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Me, on the other hand, if there was a guy I liked? I let him know. Life was short, and orgasms were great.
“If I ask you something, will you give me a straight answer?” “Sure.” “What’s a pepperoni roll?” “Are you fucking serious?” I gaped at him. “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Clarabell, get this man a pepperoni roll stat!”
I wanted to be just like her. She was always so smart and fun. Always had cool clothes.
Her frame was so small that it was still a surprise to me. It seemed like such a personality would need a bigger container.
“It’s not the stuff that’ll make me go blind, is it?” She snorted. “That only happened on the first couple of batches. My great-granddaddy was real sorry about it, too.” “You’re messing with me, aren’t you?” “Little bit.”
I was by no means in any position for a spring or summer fling. But this bubbly brunette with a sweet southern drawl was starting to paint pictures in my head.
She stripped off her tank top, and I swear I went deaf for a second or two.
Her nose still hooked to the right just the slightest bit from my fist. Bootleg Justice was swift and brutal when necessary.
“Jonah Bodine, thirty, currently of Jetty Beach, Washington State.
I was still pissed off and wishing they’d all grow a pair and just get over the grudges they held against our father. He was dead. He couldn’t do any more damage.
What if she only invited me to be polite? Or what if it was a group hangout kind of thing, and I’d manscaped for no reason?
“I want to spend my evening flirting with you before I spend my night fucking you.”
But I’d never been kissed the way Devlin did it. He kissed me like he had to, like I was air and he needed me to live. I liked it and was terrified by it.
I was nothing but feeling now. My thoughts were gone. My words had abandoned me. All I was was Devlin McCallister’s toy.
She was strong and delicate and wild and tame. So many contradictions wrapped in one small, sexy package.
“I’ve never seen you like this,” I admitted. She cracked one eye open and gave me a half smile. “Like what?” “Still.”
“Multiple orgasms are a thing, Cass. A beautiful, beautiful thing.” I felt exactly like I did the time I’d told my six-year-old best friend that Santa wasn’t real. I was unveiling a truth of the universe.
My old life. That’s what Scarlett had called it. When had I started thinking of it that way?
“Gran, why did you come to Bootleg?” I asked. She sighed. “It’s the realest place I’ve ever been,” she said. “It’s not some political epicenter where everyone is constantly scheming. Bootleg lets you know where you stand.
I forgot what I was doing and accidentally put the chicken in my mouth. It tasted like petrified feet.
I’m sure my neighbors are wondering why I’m sitting in my patio laughing like a loon
My father had taught me a lot of things. He’d shown me how to use every tool known to man to fix just about every problem created by man. But he’d also taught me that no matter how much I hoped or prayed or tried, I couldn’t control other people. I couldn’t make them make the choices I wanted them to. I couldn’t drag them into health and happiness. It was a painful, essential lesson.
“Could we possibly be more different?” I asked him. He tucked a strand of hair behind my ears. “I don’t know, Scarlett. I think we’ve got enough in common to outweigh those very different differences.”
The missing poster flashed into my mind. The piece of paper I’d studied thousands of times in the years since Callie vanished, willing it to give me a clue, to give us all answers. Last seen wearing denim shorts and a red cardigan sweater. I dropped the sweater as if it were a rattlesnake.
Jameson stared at me. “We’re sorry,” he announced.
I loved Scarlett Bodine. She might not know it yet, but she sure as hell loved me back.
“Just because we don’t make a permanent fit doesn’t mean that we should throw away the rest of our time together. I love being with you, Devlin. And I’m going to treasure these memories for the rest of my life. Also probably become a lesbian because no man is going to live up to you in the sack.”
“I went home to that sterile condo. I attended half a dozen luncheons and ribbon cuttings and fundraisers. It sucked. You’re the color and music and flavor in my day. And life without you isn’t worth crawling out of bed for. I want you, Scarlett. I love you, and you better get that through your thick Bodine head.”
His mouth lifted. “Why Scarlett Bodine, are you proposing marriage?” he teased. I wrinkled my nose at him. “Not yet. I promised Mama not ‘til thirty, and a Bodine doesn’t—” “Break promises,” Devlin filled in, reeling me into him.
She was my adventure and my safe place. My best friend. And I was going to spend the rest of my life loving the hell out of her.
