“Hmm,” his mother said. And that was it. He hated when she did that.
But they all started to eat and the conversation stopped. “So I met Adriana Lopez today.”
“You did?” his mother asked, barely lifting her head. More like she did it to grab her drink. “She’s a nice young lady, isn’t she?”
“I suppose. We sat together at lunch and she didn’t have much to say to me. I get the feeling she didn’t care for me too much and I’m not sure why. I didn’t realize she hadn’t gotten my last name during the surgery. It wasn’t until someone called me by my last name that she realized who I was. She brought up her stepmother.”
“Did you tell her I asked you to show her around if you saw her?” his mother asked.
“I did. She acted more put out over that, but she did soften a little bit when she found out who I was.”
He got the feeling Adriana was someone to stand on her own two feet and not want to ask anything from anyone.
“Well, you acted all put out when I asked you a month ago. Why was that?”
“I did?” he asked. “I don’t remember. Maybe I was having a bad day.”
“Could be,” his mother said. “I found it strange. You’ve always been willing to introduce yourself and talk to someone. I couldn’t figure out why you gave me such a hard time about it when I asked.”
“No clue,” he said. “If I knew she looked like that I sure the hell wouldn’t have. What’s her deal?”
“Deal?” his mother asked, going back to her dinner like they were talking about what color paint to change in the kitchen. She sure was acting odd for some reason.
“You said she moved here and didn’t know anyone, right?”
“I might have. I can’t remember because I was too annoyed over your attitude that day on the phone.”
He narrowed his eyes at her. She was playing with him now. Everyone always wanted to know where he got his joking nature from, but he was positive it was his mother!
“Fine. I’m sorry if I was annoyed that day. I can’t even remember it. You said she moved here, do you know why?”
“I thought I mentioned it on the call, but again, you couldn’t be bothered.”
His father started to laugh. “You do know you shouldn’t mess with your mother, right?”
“Yeah,” he said. “Fine. Doesn’t matter. We had lunch and barely said a word and then she left. I got the feeling she’ll avoid me anyway so not a big deal.”
But it was because it drove him insane when someone wouldn’t talk to him and he had no idea why.
If he knew the reason he could let it go. But they’d just met. He knew he didn’t say anything to offend her. So why was she so cold to him?
“I don’t know much other than she had a bad breakup and wanted a fresh start.”
“She’s from San Diego, right?” he asked.
“I believe San Diego.”
He nodded his head and decided to let it drop. He wasn’t in the mood to be led around by the carrot from his mother tonight.
* * *
“That was horrible of you, Carolyn,” Garrett said.
“I know. I can’t help myself. Sometimes Wyatt deserves it for all the things he did as a kid to get attention.” She’d never be able to count the times Wyatt rearranged things in her kitchen, hid shoes on her, ate desserts she was baking for someone else. He did half those things before he was even five. She knew she was in trouble then.
If he wasn’t so darn cute when he did it and so loving and sincere about wanting to make people laugh, she might have grounded him more than she did.
But after a while she’d come to expect it from him.
“That’s true. He was almost squirming in the chair over your blasé attitude regarding Adriana.”
“I couldn’t very well get excited over it. Then he’d think something was up. This way, he just thought I was playing with him like he does us so much.”
Her husband shook his head. “You two are too much alike.”
“Not quite,” she said back. “So what do you think happened today between them?”
Garrett laughed. “By the sounds of it, not much.”
“Which would completely annoy Wyatt. He’s too used to the women fawning over him. She isn’t going to do that. She’s going to make him work for it.”
“If she is even interested. I get the feeling she wasn’t in the least.”
“She will be. She’s had a rough couple of months. She’s all straight laced and serious right now and needs a little bit of excitement in her life. Maggie always talked about how active Adriana was. How she was never alone and always with friends. She’d never sit and read a book or color when she was younger. She couldn’t sit still.”
“Sounds like someone else we know,” Garrett said.
“Exactly. There is no opposite with Wyatt. He needs someone to settle down with that is a lot like him but not so much like him that she won’t give him crap over things too. He isn’t going to be able to get away with too much with her.”
“We’ll see how it works. We’ve got two down right now. We’re on a roll. One for me with Drake and one for you with Noah.”
“I’m going to get a second with this one,” she said proudly. “You just watch. Then I’m going to find someone for Jade. It’ll be three to one when we are done.”
“I didn’t know this was a competition,” Garrett said, walking up to her and pulling her into his arms. “I think I like this side of you.”
“What other side of me do you like?”
