Avoiding her mom’s quizzical gaze, JC fidgeted with the pan, spreading the eggs evenly over the nonstick surface. “Sorry about the…umm…mess this morning. I wasn’t expecting you to come home.” Heat climbed up JC’s neck and color spread to her face. A small grin bubbled over into a wide, beaming smile. “He’s from Texas.”
Tess kept her gaze on the omelets, lifting the edges with the spatula, allowing the uncooked egg to run underneath. “You said that already.”
JC playfully bumped her hip. “He’s really, really nice, Momma.”
She bit back a smile. “Grab two plates. Let’s go save your boyfriend before Tom straps him to a polygraph and asks him for his social security number.”
Entering into the dining room, JC took the chair beside Reed at the long rectangle table.
“Thank you. This looks delicious. Do you have any ketchup?”
“Ketchup? On your eggs?”
“Oh, yeah, that’s the best.”
JC retrieved the ketchup from the fridge. She could practically see the scowl on Tom’s face when he asked Reed if that was a Texan tradition. After drizzling his omelet with ketchup, he held a forkful to his lips and blew gently. Sounds of appreciation rumbled from his throat. JC poured herself a cup of coffee and refilled Reed’s before plunking a strawberry into her mouth and digging into her breakfast.
“So?” Tess asked, settling back into her chair, “how did you two meet?”
“We met at Mom’s,” Reed affirmed weakly with a slight cough to clear his throat. Briefly, he glanced across the table at Tom and Tess.
The pool encompassed her view beyond Tess and Tom. JC chortled and her eyes dropped to her plate as she reached under the table to grip Reed’s thigh. Her chewing slowed to a crawl. When she found the courage to raise her gaze, both parents stared at her skeptically for verification. The weighted energy in the room caused the hair on her arms to rise and she nervously gnawed on her lip.
Tess had the uncanny ability to know precisely when someone wasn’t telling the truth. The burning speculative stare from her mother bore down on Reed. And if that wasn’t bad enough, Tom could read his wife like his favorite book and knew the precise moment she questioned someone’s truth.
JC swallowed her bite of food and swore under her breath. Her fingers squeezed tightly, constricting Reed’s thigh in a death grip.
Tom folded his arms across his chest. “Really? Mom’s huh?” He stared at Reed in a way that made her want to duck from the daggers zinging past Reed’s head.
“Hmmm.” Tess narrowed her brows in concern.
Reed’s body language stiffened and he shot JC a sideways glance, pulling one shoulder into a shrug, clearly looking for some assistance.
With an eye roll and a slow methodical shake of the head, JC tucked her long caramel hair behind her ear. “Oh for crying out loud.”
She leaned in closer to Reed. “They know you’re lying. Big rule breaker. No lying. Just tell them the truth.”
Reed turned slowly, giving JC a Hell no, I’m not telling your parents that story glare of terror.
“Is there no limit to your intuition, Momma? No privacy?” JC groaned. “I can’t even keep one tiny speck of a secret?”
Tess raised her hands innocently while satisfaction twinkled in her eyes.
“Fine.” JC rested her wrists on the table beside her plate. “I went skinny dipping in the middle of the night, because I couldn’t sleep and I caught Reed...already skinny dipping in the pool.”
Silence.
Tess and Tom sat rendered speechless with mouths wide open and blinking eyes. Whatever they’d expected to hear, this wasn’t it.
Reed swallowed hard and gave a respectful nod toward her parents. “I apologize for trespassing.” Smiling a little, he arched a brow at JC. “But we did actually meet at Mom’s.”
Silence.
Tom’s mouth pressed into a tight line. A muscle flinched in his jaw and his hand balled into a fist on the table.
Tess’s soft laughter broke the strained hush.
“It’s a long story,” JC said, trying to ease the pressure building on Tom’s face threatening to blow like Mt. St. Helens.
“Well, thankfully we have all day,” Tess assured. One slender brow arched in amusement as she stood from her chair, kissing Tom’s cheek and whispering in his ear.
JC stared in bemusement, watching in wonder as Tom’s demeanor softened right before her eyes. With every stroke from of her mom’s hand across his shoulders, the tension that lay furrowed on his forehead diminished. How does she do that?
With one kiss and a few quick words of reassurance, her mother had the ability to alleviate Tom’s angry overprotective father syndrome. With Tom’s coloring returning to normal, JC continued candidly, “Codge knows Reed. They’re friends.”