Chapter 14 Three Dog Night （Brady）
XIV
Three Dog Night
(Brady)
Shit.
Shit!
There’s no universe where I’d ever choose this introduction.
Too bad the universe doesn’t give a flying shit and it’s made the choice for me.
The worst part is, I’m the idiot who put the wheel in motion.
Originally, I intended for this to be an organic meetup, a way to introduce Lena and Mother, but not like this.
Not with my fake fiancée covered in mud, panic filling her eyes as she realizes exactly what’s going on.
One quick glance tells me she’s as thrown off as I am by the timing.
She’s also covered in muck, painting one side of her body.
To my relief, she manages a smile.
It’s the one she uses with her clients—professional and kind, designed to put people at ease.
It’s also the biggest guilt-kick to my balls in recorded history.
“Hi, Kerrigan. You, um, you caught me at a rough time.” Lena checks her hands before offering Mom the clean one. “Sorry for the mess. This isn’t how I normally do my mud treatments.”
Mom laughs. Surprisingly, she doesn’t hesitate as she squeezes Lena’s hand.
“I appreciate your humor. A pleasure. Especially when you’re accompanying my son to his favorite place in the world.”
Lena gives back a pained smile.
“Still. Sorry about the rough first impression,” Lena says weakly.
“Oh, no. Your grace would shame me if I was in your shoes, darling. It never was my strong suit, was it, Brady?” She leans in to give me a kiss on the cheek.
“He’s the only one in this family brave enough to climb on a horse.
Lord knows my father tried when I was a little girl, but one minute in and I’d be a crying fit. ”
“Just Brady, huh? His father doesn’t ride?” Lena sounds genuinely curious.
“Ha! I think Alec would opt for a crowded water park rather than climb any creature that can’t read an investment portfolio.” Now, it’s Mom’s turn to laugh.
I’m officially gobsmacked.
This whole situation could’ve gone down a million times worse. I can finally breathe, rolling my shoulders.
Both women talk warmly, apparently determined to make the best first impression they can under the strange circumstances.
That’s one giant fucking disaster averted.
Wendy hands off the horses to a stable-hand.
“Why don’t you guys come inside the big house and clean up?” she offers. “We’ll get you decent again. Would you like some coffee, Kerrigan? We’ve got that stuff from Kona you always love.”
“You’re a dear, but I’ll take some mint tea, if you have it. I’m watching my caffeine.”
“Of course!”
I slide my hand through Lena’s. She grins as I wince at the mud coating her palm.
“How screwed am I? Be honest,” she whispers as we follow Wendy through the side of the farmhouse.
“Less screwed than any girlfriend I ever brought around before. You’re acting human, and that’s the important part.”
“Fiancée, Brady,” she hisses. “That’s way bigger than some date.”
“Fake fiancée,” I growl. “Yeah, shit. Seeing as you’re the first woman I put a ring on, you’ve set the bar pretty high. But don’t let it go to your head.”
I just wonder if I’m following my own advice when it’s too easy to forget this is fake, dammit.
“Holy shit, the ring!” Her eyes bulge as she holds her hand up and stares at it miserably. “Can they even clean this?”
I take her dirty hand and bring it to my lips, gently clasping the muddy ring with my finger.
“The jeweler I went to can work miracles. Don’t worry.”
“That’s a relief.” She flashes me a laughing look as we step inside.
“I’m sorry as hell for skipping the warning, though. Feel free to murder me later.”
“No—what? Are you telling me you set this up? I thought it was a coincidence!”
Guilt slams into my gut again.
“The mud was a coincidence. Meeting my mother . . . I put a little more thought into that,” I admit.
Her face heats as she pulls her hand back, then flicks mud in my face. Probably the least I deserve.
“Right. So, setting up a nice surprise meeting between your mom and me was the whole point of this outing? And you didn’t think to tell me?”
“I knew you’d stress if you found out in advance. Didn’t want to put you through a whole thing like the engagement announcement again.”
“Brady! I’m stressed now.” Her face is flushed, but she can’t help smiling bitterly behind her scowl.
“I thought it would be better to introduce my mom somewhere casual. Somewhere you can both—”
“If you’re about to say somewhere we could both make a good impression, do you even see this?” She waves a hand at the mud she’s scraping off her jeans before we head inside. “I wish you would’ve warned me. I never would’ve tried to get on that horse.”
“How was I supposed to know you’d fall, Sass?”
Her eyes are lasers.
She pierces me with a glare so fierce I chuckle and hold up my hands.
“Okay, fine. If it helps, I’ll give you a list of places to dump my body once you’re done dismembering it.”
