Neil shot Blair a look of dismay, then turned his attention to Aunt Debra. “Mother, I think you should get something else.”
She gave him a pointed glare. “Why?”
Neil shook his head. “Never mind.”
While they waited for their drinks, they all sat stewing in uncomfortable silence. Aunt Debra was fuming, and Uncle Gene was sneaking sips of his second bottle of beer behind his menu. Neil was outright surly, his shoulders tense as he tried to decide whom to shoot angry looks at, Garrett or Blair. Even the always-in-control Blair seemed slightly off kilter now that the dust had settled. Garrett didn’t regret throwing down the gauntlet with the ring, but in hindsight, he should have waited until later to do it. He didn’t want to cause Blair any additional stress. Since he was the one who’d stirred up this round of conflict, it was on him to make it more bearable.
The waiter brought their drinks and took their food orders, then hurried away. Not that Garrett could blame him after the way Aunt Debra had quizzed him about the various barbeque sauces, wanting to know which ingredients were in each. Thank God she hadn’t been so inquisitive about her lemonade.
Blair had started to drink in earnest while Debra gave the waiter the third degree, and her hard lemonade was half gone by the time he scurried off. His aunt eyed her with disapproval. “Really, Blair. That’s so unladylike.” But she then took a sip of her own drink.
Neil’s attention was glued to his mother, and Garrett waited for her reaction. Blair bit her lower lip.
“This is delicious.” Aunt Debra took another sip, then glared at Garrett. “Why did you tell me it was bitter? It’s actually very sweet and quite refreshing on a hot day.”
“My mistake,” Garrett murmured, lifting his beer bottle to his lips. “I must have confused this place with another one.”
His aunt took another long drink and turned to his uncle. “We should see about having some of this at the rehearsal dinner barbeque.”
“Rehearsal dinner barbeque?” Garrett asked, trying to keep a straight face.
Blair’s brow lowered. “It’s a western theme.”
Garrett fought to keep from laughing. Blair was hosting a western-themed dinner? “Will there be square dancing?”
Blair’s eyes narrowed. “No.”
His aunt’s mouth pinched with irritation. “As you can see, Blair put her foot down.”
“Come on, Blair,” Garrett teased. “Everyone loves a good do-si-do or an allemande, right?”
Blair’s eyes lit up with challenge. “You know how to square dance, Garrett?”
“Oh, you know me. I like to see the skirts flying.”
Neil pounced on his words. “How would she know that, Garrett?”
Something in his tone caught Garrett off guard. It was almost as if he knew about their past together and was challenging Garrett to admit to it. And he wanted to. But Blair’s eyes were wild with panic, so he vowed to himself that he would keep quiet about it, at least for now. He’d stirred up enough trouble for the moment. “Oh, just something from the deposition, right, Blair?”
She looked torn. It was a lie, and she hated lies, preferring omission as her word-weapon of choice. So she gave him a haughty look and took another drink of her lemonade.
Garrett needed to steer the conversation away from Blair. “Neil, Mom tells me that you’re a doctor here in town.”
Neil studied him for several seconds as if gauging whether he was serious. “I work at St. Luke’s in infectious disease.”
“So do you spend more time in the hospital or in an office?”
Neil’s eyes narrowed. “You just laid claim to my fiancée’s ring and now you want to make polite conversation?”
His cousin only had it half right, but then he’d always been an idiot. Garrett had no idea how the guy had managed to fumble his way through medical school. “I said we’d wait for Nana Ruby to help decide. It’s about time she got involved in this anyway, don’t you think?”
“She says she doesn’t want to get involved,” Uncle Gene said. Everyone looked over at him in surprise. He wasn’t one to give his opinions. Obviously the beer had loosened his tongue.
Aunt Debra frowned. “Yes, Mother says we need to work it out ourselves.”
Garrett loved his mother, but she was one of the most stubborn women he’d ever met. His Aunt Debra was a very close second. Nana Ruby was no fool, so it was understandable why she’d tried to extricate herself from the situation.
“Is anyone going to tell me what the hell is going on with this ring?” Blair demanded, fire in her eyes.
He’d expected the question minutes ago, but the Curse Kitty and the hard lemonade must have distracted her. That, or she’d wanted to wait for her drink before dealing with the mess.
Neil shot Garrett a glare and gave her a condensed version of the story.
“Why am I just now hearing about the controversy over this damned ring?” she asked, her jaw set.
“It wasn’t something you needed to worry about, dear,” Aunt Debra said, then lifted her jar and shook it. “You owe the jar a dollar.”
Blair shot Neil an exasperated glare, then dug out a dollar before flagging down the waiter so she could order another hard lemonade.
“Give me another one too,” Debra called after him. “It’s really very good.”
Their food arrived, and Debra became more and more uninhibited. Garrett had a hard time hiding his snicker, but Neil looked worried.