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Calculating to a fault.
“Dexter, you heard the lady. Eat,” I hiss playfully, taking a nice big bite of my cake.
Yum.
Nana knows just how to make it melt in your mouth like a good piece of fudge. Call it my inner basic bitch, but this is my favorite dessert of hers ever.
On my next bite, Dexter joins me, slicing into the donut.
To his credit, he does an amazing job of keeping pure disgust off his face, but he hasn’t looked this tense since I saw him with Forrest Haute.
“The chocolate cake is my favorite,” I say, nabbing another forkful off his plate to be a good sport. He should thank me later—it’s easily the sweetest thing on there. I totally deserve a pay raise for this.
“You’ve always been a chocoholic.” Nana beams at me.
“Only because you make the best, even the really dark stuff like the cocoa truffles you made last Christmas. It’s usually too bitter, but yours is just right, Nana.”
“Yeah. Just right,” Dexter manages, swallowing a mouthful of pure fudge without chewing.
I hide a grin.
Bet he wishes he didn’t compliment the food so much earlier now.
“So tell me,” Nana says, clasping her hands together and looking at Dexter. “What are your plans for my granddaughter?”
I almost spit out my cake.
“Nana! You can’t be so direct,” I whisper.
“You can and you will when you’re this old, hon. You’ll understand some day. After seventy years, a person gets awfully sick of beating around the bush.”
Oh my God, this is it.
The end of me.
I’m also getting horrible flashbacks of the time she dropped the same question on Liam and he gave her an answer that haunts me to this day.
Why, I wanna marry her, Jo. Isn’t it obvious?
If Dexter tells her he wants to marry me, I will die.
Like this will become a 9-1-1 emergency.
Also, I can’t bear to see Nana’s hopes destroyed again.
To endure the ugly whispers from my cousins a second time, the sad sympathetic looks when it’s all over, the smiling assurances that ‘someday you’ll find your man’ that are supposed to be kind but just come off as annoying.
Dexter frowns at me, just slightly, the tips of his brows pulling together. The expression is echoed in his eyes.
I don’t dare shake my head. Not when Nana’s watching like he’s holding the key to the universe. I’m frozen inside.
“Well,” he says slowly, still looking at me, “Junie’s pretty special, huh?”
Please, I beg, wishing I could beam my thoughts into his head.Please don’t mention getting married.
“We’re coming up on six months together,” he continues, glancing back at Nana as he drapes his arm over the back of my chair. “You’re a lovely lady, Jo, and I can’t be anything but straight with you. We haven’t made any big plans for the future yet. There’s a good chance that’s coming someday, but we’re focused on today. And right now, we love spending time together. Right, Junie?”
“R-right,” I sputter breathlessly.
