Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 146392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 146392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
His mom made a gagging sound. “Don’t even put that into his head. TJ, you would do that if your family was some precious middle-class clan who’d never had to bury a body. Oh, hey, did you thank Avery for letting the kids use your backyard?”
“Not a problem. I know Big Tag is full up, and our dog is a lazy bastard. He won’t be digging our friend up. Though I did make them do it in the dead of night,” Liam replied. “Couldn’t have my sweet Daisy seeing that going on. That girl needs a bodyguard.”
They were getting off the topic. “I’m not putting space between me and Lou to save her. That feels dumb when she’s apparently perfectly capable of saving herself. But as her bodyguard, I have to have a say in her safety, and meeting a bunch of strange men isn’t safe. My aunt should know that. She shouldn’t be sending her off with random men.”
His mom moved a couple of car lengths before the light turned red again. “They aren’t random. I assure you that Charlotte wouldn’t set her up with anyone who didn’t pass a bunch of tests. This particular guy is a friend of Phoebe’s.”
“How would you know?” TJ asked.
One slender shoulder shrugged. “Who do you think does the actual vetting?”
A nasty sense of betrayal flooded his system. He sat back, letting that knowledge sink in. His mom was helping Lou find someone who wasn’t him. His mom, who had always loved Lou, who told him on so many occasions that he would regret not taking a chance with Lou. He knew he’d screwed up.
Still, he’d thought his mom would be on his side.
“What’d you find this time?” Liam asked.
“He’s allergic to dogs,” his mom replied.
The light changed and his mom moved through, taking them closer to the small café where Lou was meeting a dude who couldn’t be around dogs.
Lou loved dogs. Like was obsessed with them. All animals, really.
His mom loved him. “Aunt Charlotte doesn’t know that?”
“I don’t think it came up. He’s successful and looks good on paper, but there’s zero way our Lou doesn’t have a bunch of dogs in her future. I also vet her online matches. Dennis Sims seems good on paper but he’s still a frat bro, and that will come out at some point, and Lou is never going to be with a man who could have done that to her when she was a kid. Tell Kala I was proud of how she handled that.” She stopped the car in front of the café and turned his way, her lips curling up in a satisfied smile. “I know everything. Everything, son. My intelligence work trained me for motherhood in a way you can’t imagine. And if Devi thinks I don’t know how her car got that dent last week, she hasn’t been paying attention. Tried to avoid a duck? Who does she think I am? I can get into CCTV cams, child. I know she hit a fire hydrant because a hot guy ran by in shorts that would make a cheerleader blush. Duck, my ass.”
Liam’s head tilted up as though he was looking to the heavens. “I thank the lord my sweet girl isn’t all that interested in boys.”
He saw his mom’s eyes roll in the rearview, but she didn’t correct him.
Daisy wasn’t interested in boys. She was a maneater.
Which didn’t matter. He breathed a sigh of relief. “So you’re not trying to find a nice guy for Lou?”
“Lou has a nice guy.” She reached back and rumpled his hair like she used to do when he was a kid. “You should understand that I was planning on having a long conversation with you when you came home this time around. I was going to give you a month tops and then I was going all in because you can’t keep her in limbo, baby.”
Liam went back to his paper. “She’s telling you the truth, son. Your mother’s been planning this conversation. I’ve listened to it about a hundred times now. She’s about to talk about how Lou deserves better.”
His mom nodded. “Lou deserves better. And I happen to agree with you about timing. I don’t think it would have been a good idea for you to follow her. I think you should have gone to college, but getting a minimum wage job and hanging out with your genius girlfriend wouldn’t have served either of you. But it’s time and you know it. So I’ll be selfish because I want Lou as my daughter-in-law. She’s good for you. You have to prove you can be good for her, and that starts with not walking in and making an ass of yourself. Go in there and do the busy work Zach assigned to keep you out of his hair, and you do it with a smile on your face.”