Marie Ferrarella - A Maverick And A Half

“Jake isn’t a baby, Anderson. He’s halfway to becoming a man—”

Anderson quickly cut her off. “Not for another ten years.”

He didn’t believe that, did he? “A lot sooner than that,” Paige contradicted. “You might as well get used to the idea. Anyway, I didn’t call you to discuss Jake’s so-called fragile masculinity—or yours,” she added. “I called to find out something else.”

“What?” he all but snarled. He didn’t feel that he could take on another problem right now.

For the second time since she’d called, his sister caught him off guard when she asked, “What did you think of her?”

“Her?” Confusion all but throbbed in his voice. What was Paige talking about?

“Marina Laramie,” Paige said patiently.

Why was his sister asking him something like that? “I guess that she’s an all right teacher,” Anderson finally conceded, thinking that was what he was being asked.

“No.” Paige tried again. “What did you think of her?”

“Think of her?” Anderson echoed, at this point thoroughly confused by Paige’s tone as well as her question.

Paige sighed. Men could be so thick, she thought. “This isn’t brain surgery, Anderson. Or a trick question,” she added in case that was going to be his next guess. “It’s really a very simple question,” she stressed.

“It’s not a simple question,” Anderson contradicted. “It’s a prying, complex question. What did I think of her?” he repeated, then before she could make any sort of a remark or reply, he continued by asking her a question of his own. “In terms of what? A first-time teacher? A woman who sounds like she has trouble understanding and relating to boys?”

“As a person,” Paige interjected, finally getting a chance to get a word in edgewise. “What do you think of Marina Laramie as a person?”

“Why?” Anderson asked suspiciously. It had taken a while before the red flags had gone up for him, but they were flapping madly in the wind now. “Just what is it that you’re trying to cook up in that scheming little head of yours?” he wanted to know.

“I’m not ‘cooking up’ anything,” Paige protested. “I wasn’t the one who asked you down to the school for a conference, Marina was. I just thought that...well, now that you’ve seen her and since you were single and she was single...”

Okay, this had gone far enough, Anderson thought. He needed to stop his sister before she really got carried away.

“One and one don’t always make two, Paige,” he ground out.

In her opinion, one and one always made two. “You never know until you try,” Paige stressed.

“Oh, I know, all right. Trust me, I know,” he told her in no uncertain terms. “Besides, I’m not looking for anything—or anyone.”

She already knew that and she thought it was a terrible waste for her oldest brother to be alone like this. “But if you stumble across it right out there in your path—” Paige began.

“I don’t plan to do any stumbling, either,” Anderson informed her tersely.

As far as he was concerned, one mistake was more than enough for him. Not that he’d actually had any ideas about a possible relationship blossoming between Lexie and him twelve years ago. It had been just one of those classic things, an enjoyable fling that lasted the span of one night, no longer. And, after dealing with the woman, he realized just how fortunate he was not to have wanted any sort of a relationship with Jake’s mother. They didn’t have very much in common.

Now that he thought about it, he wasn’t the kind of guy who did well when it came to relationships. Hardworking and blessed with common sense, Anderson knew his shortcomings and he wasn’t looking to get involved with anyone.

Even so, it was obvious to him that his sister had other ideas. He needed to set her straight once and for all.

“Look, kid, I realize that you think that since you have this great thing going with Sutter everyone should be married, but it’s just not like that for some of us. I’m glad you found somebody to love you, someone who lights up your world, but that isn’t my destiny and I’m okay with that.”

But apparently Paige was not about to accept defeat for her brother so easily.

“Just because it didn’t work out for you and Lexie—her loss, by the way—” she interjected.

Anderson laughed softly. This was the Paige he was more familiar with. The sister who was fiercely loyal to the members of her family and immediately took offense on their behalf.

“Thank you. You’re my sister and you have to say that.”

“No, I don’t,” Paige contradicted. “And stop interrupting. What I’m trying to say is that just because it didn’t work out for Lexie and you doesn’t mean that it won’t work out for you with someone else.”

She just wouldn’t let this go, would she? Ordinarily, he might just let this go for now, but it was far too important to let her think she’d won, even by default.

“It won’t because I’m not looking for it to work out—with anybody,” he underscored. “Look, Paige, I know you mean well, but really, let it go. I’m happy just the way I am.”

Paige dug in. “A year ago, you thought you were happy just the way you were, then you found out about Jake and suddenly you wanted him to be a permanent part of your life. You still do,” she pointed out, remembering how dejected Anderson had been when Lexie had denied him custody or even visitation rights.

“Don’t try to confuse me with your logic, Paige.” He was only half kidding.

“It’s not ‘my’ logic,” his sister pointed out. “It’s just logic.”

Anderson blew out an impatient breath. There was just no arguing with his sister once she got going like this. He didn’t want to say something to her that he would wind up regretting, but he didn’t want her thinking that she was going to emerge the victor in this argument, either.

And then the cavalry arrived in the form of a lanky eleven-year-old boy. Spotting him, Jake was striding toward his truck.

“Sorry, Paige, I’d love to talk some more, but Jake just turned up. Basketball practice must be over. Time to take him home and put him to work,” Anderson announced cheerfully. “We’ll talk later,” he promised, terminating the call before she could say another word.

Or you’ll talk later and I’ll have to listen, he silently added, tossing the cell phone back into the glove compartment.

Leaning over, Anderson opened the passenger door for his son.

“Hi, how was it?” he asked Jake cheerfully. Then, just in case that sounded a little too vague to his son, Anderson clarified the focus of his question. “How was basketball practice?”

Jake slid into the passenger seat and dutifully buckled up his seat belt.

“It was okay.” The reply was completely devoid of any enthusiasm.

Starting up the truck, Anderson pulled out of his parking spot, his eyes trained on the rearview mirror until he put the transmission into Drive.

“Did you play a game?” he asked in the same cheerful voice.

Settling into his seat, Jake kept his eyes forward. “Yes.”

He was not exactly a conversationalist himself, but for the sake of trying to draw his son out, he gave it his best shot.

“And then what?”

“We stopped,” Jake said matter-of-factly. Then, as the word just hung alone in the air, he explained, “It was time to go home.”

This was not going well. “Do you like playing basketball?” Anderson prodded.

His thin shoulders carelessly rose and fell in response as he continued looking out of the front windshield. “It’s okay.”

That was not exactly a ringing endorsement of the sport. Maybe he’d pressured the boy into playing something he had no desire to participate in.