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“And relationship-dysfunctional?” Cissy put in. “It’s almost scary that the two of you could be in the same truck and not know it.”
“How was I to know that my twin was a stowaway?”
Cissy shrugged. “I heard twins had some special extrasensory perception for each other. Y’all seem to be blocking your ESP.”
“Heaven forbid he could have just asked for a ride,” Ranger complained.
“Heaven forbid you could have offered,” Archer rejoined.
“Did I know you’d be up for the military?”
“Did you think to ask?” Archer demanded. “Why did you think you could leave me behind with His Highness the Hardheaded?”
Cissy and Ha
“Well, that’s what Mimi calls him,” Archer said sheepishly. “Mason, that is, before she quit hanging around our place.”
“She probably had to leave out of self-defense,” Ha
In the mirror’s reflection, she saw Ranger’s eyebrows peak over his eyes. “How would you know?”
Caught, because she didn’t want to admit that her feelings had been hurt by Ranger, Ha
“And I want to talk about your destination,” Ranger stated. “Where exactly are you two going?”
Cissy turned completely to face Ha
“You said it for me,” Ranger pointed out. “I think it, I know it’s true and now you’ve put it out in the open. We’re all prepared for my reaction, so just say it: What’s your end-of-the-line destination?”
“I called a friend of mine who runs a gambling riverboat in Mississippi,” Ha
Both men started laughing, immensely amused by the revelation. “Going to the good ship, Lollipop,” Archer sang, until Ha
Ranger turned the truck at an exit ramp, parking at a truck weigh station and rest area. “Okay,” he said sternly. “All ladies out of my truck. I ain’t taking you any farther than this.”
Cissy hesitated, but Ha
“Archer laughed, I just—”
“Same thing. All you Jeffersons are alike. It’s your way or the highway. Well, I,” she said with a deliberate glare at Ranger as she tugged her leopard-print duffel from the truck, “don’t even think you’re that hot of a kisser.”
“Huh?” Ranger and Archer said at the same time.
“Now wait a minute—” Ranger began.
“Kisser?” Archer stared at his twin. “Did you kiss her?”
“Technically, it was a peck,” Ranger began.
“He pecked both of us, then,” Cissy inserted. “Only my kiss went beyond the peck category, I feel certain.”
“You kissed her, too? And they’re both riding in the same vehicle with you?” Archer gri
Ha
“I knew this was a bad idea. Cissy, I vote we call Jerry. Sooner or later, he’ll be by this way in his rig. We should have done that in the first place, I guess.”
Maybe, but she and Cissy had agreed between themselves that burdening anyone with their departure wasn’t fair. And, frankly, they were afraid they couldn’t say goodbye if they had to face down a couple of salons full of friends. And Cissy would have had to say goodbye to Marvella—no easy thing, considering Marvella would have thrown a fit.
But for Ha
Ranger crossed his arms at her, and Ha
“The omnipotent eye,” Archer mused. “Isn’t that what Helga does to us when we put our boots on the coffee table?”
“Can I speak to you alone for a moment?” Ranger said to Ha
“I don’t see why—” she started, but Cissy gave her a shove and Ranger gave her arm a pull and she was heading off toward a picnic table with Ranger before she’d finished her sentence.
“Look,” he said, sitting her down on the plank seat. “Have you thought this through?”
She thought she heard concern in his voice, real concern, and it startled her out of her indignation. “Yes, I have. And you can stop looming over me like you know everything and what I know could fit into a thimble.”
He stared at her. “I’m not looming.”
Okay. So at over six feet he couldn’t exactly help his proportions. She’d wanted to be able to read his posture, and now she certainly could. “So. How long did you think about your road trip?”
“A while.”
“I don’t remember you mentioning it before.”
“We didn’t talk much.”
No, they hadn’t. Mostly, she’d wanted to kiss him. And that peck comment had hurt her feelings, because it had been more than that to her. “Where are you going?”
“I’m going into the military.” He gave her a most belligerent glare, daring her to laugh.
Which she did. “Okay, that’s it,” she said. “Get back behind the wheel and stop harassing me about my spur-of-the-moment plans.”
“Hang on.” He put his boot on the bench beside her and leaned forward. “I’m a man, and you’re a woman.”
She cocked a brow at him. “Continue. So far, you’re astounding me with your powers of observation.”
“What I’m saying is, it’s one thing for me to be heading off into the wild blue yonder. Joining the military is an honorable, responsible way to work through this phase of my life. You, on the other hand, are going off willy-nilly, shady-lady, to get a job as a card dealer in a floating casino. That is not a particularly admirable thing, not that I’m making any judgment calls here.” He held up a hand to ward off her rebuttal. “I just don’t know that it’s safe. And maybe you know that it’s not such a good idea, or you wouldn’t have snuck off like a thief in the night without telling Delilah.”
“You’re big-brothering me, and I don’t like it,” Ha
“Not exactly that,” he admitted. “Since I kissed you, I feel a bit more responsibility than the average Joe, I guess.”
“You called it a peck,” she reminded him, her indignation clear. “A peck. If you pecked me, what did you do to Cissy?”
“Now, Cissy,” Ranger immediately rejoined, leaning back to grin at her, “that girl can suck the lips off a man’s face. She takes a man’s breath and makes him feel that dying in her arms is a good thing.”
“Really!” Ha
She headed toward the truck without waiting for him to reply. Ranger stared at her retreating red-tipped blond hair and saucy backside as she flounced off. He raised a brow. “Baby, baby,” he murmured. “I do believe that little gal is jealous.” And then he gri
RANGER QUIT GRINNING by the time Archer and Ha