10.2
“Thanks, Adriano!” Annie squeals, already across the living room and heading for the front door with her phone in her hand. She flings open the front door, nearly bowling over Nathaniel’s dad Paul. She gives him a one-armed hug, her phone pressed to her ear.
“Where are you off to, girl?” Paul asks.
“Europe!” she exclaims before bouncing out the door.
Paul raises his eyebrows and shakes his head, slipping off his work boots. He’s still in his coveralls from the shop, grease slicks down his tattooed forearms. When he makes it into the kitchen, he heads straight for Bess, the way he always does.
Bess laughs as he half-slips an arm around her waist, swatting him away playfully. “Get your grubby hands off me. Go wash up.”
“You’re lucky I don’t leave a grease-stained handprint on your ass, woman.”
Bess gasps in mock surprise and hits him with a dishtowel. “Paul Ashby, what’s gotten into you?”
Paul turns to me. “Your sister’s going to Europe with pink hair?"
I shrug. “She’s twenty-one now. It’s not like I can argue with her. She wanted to go for two months with her friends.”
Paul shakes his head, sighing exaggeratedly. “You kids," he says. He looks across the room at Nathaniel. "What are you doing over there ignoring everyone?"
"I was going to say hi, but you didn't let me get a word in edgewise," Nathaniel says.
"These two are fighting about something," Bess says, giving Paul a look.
"No one's fighting about anything," Nathaniel roars.
Bess raises her eyebrows. "Uh-huh."
"Oh, Lord." Paul rolls his eyes. "Don't break anything."
"We're not going to get injured," I assure him.
"I wasn't worried about you two. I was worried about my furniture."
"Thanks for the concern, dad," Nathaniel calls as his father heads off to clean up.
Paul and Bess are fixtures in West Bend, Colorado. They were born and raised here, and Paul has been running the only auto repair shop around for thirty miles since
he finished his enlistment in the Navy when he was twenty-two. Nathaniel was supposed to follow in his footsteps and take over the family business, but it was pretty clear mid-way through high school, after the football team won our second state championship and Nathaniel and I were identified as rising stars, that Nathaniel wasn't heading in the same direction as his father. Luckily, his sister Denise turned out to have a knack for auto repair and was perfectly happy taking the mantle – not that Paul is ever going to stop working. The man will probably keep working until he keels over.
"Where's Denise?" I ask.
"She and Ed had to drive over to Gunnison for an OB appointment. They're all nervous because this is their first baby. Wanted to get some fancy OB doctor over there instead of Dr. Allen, even though Dr. Allen's been delivering babies for the last thirty years. Delivered both of you and you turned out just fine." She shakes her head and makes a tsk-tsk sound before she gets distracted by the image of the President and First Lady on the television in the living room.
"You know, he came through Denver last week," Bess says, nodding toward the television where a video clip plays of the First Couple waving to a crowd at some kind of political event. "I'm voting for the other guy. I've never much cared for either of them. I've always thought he was just kind of smug. I know people say she's so fashionable and all, but she's always seemed off to me. Cold."
Nathaniel grunts. "Exactly."
"Nathaniel met him," I tell her.
"The President?? Nathaniel Ashby, you're lying here on the sofa like nothing's going on, when you met the President of the United States?"
"I thought you didn't care for him," Nathaniel says.
"That doesn't mean I don't want to hear about it!” Bess exclaims. "I swear, the two of you with your celebrity lives, do you think us mere mortals don't want to know who you're hobnobbing with?"
"It's not a big deal," Nathaniel grumbles.
"We're working with his daughter on a charity thing," I say, unable to resist riling Nathaniel up since he's had such an attitude problem when it comes to this. I guess I'm not all pissed off - because I'm confident in my ability to land Georgina myself. "Nathaniel donated his ranch."
"Yeah, and Adriano decided he was suddenly all about charity," Nathaniel adds.
"I've always been about charity. What do you think hanging around your sullen ass is, if it's not charity?"
"Maybe you should take your charitable ass and get it out of my house," Nathaniel suggests, his tone biting. "Leave my neighbors alone."
"I think your neighbor is fine with my not leaving her alone."
"Enough," Bess interrupts. "Are you both arguing over some girl?"
"Not just some girl," I say.
Paul walks into the room. "The two of you can work out your crap somewhere else," he booms. "We got more important things to talk about here – like what smells so good in the kitchen, Bess?"
