Dream Maker Page 27

  And again, Sidney was reminding him of Evie because she had big eyes and was muttering, “All righty then.”

  “Now are we finished?” he asked.

  “Sure,” she said.

  “Talk to your sister,” he ordered.

  “Will do,” she replied. She then gave an airy wave and said, “Laters,” before she started heading out.

  “Later, girl,” Elvira called.

  Mag got another look from Evan’s sister, a happy one, before she walked by him.

  He then felt Mo get close.

  “What happened?” Mo asked.

  Mag looked to Mo.

  “Evan was offered academic scholarships. And she’s stripping.”

  Mo’s lips tightened.

  “Yeah,” Mag grunted.

  “Keep on,” Mo grunted back.

  “I got no choice, worse, neither does she.”

  “Just to say, my desktop at home is givin’ me fits,” Elvira put in.

  Mag cut his gaze to hers. “Call Computer Raiders and request Evie.”

  She was smiling broadly when she replied, “Will do.”

  “You good?” Mo asked Mag.

  But it was Elvira who spoke.

  “I’m inviting that sister of Evan’s out for a cosmo,” she declared.

  Mo looked over his shoulder at Elvira then back to Mag.

  “You’re good,” he said.

  Then he strode out of the office.

  “Mag,” Elvira called.

  “What?” Mag answered, his attention still on his friend’s departing back.

  “Boy, look at me.”

  He looked at her.

  “It isn’t right, and it isn’t good, how it came about, but since it did, you got an opportunity to do something normally you would not. That is, help your girl to be all she’s meant to be. And Mag, as much as it sucks she got delayed in her path to that, and how, if you give her that, you’ll always be the one who gave it to her. That’s a beautiful thing. And if she’s as smart as everyone says she is, she’s not gonna miss it.”

  Hawk could go guru because he was good at it.

  With work shit.

  Elvira could do it because, as she’d just demonstrated, she was good at it too.

  With life shit.

  “Thanks, Vira,” he muttered.

  She gave him a scrunched-nose smile.

  And with nothing for it, Mag got back to work.

  Evie was sitting next to him in his truck, giggling.

  He was surprised about this because, not five minutes ago, both of them were standing outside his truck, bickering.

  She did not like that he was driving with his arm in a sling.

  He did not allow anyone to drive his truck but him and there was no way in hell his ass was going to be in a Prius unless he was unconscious or so weak from loss of blood, he didn’t have it in him to fight it.

  When he’d shared these things, the last bit got her ass in his truck.

  And now she was giggling.

  “What’s funny?” he asked.

  “You came home early to make Gert chocolate chip cookies,” she answered, still laughing.

  “I told you I was gonna win her over,” he reminded her.

  “Bribing her with cookies is the way to go,” she replied. “Especially your cookies. I didn’t decimate them like you did the clusters, but I nabbed one and you’re right. You kick chocolate chip ass.”

  He was glad she thought that, because, “Babe, there’s a dozen left at home, all for you.”

  That got him nothing.

  He glanced her way and saw he was wrong.

  It hadn’t gotten him nothing.

  She looked like she didn’t know whether to smile big or bust out crying.

  He decided to help her make that decision.

  “What’s my cookie bribe for you gonna get me?” he asked.

  When he glanced again, he saw she was now grinning.

  Mission accomplished.

  “You’re oversexed,” she teased.

  “Me bein’ oversexed means you’re oversexed so is that a complaint?”

  “No,” she said quickly.

  That was when he busted out laughing.

  She curled her hand around his thigh in the middle of it, and when he shot her another glance, he saw her grinning at him.

  Shit, fuck.

  He had that from her, and he had to do what he had to do, and for her, he had to get it out of the way.

  So, he set about doing that.

  “Right, one piece of bad news and two pieces of interesting news.”

  “Oh boy,” she mumbled.

  “Bad news fast, Cisco was not the one who nabbed that bag out of your car. So, he’s still…whatever he is.”

  “What is he?” she asked, sounding curious.

  “A bad guy.”

  She didn’t ask any further questions about Cisco.

  Yeah, his girl was smart.

  “The interesting news is, first, your dad is doin’ what he can to make sure the people in that sphere know you got nothin’ to do with this.”

  She had no reply to that, but her hand still on his leg twitched.

  “The second bit of interesting news is your sister came to my office today and—”

  Her nails dug in through his jeans, which was one reason he stopped talking.

  The other one was her shouting, “What?”

  Her hand disappeared and he heard her digging in her purse, he knew for her phone, so he talked fast.

  “It was not a bad visit, Evan. Listen to me, I think—”

  She cut him off to say, “Hang on, honey, it’s ringing.”

  Mag sighed.

  “Yes, it’s your sister,” she snapped into the phone. “Yes.” Pause, “Yes, and I am not okay with that.” Longer pause and then, “No, he told me you…” Pause. “What? I don’t care if you approve.” No words, then, “Sidney, you can’t just walk into Danny’ place of business and—”

  There was a very long pause before she spoke again.

  “It was for your own good.”

  More silence.

