Chapter 14 #2
“Yeah, and you’ve been brooding for years since Allison,” Wade fired back. “I’m just saying Lark’s got the right idea, and I love you, brother, but I’m thinking I’d like to get married.” He shrugged. “That’s all, and Theresa is still single.”
Cash joined his friends in the kitchen, wanting to stay quiet so they’d keep bickering in that brotherly way they had. “Have you been out with Theresa before?” he asked anyway.
“Yeah, we dated in high school,” Wade said, forking up his last bite of meatball. “And then I joined the rodeo, and she went to college.”
“Yeah, but she came back here,” Cash said. “Didn’t you say she teaches school?”
Wade nodded while he chewed and swallowed. “Her daddy died right after she graduated. She had a job in Salt Lake City that she gave up and came back here. Took her a couple years, but she got on at the elementary school here. She’s been teaching for five years.”
Cash nodded. “What grade?”
“Fifth,” he said, and Cash grinned at him.
“I’ve got a little sister who’s in fifth grade.”
“There’s three classes at the elementary school,” he said. “But it’s possible she’s in her class.”
“Theresa…what’s her last name?” Cash asked.
“Fletcher,” Lark said from the living room, and Cash remembered she’d said it before.
“I’ll ask my daddy,” Cash said.
“Yeah, about your daddy,” Jet said. He glanced over to Wade, and the two of them had a silent conversation that Cash had actually seen before.
Not from the two of them, but from others who wanted to be introduced to his rodeo-famous father and get a favor.
He waited, because Cash had always found it better not to assume too much before the question was asked.
“We’re hopin’ he’ll talk to us about a media manager.”
Relief ran through Cash. “Oh, sure. He has someone who handles everything online for him. My uncle Jem does too.” He glanced over to the dining room table. “My phone’s over there, but I can text them, and get you in touch with them.”
“Aren’t we doing the Pie Bar at your parents’ house this week?” Jet asked. “We thought it would be easy to talk to him then.”
“Yep.” Cash grinned at them. “We’re eating there and having the Pie Bar on Wednesday night.” He nodded to their containers. “How’s the food?”
“Incredible,” the brothers said together.
Lark joined them in the kitchen, and she set her now-empty glass in the sink. “I’m going to go shower and go to bed.”
Cash wanted to draw her into his arms and kiss her good-night, and awkwardness descended on all of them as he smiled at her like some sort of creeper.
“Yeah, you might want to put a shirt on, Cash-anova,” Jet said, and Cash snapped back to reality.
Lark grinned at her brothers as she rounded the island. “I’m so glad you guys are here for Thanksgiving.” She moved between them, and both Jet and Wade turned toward her, the three of them making a sibling huddle-hug that warmed Cash’s heart.
When she stepped back, she met Cash’s eyes. “And I like Cash-anova.”
“No,” he said instantly, his smile slipping. “Absolutely not.”
But Lark only giggled as she tightened her towel to keep that Care Bear swimming suit covered up and walked out of the kitchen.
“Mm, he likes her a lot,” Jet said, and Cash wanted to argue with him but found he couldn’t. By the time he stopped watching Lark leave the room, several seconds had gone by.
He turned back to Jet and Wade and found both of them watching him. Cash blinked and moved over to the sink to pick up the washrag there, as if something needed to be cleaned up, while embarrassment streamed through him and made his face hot, hotter, hottest.
Jet chuckled, and Wade scoffed, and Cash tossed the useless washrag back into the sink and faced his friends. “You know, instead of laughing at me or thinking my crush on your sister is disgusting, I could use some help here.”
“Help?” Jet asked. “What does that mean?”
“With Lark,” Cash hissed. “You’ve met her, right? She’s a little….” He trailed off, because he didn’t want to bash Lark behind her back.
“Tight?” Wade suggested.
“Sarcastic?” Jet asked. They looked at one another, and grinned, and oh, Cash didn’t like that.
A chill ran across Cash’s bare shoulders. “You know what? Never mind. I’m just getting to know her, and I don’t need you clowns clouding my mind with your own opinions.” He glared at Wade. “Tight? Rude.”
He scoffed and turned to leave the kitchen too. “She’s gorgeous, for one, and I really enjoy talking to her, for another.”
“Cash,” Jet called. “Come on, man. We’re sorry.”
“Yeah, we won’t tease you,” Wade said.
Cash paused at the mouth of the hallway, very aware that just because Lark’s door was closed didn’t mean she couldn’t hear them. He glared back over to his friends, though he wasn’t truly that upset. “All right,” he said. “And I promise I won’t kiss your sister in front of you.”
He grinned, turned, and had only taken one step down the hall when Lark appeared in her doorway, no towel over that bright pink swimming suit, and one hand planted on her hip.
And Cash had the very real feeling he’d be lucky to even get to hold Lark’s hand again, let alone kiss her. His feet stuttered, but he managed to keep going.
“Hey, Songbird,” he whispered as he approached.
Her frown disappeared. “What are they saying?”
He shook his head. “Nothing. I’ll text you after your shower, okay?”
She nodded, and Cash thanked the Good Lord Above that he had her number now and could continue their conversation away from the prying ears and eyes of Jet and Wade.