Page 105 of Shame the Devil

Jennifer said,“Thankyou,” like she’d been holding her breath.

Dyma said, “I don’t know why you guys are always making such a big deal of this. Who’s pregnant, exactly? Oh, wait, that’s you. Anyway, Owen won’t. He keeps saying he doesn’t sleep with high-school girls.”

Dakota said, “Wait. Which Owen are we talking about?”

“Owen Johnson,” Blake said.

“Thecenter?”

“What, I didn’t tell you?” Blake said.

“Well, no,” she said. “You didn’t. That’s quite the detail to omit.”

“Never mind,” he said. “You can take it out of my hide later.”

Jennifer said, “Wait. Grandpa.”

Oscar said, “What about me?”

Jennifer looked at Harlan, and he sighed and said, “Of course your grandpa’s welcome to come, too. Dyma can stay in the big house. The guest quarters have two bedrooms, like I said.”

“What, I’m going to go live with this guy?” Oscar said. “No, thanks.”

“But you’ll be alone,” Jennifer said.

“How do you know?” Oscar said. “Maybe I’ll finally get Elaine Marks over at my place, sampling my meatloaf, if there aren’t so many people around all the time.”

“Ugh,” Dyma said.“Grandpa.”

“What?” he said. “I meant meatloaf.”

“No, you didn’t,” Dyma said. “That’s just gross.”

“Are you sure?” Jennifer asked him. “I know we’ve talked about it, but won’t that feel awfully lonely, if we’re both gone?”

He snorted. “Of course I’m sure. I’ve lived in Wild Horse my whole life. My favorite coffee shop’s here. My best fishing spots are here. My friends are here, too, at least the ones who aren’t dead yet.”

“You sound like Russell,” Dakota said.

“Russell’s all right,” Oscar said. “Course, he’s a Mariners fan, but you can’t hold a guy’s bad judgment against him. See, I could watch some sports with Russell, if there weren’t all these women talking all the time.”

“Careful,” Dyma said. “You just lost Elaine Marks and the meatloaf-sampling.”

Oscar said, “This doesn’t matter anyway.” He looked at Harlan from under his eyebrows. “So what you’re telling me is, you’re going to take care of Jennifer and Dyma.”

“Yes, sir,” Harlan said. “I sure am.”

“He doesn’t have to—” Jennifer started to say.

“Yeah,” Harlan said. “I do. That’s my part of it, don’t you get it?”

Jennifer said, “We’re friends. That’s it.”

“I heard you the first time,” he said. It was hard to feel warm and loving when a woman was giving you that squinty-eyed look, not to mention when your proposal had caused her to burst into tears, and not in a good way.

“Good,” Jennifer said. “Then I guess … we’re doing that.” She blew out a long breath. “Moving to Portland.”

“Good,” Harlan said. “And can I just say … I’ve never negotiated so hard in my life. I feel like I needed my agent.” He was smiling. Why? He hadn’t gotten what he wanted. Nowhere close. He’d just promised to be friends. Who the hell wanted to befriends?Not to mention her big, strong new boyfriend.