  Then, exasperated, “I was trying to protect you!”

  Mag made a turn through nothing coming verbally from Evie and then she spoke again.

  “Don’t be sweet when I’m mad at you. If you have something to say, say it to me. Don’t interrupt Danny’s work.” Pause and, “I call him Danny. He’s Mag to everyone else.” Silence and then, “We can’t. Some other time. We’re having dinner with Gert.”

  Her next was quieter.

  “Yes, Gert. And yes, that means what you think it means.”

  Mag started smiling.

  “I think you knew that before you went to his office and interrupted his day,” she went on. “And no, I can’t chat about this now because we’re on our way there.” Pause, then, “No, I’m not talking and driving, and yes, I pay my insurance, so I know my driving record. Danny’s driving.” A heavy breath and then, “Tell me about it. But he refuses to ride in my Prius, and he won’t let me drive his truck.” Her voice was pitched higher when she said, “Only you would approve even more of that ridiculousness. Okay, I gotta go. ’Bye and love you.”

  Mag knew on the other end of Evie’s line that Sidney was saying she loved her sister back before he saw out of the corner of his eye Evie’s phone hand going down.

  “So, your sister approves?” he joked.

  “Shut up,” she muttered.

  He got serious and advised, “You should spend time with her, have a long talk. I think she has things to say you’d wanna hear.”

  “She’s part lunatic.” Evie was continuing with the mutters.

  “Baby, met her once and she did not hesitate to impress on me how deep her love is for you and how you worry her. I got no opinion on how she lives her life because it’s not my life and she’s not my sister. But from the little I know of her, you might be giving her a bad rap.”

  He knew she was talking to her side window when
she replied, “She wants to escape her way and I want to escape mine. It’s just that her way opens her up to being hurt by outside forces, whereas my way opened me up to the same, but by inside ones.”

  Yeah, his girl was smart.

  He didn’t have a free hand to touch her like he wanted to so he just said as gentle as he could, “Yeah.”

  “And since you heard it,” she started, “I get in a lot of bust-ups in my car. Nothing serious. I blame it on multitasking.”

  Excellent.

  Now he had an excuse always to be the one to drive when he was already always going to be the one to drive, just before, he’d have to squabble with her before he did it.

  “Then it’s good I’m driving. I’m busted up enough,” he said.

  “Shut up, Danny,” she repeated, though with a smile in her voice.

  He gave her that for a beat.

  But then he had to give her something else.

  “I had two good doses of your family today, Evie, and you made some big decisions on a day some huge shit went down. You seem cool. You seem like you’re good to just keep on keepin’ on. And that’s your MO. But in the now, you need to know that isn’t where you’re at anymore. You don’t gotta forge ahead because you have no choice. You got someone at your back. You got someone you can unload shit on. And you got someone who can help you process it. That’s me, and from what I saw today, it’s also your sister.”

  Her hand was clenching and unclenching his thigh as he spoke.

  And she did the sweetest thing she could do when he finished.

  She didn’t lavish the gratitude or try to tough it out and make him believe she was okay.

  She said, “You know, I think about it a lot, how we grew up. And I wonder what was worse. To be a nonentity, treated like she almost wasn’t even there, like Sidney. Or to be used, like me.”

  “Not sure there’s a worse in that, baby. They’re both equally bad,” he murmured.

  He knew she’d turned to face him when she asked, “Why don’t you like your sister’s fiancé?”

  “Because she ceases to exist when the NFL is in season,” he told her. “I get digging football. I dig football. But I don’t lose sight of everything but the television schedule and my fantasy football league for six months out of the year. He refuses to do anything Monday or Thursday nights and all day Sunday. I get it. Enjoy what you like. But with him, there are no exceptions. So, when a good friend of hers got married on a Thursday ’cause folks are doin’ that kind of thing ’cause it’s cheaper, she had to go alone. And she was in the fucking wedding party.”

  “Oh man,” she muttered. “That’s bad.”

  She was right.

  It was.

  And that was only one example.

  “Obviously my opinion, but my woman’s wearing a pretty dress and doin’ something that’s important, my ass is not in front of a TV. When the US beat Russia in hockey in 1980, that’s a game it’d suck to miss. But if you did, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. Thursday night football? No.”

  “Are you in a fantasy football league?” she asked.

  “Yeah,” he answered.

  “Danny?” she called.

  “Yeah?” he repeated.

  “I’ve always wanted to play Dungeons and Dragons, the top on my bucket list is going to a Comic Con and by far the best TV show I ever saw was Stranger Things.”

  “Dungeons and Dragons doesn’t seem like my gig, babe, but I’d try it if you wanted me to. Though if I don’t like it, I’ll share and bow out. I’ll take you to a Comic Con, got no problem with that. And Stranger Things is the shit.”

  “I’m not a big football fan,” she admitted.

  “I don’t care, though I am, but it isn’t my life.”

  She hesitated a beat, and her voice was quiet when she asked, “You’d try Dungeons and Dragons?”

  “I’m warning you, it’s probably not gonna be my thing. But yeah, I’ll try it.”

  She didn’t say anything for a long time.

