The Belle and the Beard by Kate Canterbary (carter reed TXT) 📗

And two, I didn't hate her when we were sitting here and talking like this. I didn't hate anything right now.

"Couldn't miss it if I'd tried."

"Still not sure why it bothers you so much that I'm here."

"It doesn't bother me," I replied quickly. It bothered me in many complicated ways, none of which I could explain to myself, let alone Jasper. "I'm…I'm concerned. This place is in bad shape. I wouldn't be comfortable staying here for long." Since I enjoyed making things worse, I couldn't stop myself from adding, "I wouldn't let my sister stay here."

Jasper took a sip, blinked at me over the rim of her glass. I could almost sense her coiling up to strike—and seeing as I was more than a little perverted when it came to this woman, my pulse quickened in anticipation.

"You have a sister."

"Yeah. Magnolia. We're triplets."

"Triplets," she repeated, nodding. "Well, that's nice."

"Something like that."

"And you decide where and how this sister spends her time?"

I almost—almost—said Magnolia had a husband for that now but stopped myself with a long pull of my beer. Now empty, I set it aside and reached for another. "If my sister was living in this place, I'd get my ass over here and help her fix it up. It's the right thing to do."

"Is it though? I'm sure your sister is capable of looking after herself or requesting support when she needs it. Why is it incumbent upon you to insert yourself into the situation?"

"You're missing the point."

She shook her head. "I think I'm seeing it rather clearly."

"You're seeing what you're choosing to see. Sometimes it's not that complicated. It's helping someone out, even if they have a hard time asking for that help." Before she could interject with another twisted remark, I added, "You know who always inserted herself into situations? Midge. The first year I lived here, I couldn't get her to leave me alone. I started thinking I'd made a huge mistake buying my place because I couldn't go a day without her banging on my front door over one thing or another."

Jasper wanted to continue debating me. She wanted to make her point and make it hard enough to be sure it stuck. I saw it in the way her lips parted, poised to fire back with another explainer on my overbearing behavior. It was in her eyes too, narrowed in contempt. And her hands, my god. Her hands were frozen in an I'll explain your problems to you gesture.

Yet she dropped those hands to her lap. "What? Why?"

"Any number of reasons. She was going to drag the weed whacker out of the shed, did I mind if she trimmed around my driveway? She had an extra jug of milk, did I need some? She thought her electricity was flickering, was mine? And whatever it was, she was mad about it. Like, the power had personally offended her by going out for a second and she wanted to recruit allies for the fight."

"That sounds like Midge."

"It took some getting used to. When I moved here, the last thing I expected was a neighbor who yelled at me when she had extra milk. It was so confusing."

"Tell me more."

"She was very concerned that I'd be hosting a lot of loud parties. She provided me with a copy of the town's noise ordinance and the fines for violations so I knew she meant business."

"That old bird loved her ordinances and bylaws, didn't she? I keep finding town council meeting agendas covered in her notes and remarks for the public comment sessions." Jasper laughed, her eyes warm and her mouth soft. The beauty of it hurt. It made me ache. "I went to a few of them with her when I was a kid. She said it was important to keep a close watch on elected officials because they lost their sense and their spines when they got elected but they grew an iron grip on the purse strings."

"She'd bang on my door at the crack of fucking dawn to give me a rundown of the meeting the night before and—"

"She didn't know how to sleep in! She didn't know how to get a minute more than her six and a half hours of sleep and there was no way in hell she'd just lie in bed for an extra hour."

I refilled Jasper's glass when she pushed it toward me. "Loved mowing the lawn at six in the morning on Saturdays. It was religion to her."

Jasper was quiet for a minute as she considered the wine. "She had such a good heart. Even when she was impossible. Even with all her nutty quirks. She'd help anyone, anytime."

Even if they said they didn't want it.

As much as I needed Jasper to face that fact, neither of us were going to be proving any points tonight. We'd stopped hurling insults and we'd managed to share each other's presence without resorting to violence. And seeing as Jasper was gut-twistingly beautiful with her blotchy cheeks, swollen eyes, and slightly buzzed smile, I'd swallow my own fist if it meant a few more minutes with her, just like this.

"I'll drink to that," I said, lifting my beer.

"To Midge's good heart," Jasper replied, leaning in to clink her glass against the can.

That was what should've happened. A light tap, wineglass to beer can, a toast sealed.

That wasn't what happened.

I angled my beer the wrong way. She came in too hard. Beer, wine, and shattered glass went everywhere.

She shrieked. "Oh my god."

"Okay, it's fine, don't move until I clear the glass."

"What did you do?"

"What did I do? You smashed your glass—"

"You were too close!"

"I was exactly as close as I was when I raised my beer."

"Okay so I'll address that later but now I'm bleeding. Ohhhh, wow. Oh, that's some blood."

"Oh fuck, you're bleeding." I glanced up at Jasper's face and found her pale, her eyes glazed. I pushed off the porch and reached for her, one hand on her elbow,