computer until after the wedding.”