Rolling her eyes, she huffs a breath and turns back to the bottom of her shirt, which is smeared with yet more mud on the inside.
“At least it’s just mud and not horseshit,” I whisper.
She’s so not amused.
I sincerely hope the animal smell around here isn’t just concealing it, though. I wouldn’t be surprised by that either.
“Well, what am I supposed to talk about? Tell me,” she hisses, rinsing out the hem of her shirt with a nearby hose. “Your mom is . . .”
“Just another human obsessed with her appearance. Pretty old-fashioned. Talk to her about animals. She loves them. Trust me, she’s easier to win over than my old man.”
Lena grunts. “You wanted real, huh? You’ve got enough to choke.”
I run a hand up and down her spine as she works out more mud. For all her big talk, she’s handling this well.
If this were Nancy, or any of the girls I dated in the past, they’d have lost their shit and dialed their freak-outs to eleven.
They wouldn’t have even humored staying here to get cleaned up. They’d be demanding to go home, and I probably wouldn’t hear from them for two weeks after.
But this is Lena Joly.
She’s more rattled by my stupidity than a dirty mishap. Even though she should be tossing my severed head into the stables, she’s giving this her best shot.
Once her clothes are clean enough to stop dripping mud, I wrap an arm around her waist and press a kiss to the side of her head.
“Come on,” I say. “Let’s go inside.”
I walk Lena in and show her to the bathroom so she can wash up better.
Later, we find Mom in Wendy’s living room, her hands wrapped around a mug of what smells like herbal tea.
Wendy bustles away to make us two coffees and give us a little space.
“So, Brady tells me you work at a veterinary clinic,” Mom says, smiling gently at Lena. I warned her before she arrived that she needed to be nice. No claws and zero venom.
“Yes, I’m a nurse there.” She looks at the sofa next to Mom. “I’d sit, but . . . I really need a change of clothes.”
“Everyone loves her. Pets and humans,” I interject, stepping by her side and wrapping an arm around her shoulder.
“Actually, pets love me more than people do. The clients can be rough.” Lena shuffles so her shoulder presses against mine. “Or maybe I’ve just never gotten over my soft spot for animals.”
“That’s understandable. People can be so difficult,” Mom says agreeably. “We always wanted a puppy or a nice cat when Brady was growing up. But Alec—my husband—he’s never been particularly fond of having animals in the house.”
Huge understatement. I don’t think there’s anything he likes less than the day he collapsed and he was put on oxygen.
Some people have a wake-up call with a health scare.
Not my father. If anything, the crisis only amplified his worst qualities.
“That’s a shame, but it’s not for everyone,” Lena says politely.
“How many pets did you have growing up?”
“Not a lot, exactly, but . . .” She smiles, pursing her lips.
“When I was growing up in my little house, there was this old stray cat who just sort of found us. He showed up one day when I was playing outside, and then he never left. And when I say old, I mean old. Only had one eye, so many health problems. My parents warned me they didn’t have much money and we’d probably have to say goodbye anytime. We called him Ambrose.”
Hell yes, I’m smiling.
I can see it now, clear as day. Little Lena, caring for this ancient, ragged beast the rest of the world would’ve left for dead. Loving him despite the impossible.
This woman is a treasure, and I hate that her kindness ever allowed a fucking snake like Harry Jay to leave scars on her soul.
“We all thought every day was his last, but despite everything, he kept going. He was with us for five years, and they were so good.” Her smile drops a little.
“There were a few times when Mom was sure it was the end of the road. She wanted to put him down and end his suffering, thinking he wouldn’t get any better.
But he did every time I convinced her. In the end, he was comfortable and I—I loved Ambrose a lot. ”
She’s a little choked up at the end.
I pull her in, kissing her head, not caring about a few specks of dirt that wind up on my lips.
“I bet.” Mom leans forward, her eyes bright, clearly touched by the story.
“Animals are like that, always able to mean so much without saying a word. They get under your skin, and then you’d do anything for them.
” She smiles at me fondly. “People are like that, too, of course, but they’re so much harder to find. ”
“You talking about Dad or me?” I snort.
“Both, darling. Between the two of you, it’s remarkable I don’t have more grey hair and lines under my eyes.” She winks at Lena. “Not that I’d ever let them show. Aging gracefully isn’t one of my virtues. I plan to fight old age tooth and nail.”
Lena laughs, and I let her lean against me, both of us relaxing. My hand finds hers and squeezes.
How is this going so well?
Mother doesn’t fake her true feelings much when she’s not impressed, and if she’s already joking about herself, that’s a damn good sign.