“Mr. Nolan!” Michael started to open the door.
“What’s left on that timer, pal?”
The door slapped shut again and he sighed. “Five minutes.”
“Scram!”
He blew out a sigh. “Come with me, Mr. Nolan! You can see my Nerf gun.”
Nolan grabbed two beers from the island. “I’m pretty good with a Nerf gun. You sure you want to do that?”
My stomach flipped at the change of his gruff voice for the little boy.
“Yeah!” Michael practically vibrated on the porch. “I have a bulze set up.”
Nolan shot a look at Macy.
“He means target with a bullseye.”
“Oh, got it.”
“That’s what I said!” Michael said, full of all the exasperation a five-year-old could muster.
Nolan grinned and his face transformed from the gruff and staid to one with a hint of pure joy. Not all the way, but definitely more than I’d ever seen. “Prepare to be trounced, little man.”
He glanced over his shoulder at me before following the happy chatter of his nephew.
Once he left, Macy leaned on the kitchen island and gave me a long look. “You banging my brother?”
I choked on the sip of Firefly.
“That’s a yes.” She picked up the water bottle and took a long sip.
I set my bottle down and pressed my lips together. “I…”
“It’s fairly obvious.”
“I was…doing that.”
“You can say it. Obviously, I still do it.” She patted her flat middle. “Soon it’ll be...” She made a big curve as if she was super pregnant. “Damn giant of a husband.”
I blew out a breath. “Okay, first of all, why didn’t you tell me you had a brother?”
“Long story. Mostly family shit. I used to go out with his best friend.”
“Oh, well, crap.” And here I was, not exactly going out with my friend’s brother, but I was definitely, kind of, sort of involved. At least I had been.
“Yeah, got a bit sticky. Especially since his best friend ended up being a shit.”
I played with the tail of my braid. “We only hooked up a few times.”
“A few times?” Macy drank deeply from her straw. “I don’t want to know details, thanks.”
“Good, because no way.”
We both laughed.
“But we…” Hell, I didn’t know what we were. “We just fight. And then he pisses me off and we rinse and repeat. I’m tired of it.”
“Hmm.”
“What?”
“Nothing.” She took another long drink and the echo of her hitting the bottom of the cup was the only sound in the room.
“I just need to focus on the house and getting the build done.”
“Sure.” Macy went to the fridge and refilled from the water dispenser on the door.
“We can work together. It’ll be fine.”
“If you say so.”
“I do.” I drained the last of my bottle. “Now what do you need help with?”
“We’ll let the men do the meat thing. Everything else is done. Let’s let them wait on us for once.”
I grabbed another Firefly. “I’m good with that.”
