Page 14 of Objection to Love
“I see how it is. I try to make you feel better, and you call me a monkey. How was I blessed with such an incredible sister?”
Em sighed, placing a hand over her heart. “Luck. Pure, unadulterated luck.”
April teasingly knocked Em with her shoulder as they crossed into the dining room, where April slipped into her chair beside her husband. Jackson pulled her into a half hug and pressed a kiss to the side of her head. They were nauseatingly adorable.
On the other side of the table, Marshall was waiting, holding out Em’s seat. Both of Em’s parents were smiling at him as if his gallantry was better than her law degree.
Em’s smile slipped. To them, maybe it was.
She sat, careful not to touch Marshall’s hands where they wrapped over the top of the seat, repeating April’s words in her head.It’ll all be over soon.
Monday was rainy and dark, and Em was still handling the frustration of Sunday’s dinner which lead to her starting the day in a bad mood. The only upside to the weather was that Garrett wouldn’t be outside to heckle her when she left for work. Right?
Wrong.
“Morning, neighbor!”
Em froze, missing her chance to make a break for her car. Garrett was already standing and walking over to lean against one of the porch railings.
He looked out at the rain. “Sorta reminds you of when we first met, right?” He said it nostalgically, as if it had been years since the event in question, rather than a week.
Em wrinkled her nose. Why was he so insistent on making small talk all the time? She hadn’t even been nice to him, but he kept talking to her.
And worse, she was starting to appreciate the attention.
She was pretty sure she was broken. Some screw had come loose in her brain the night she and Garrett had met. It was unnerving.
“I realized I don’t know your last name,” Garrett asked, not waiting for her to answer his first question.
“Is that a question?”
He laughed, taking a sip from his drink. “Yes, it is. But in case you think this is another way I’m trying to be a murderer or something, I’ll tell you mine first. Because I’m sure you’ve been curious.”
She hadn’t actually. The only thing she’d been curious about was if he was as fit underneath that shirt as he appeared to be. But she wasn’t going to voicethatthought, so she just tilted her head at him, waiting for the offered last name.
“Clarke. Garrett Clarke.” He paused, cocking his head. “Like Bond. James Bond. But a different person.”
Even with her bad mood still hanging over her like a dark cloud, Em was startled into a laugh again. He was too good at making her laugh for hardly any reason at all. She really needed to locate where that screw went.
“Miller.”
“September Miller. I like it. So, what do you do for fun, September?”
“It’s Em, remember?”
“I do.” He took another sip from his drink. “So, what do you like to do for fun?”
Em opened her umbrella. “I go to work.”
“Yes. I know that. But what do you do forfun? When you’re not at work.”
“I don’t have time for fun.”
Garrett narrowed his eyes at her. Rain fell softly between their two porches, but she could still see his incredulous expression through it. “No time for fun? Okay… What do you do if you make it home before midnight then?”
“Sleep. Watch a TV show. Take a bath.” She probably could have left that last one off.
“Alright. That’s a start, I guess.”
