I didn’t have a chance to respond before she grabbed my hand and started to pull me through the crowd toward the doors we’d come through. We were just about to them when a couple drifted in, finally making their appearance.
I broke to a stop, unsure what to do next. Then I noticed Lily’s hair was more rumpled on one side, her cheeks were still flushed, and I knew exactly what to do.
I WAS REALLY not going to catch a break during this pregnancy. The thought of Colt Mason being with his oldest sister about made steam plume from Jesse’s ears, so getting to see them in real life—holding hands and wearing expressions just guilty enough to give away that they’d been making out—made him look like he was about to go nuclear.
When he’d broken to a stop after following me so willingly to whatever quiet, somewhat comfortable place I could find for us before I went nuclear due to lack of sexual anything, I’d tried tugging him forward. Then I tried pulling his wrist as I really dug my feet into the ground. I might as well have been trying to move the Great Wall of China. Jesse wasn’t going anywhere.
“Maybe we should go say hi?” I suggested after giving the move-the-fortress thing one more try.
Jesse’s reply was his expression darkening two more shades.
“Okay, maybe the mature one should go say hi,” I mumbled as I started in Colt and Lily’s direction.
“Rowen . . .” he called, not quite an order but several degrees much too authoritative for my “I am woman, hear me roar and hyphenate my last name” liking.
“Jesse,” I replied, hoping he heard the annoyed tone and caught it in my expression when I glanced back at him.
I wasn’t just annoyed that my schemes for taking advantage of my husband had been foiled; I was also annoyed by his immature approach to Lily dating Colt. Jesse was typically chill and took a “live and let live” approach to those around him. It seemed, however, that whole “do what’s right for you” methodology had a caveat—his sister dating a Mason.
I might not have punched my own personal stamp of ideal on Colt and Lily, but it didn’t matter what I thought about the idealism of their relationship. At the moment, for the last few months of moments, both of them had obviously been in agreement that their relationship was more than ideal, and that was what mattered. I wanted Jesse to back down and remember what would have happened to us if we had listened to people’s opinions on the idealism of our relationship at first. We never would have made it past day one, let alone gotten married.
I kept moving toward Colt and Lily. When they’d noticed me coming their way, they both smiled and started to close the gap between us, though I couldn’t help noticing that every few steps, one of them would throw a hesitant glance over my shoulder at where I guessed Jesse was still fuming-meets-sulking.
Most of the time, I reminded myself why Jesse got so worked up about Lily’s beau: he loved Lily and wanted the best for her. In his opinion, Colt Mason wasn’t the best for her. In my opinion, I doubted that any man would be what Jesse considered best for his sister. The same would hold true when Hyacinth and Clementine got to this stage. Actually, it would probably be worse since Lily was the calm, rational Walker sister, though if I were to ask Jesse, I knew he’d say she wasn’t being rational in her choice of boyfriends.
I might not have been an objective party, but I felt I could at least be fair. Yes, Colt was older than Lily and maybe a bit too “California” for my country through-and-through husband’s likes, but he was a good person, took such good care of her, and looked at her like idolizing her was his religion. That he’d stuck with her even after Jesse had made his disapproval of their relationship so well known I half-expected an article to be printed in the local paper about it said a lot about the feelings Colt had developed for her in a short amount of time.
Oh yeah, and there was the whole thing about Lily liking Colt and Colt liking Lily. They’d chosen each other, and for me, that was enough. It wasn’t enough for my brooding husband though.
The closer I got to Colt and Lily, the more I felt Jesse’s irritation rolling off of him. It didn’t stop me though. If he wanted to continue making his stance on his sister’s boyfriend evident, that was his prerogative. My prerogative was a tad different.
“Hey, you guys,” I greeted when we were within a few feet of each other. “Nice of you two to finally show up all shifty-eyed with mussed tresses.” I ran my fingers through the side of Lily’s hair. It was such blaring piece of evidence of what they’d been doing, I came close to blushing as I untangled the knots. “Mirror. Brush.” I finished smoothing the last tangles. “Check it and use it next time.”
Colt shifted beside Lily while she averted her eyes from my pointed stare.
“How have you guys been?” I asked as I gave Lily a hug. She gave firmer hugs now. I didn’t know why I noticed, because it seemed like a small thing, but ever since she started dating Colt, she embraced people with a bit more purpose. “Besides all tangled up around each other in Colt’s truck?”
When I bounced my eyebrows, Colt shifted again. Lily didn’t shift though; she rolled her eyes. Go figure the guy who’d convinced an entire town he’d made ego his bitch was the one shifting in place, while the girl who’d made an art out of blending in with the walls was the one rolling her eyes.
“We’re great,” Lily answered, her eyes lowering to my stomach once they were done revolving. “How are you doing?”