  Then she said softly, “I think it’s going to be hard to get used to it. I’m not sure it was, like, a normal habit, just something I did. I think it was more like an addiction, something I needed. Helping them. Being that person they turned to. I got some kind of fix out of it, and in the beginning, it was a good high. Then, the more I gave, the more they took, and the high didn’t feel so good anymore. I want to say it’s already a relief, not having them in my life. But as dysfunctional as it is, instead, I already miss them.”

  “They’re your family, baby,” he whispered.

  “I need to stop being so judgey about Sid,” she muttered.

  “Yeah,” he agreed.

  They both fell silent and it also lasted a long time before she called, “Danny?”

  “Right here, babe.”

  “All that said, I think my new addiction is going to be pretty easy to get used to.”

  He couldn’t let that go without touching her, so he moved a knee to the steering wheel to keep his truck steady while he squeezed her hand on his leg.

  He only did it briefly, but she was Evie, so she gave him shit about it.

  “You steer with your knee?”

  “It was just for a sec.”

  “You need to get over your aversion to my Prius.”

  “I’ll work on it,” he lied.

  “You’re not gonna work very hard, are you?”

  “Nope,” he told the truth.

  She giggled.

  And there they were.

  Mag let out a breath.

  And drove the rest of the way to Evie’s friend’s house.

  The woman was literally a little old woman.

  Gray curly hair, face full of wrinkles and half his height.

  Not even.

  Gert stared up at him the minute she opened the door and then she declared, “Oh no. You are not gonna do.”

  Mag pressed his lips together so he didn’t burst out laughing.

  She looked to Evie and stated, “Evan, my girl, the pretty ones are always headache, heartache or both. I thought you knew that.”

  “Gert, Danny made you chocolate chip cookies,” Evie told her, then held out the container with the cookies.

  Gert cast it a suspicious glance. “From scratch?”

  “Yes,” Evie answered.

  “Not any of that tub of Toll House already-made stuff?” she pressed.

  “None of that,” Evie promised. “They’re really good. Fluffy and soft. He makes them with Crisco.”

  Oh shit.

  The woman, still barring the door, looked up at him with disgust.

  “Crisco?” she demanded.

  “That’s how my mom makes ’em,” he said.

  “Hmm,” she hummed, seeing as he’d pulled the mom card and no woman could say jack about what a mom taught her kid.

  “Can we come in?” Evie asked.

  Gert said nothing to that, but she shifted out of the door and opened it further.

  Mag let Evie go before him (and he did not fail to note that Gert took the cookies from her as she passed) and then he was treated to Gert actually doing the fore- and middle fingers to her eyes then to him and back and repeat as he walked into her house.

  He was again fighting laughter.

  Tonight was going to be fun.

  Entering the house put them right in a small living room that was filled with men, and Lottie.

  And Boone wasted no time sidling up to him and muttering under his breath, “Beware, brother. She hates, like…all of us. All but Mo. And Lots. It’s good you’re here because no one’s talking but Lottie and Gert, and that’s because we’re all terrified of the old broad.”

  Gert went around them (slowly), headed straight to an armchair and did this saying, “I’m too old to be serving anymore. You want a drink, the kitchen’s through there.”

  She jerked her head to a doorway, set her container of cookies down on a table close to her chair, and then looked at Lottie.

  “S
o you’re the mastermind behind this?” she asked, tossing a hand at Mag and Evie.

  “Yup,” Lottie answered casually.

  Gert was about to say more, but her gaze fell on Evie in the brightly lit room, her face lost some color and her eyes narrowed.

  “What on earth? What happened to your eyezzzz. Plural!”

  “I was kidnapped,” Evie shared openly. “That’s why Danny’s arm is in a sling. The guy had to shoot him to get to me. But he didn’t have me for long before Danny and the boys saved me.” She threw a hand out to the guys. “And Gert, they used smoke grenades. It was pretty rad.”

  Gert sat there, the ornery woman façade shocked clean out of her, and she did it staring at Evan.

  “It’s okay, I’m safe,” Evie assured, leading Mag to an open armchair and sitting him in it. She sat on the arm at his side, and she did all of this talking. “They have me under constant guard.”

  The shock left Gert, and anger replaced it.

  “Your brother,” Gert bit out.

  Evie was about to speak but Mag got there first.

  “Her brother,” he confirmed.

  “That boy’s a bad seed,” she snapped at Mag.

  “That wasn’t lost on me,” Mag told her.

  “I keep tellin’ her, he’s a waste of effort.” Gert was still talking to Mag.

  “Think with his latest, he’s made that clear to Evie.”

  “The dad’s not much better,” Gert decreed.

  “I’ve learned that too,” Mag replied.

  “And the mom’s a piece of work,” Gert kept on.

  “She’s my least favorite,” Mag shared.

  Gert’s eyebrows stretched way up when she heard that, and she tried to fight it, but approval started seeping into her expression, because no one knew better than a mother how uncool it was to be a bad mother.

  Then she studied him.

  Her voice was softer when she asked, “You got shot protecting Evan?”