“Kendra has been employed with us for over a year. It shouldn’t have taken this long for the two of them to start dating. I’m not sure where I went wrong.”
“Now you’re playing the martyr,” Shay said, laughing. She wasn’t going to admit how happy she was that Ivan finally found someone. She’d thank her sister because otherwise Jolene would bug her until she did.
“I know,” Jolene said. “But, boy, Ivan sure was a stubborn one.”
“He’s always been that way. I’ll answer your questions in order. Dinner went well. Kendra seemed very comfortable around everyone. We aired out your dirty laundry and everything you’ve done to the rest of the family. Most of what she knew anyway.”
“Hey,” Jolene said. “Everyone should be thanking me, not hating on me.”
“No one is hating on you,” she said, shaking her head.
“What else did you think? You like her, don’t you?”
“I do. She’s a sweet girl. Very family oriented. She talked about her mother a little and how she owned her own home so young. An income property. She is very much like Ivan there.”
“I know. Though your son did take Kendra to the restaurant for dinner this week.”
“And you paid for his meal,” she said. “I heard all about it.”
“It felt like the thing to do,” Jolene said.
“That’s you getting the last word in, you know it,” she said.
“True. So I did well?”
“You did. For now,” she said. “It’s only been about two months. Anything can happen.”
“You’re withholding something on me,” Jolene said. “I can hear it in your voice.”
Nothing got by her sister, but she wasn’t ready to let her sister in on what she thought.
Shay suspected her youngest was falling in love, but she couldn’t get too much of a read on Kendra.
Her son’s girlfriend was very devoted to her mother and that could potentially be an issue if she didn’t want to leave her.
Ivan wasn’t clingy in the least and always put family first, but he’d want to know that he was at the top of that list too.
That’s why he’d made that comment about if Jolene failed someone else got hurt.
Her baby was hoping it wasn’t him. No way she’d tell her sister that and worry that Jolene would annoy Ivan more in her quest to prove him wrong.
“Nothing,” she said. “She’s very lovely but cool like you said. I couldn’t get much of a read on her either. So don’t feel bad.”
“Yeah. I know they are right for each other, but the two of them together are locked up tighter than Fort Knox.”
“If anyone can break through, it’s you.”
“Don’t you forget it,” Jolene said.
They hung up a few minutes later and she turned to see Ethan standing there and jumped. “Are you spying on me?”
“No. You’re just as bad as your sister is. You couldn’t wait until everyone left to call her and report back.”
“You know as well as I do that if I don’t call her she’d be bugging me.”
“That’s true. Why didn’t you tell her what I said about welcoming Kendra to the family?”
“My sister doesn’t need to know everything,” she said, smirking.
