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She gave me an alarmed look. “I did. Oh, God, how I did. He just never returned their affection.”
“Well, when you give me that kind of dirt, I’ll tell you anything you want to know.” She gave me Jayden’s smile and I was thankful he at least had that from her.
“How did you two meet?”
“At our apartment pool. He fell asleep on our first date.” We both laughed and she shook her head.
“He’s always been a handful and then some,” she said absently. “He’s smitten with you and there’s no question about it.”
Jayden came out with who I assumed was his Uncle Stephen, my ice tea in his hand.
“Hey, there,” Stephen addressed his sister with a squeeze on her shoulder before turning his attention to me. “You must be Hilary. My boy won’t shut up about you at work, but I can see why.” I stood, wiping the hair from the corn off my shorts before shaking his hand. “Nothing like the love of a red headed woman, huh, Jay?” he said, giving me a flirtatious wink.
“I’m afraid I’m more ice than fire,” I admitted.
“That’s even better. You have enough to deal with right here.” Jayden gave him a sideways glance before handing me my tea.
“Thanks, babe.” I took a sip as Mallory excused herself.
“Inviting people over to eat and then spending the day cooking is the dumbest damn way to try to get to know someone. I’ve got an oven to attend to, but I’ll be back and I want that dirt,” she said, making her way up the porch.
Jayden raised his eyes at me and I shrugged. Stephen turned to Jayden, who was looking at me with a warning, and chuckled. “Give your mother a break, boy. If you had brought home one out of every hundred you’d dated, she wouldn’t be harassing this one here.”
“Hundreds?” I asked without thinking.
Jayden swallowed and walked toward the house. “Mom’s calling.”
“I didn’t hear her,” Stephen laughed as Jayden hauled ass inside the house, but not before calling out to me. “Don’t listen to him, baby. He assumes every man under the age of thirty is Hugh Hefner.”
“Is that why you are ru
“He fancies you,” Stephen said, shaking his head in amusement. I took in Uncle Stephen as he made himself comfortable on the bench across from me. He was very tall and super slender. It was clear he and Jayden’s mother were related. Stephen’s features were simply...larger: large nose, large eyes, large lips. He had the features of a giant, and a full but nicely trimmed beard that was totally unfitting for summer.
“I fancy him, as well,” I shot back. It seemed Jayden had either had a talk with his family on what to say to me first, or they were really shocked at his affection for me. Either way, I was happy.
“Whatever you’re doing, it’s working. I’ve never seen that boy so determined.” I shook my head in a bashful ‘no,’ denying credit with a mouthful of tea.
“I think it has more to do with him wanting to partner up with you,” I said excitedly.
“Partner up?” He gave me an ‘are you serious’ look. “With Jayden? That’s a laugh.” I froze. I’d started the conversation and clearly it wasn’t my place to mention it. I backtracked quickly.
“Sorry, I must have misunderstood.”
Stephen looked at me suspiciously. “No, I know full well what you are talking about. The fact is the boy’s almost bankrupted me twice in worker’s comp claims.”
“I’m sorry, I don’t follow.” Uncomfortable wasn’t a strong enough word to explain what I was feeling. Our conversation had gone from pleasant to really bad in a matter of seconds. I saw contempt in his eyes when he spoke next.
“That boy has cost me more than he’s made me with his careless mistakes. As much as he’s hurt himself in that last few years, it’s a wonder my doors are still open.”
“But he loves—”
Stephen cut me off with his hand. “Oh, he’s amazing at what he does. And don’t get me wrong, I love that boy like my own. But he hurts himself far too often to take the lead.”
“I shouldn’t have mentioned this. It’s my mistake.” Praying he would get the hint, I stood to grab the corn to take it into his mother.
“I don’t know how he expects me to take him seriously when as hard as he works, everything’s obliterated with his fuck ups.”
“Please don’t speak ill of Jayden in front of me,” I said sharply. “He very much loves his job and has nothing but respect for you. I spoke out of turn, I apologize, but I won’t stand here and listen to you tell me what he can’t do.” I grabbed the corn off the table and walked toward the door as Jayden popped his head out. His mother passed him, grabbing the tray from me from the porch stairs. Jayden pulled me up to meet him on the top step. I felt the unease of my confrontation with his uncle disappear when he cupped my face right in front of his mother and addressed his uncle.
“Unc, have you ever seen a woman so beautiful in your entire life? Because I haven’t.” He searched my eyes and found what he was looking for before leaning in and placing the softest kiss on my lips.
“I believe you have found the one for you, son,” he answered. I didn’t care if the compliment was genuine or not. All I cared about were the blue eyes of the man who held my heart. Jayden pulled me into a hug and over his shoulder I saw his mother dab her eyes before walking back into the house.
After a southern feast of grilled chicken and corn (grilled corn being my new obsession), homemade mac-n-cheese, and potato salad, the guys sat in Mallory’s living room while we sat at the kitchen table swapping recipes for dirt.
“Here’s the mac-n-cheese,” she said, handing me the card straight from her recipe box. I took it with greedy hands as she browsed through, pulling out cards. Her house was small but warm and inviting. Her decorations were outdated, but it did nothing to take away its sweet appeal. It was well lived in and it gave away a lot. I could picture where they put their a
“Sorry,” I apologized as I looked at the wall of photos behind her kitchen table. Jayden’s first birthday, Jayden’s first baseball trophy, Jayden’s prom. It was all there, his whole life displayed on a wall.
“I asked if you have family here in South Carolina.”
Wrinkling my nose, I answered, “Too much family, if you ask me. I have three sisters and a brother. I thank the Lord every day we are spread so far apart. We get together once or twice a month for brunch.”
“Big family, that’s refreshing.” I stopped my survey of the wall to look at her.
“It’s great, really. I love them. We are dysfunctionally functional. My father was the sanest of us, but passed last fall. I hate that my mother’s alone.”
“I’m sorry about your father,” she remarked sincerely, finding a new recipe and handing it to me.
“So am I,” I said mournfully. Pushing back the tug in my chest, I spoke up. “I better start writing these down,” I piped, grabbing the stack that was building.
She grabbed my hand and I froze. “No, baby, see I have most of them here,” she said, pointing to her temple, “but it’ll give me a good excuse to call you.”
“Ah,” I said with a chuckle. “Well, honestly, you can do that whenever you want to, but I’ll be taking these for good measure.” We gave each other a knowing grin.
“Jay-bird, darlin’, I really like this one. Don’t piss her off,” Mallory said as we kept our grins.
“Yeah, don’t piss me off,” I agreed as she let go of my hand.
“He can be intense, hard to handle, but he’s worth it, Hilary.”
“I know,” I whispered, suddenly feeling like talking about him was wrong.