“It’s funny my mother ambushes our meet-the-boyfriend brunch by making me meet her boyfriend? One she hasn’t mentioned word one about? One she’s been seeing now for three months, again, without mentioning word one. One who carves logs for a living and reeks of pot?”

“I’m seeing you don’t see why she did that, considering she was nervous as fuck, Shiloh was nervous as fuck, and you aren’t taking this too well.”

“He carves logs for a living!” she shrieked.

And Cleo took off.

Apparently, she wasn’t a fan of ranting women.

Axl hooked Hattie by the waist and pulled her to him before he wrapped his other arm around her.

Because, even if he also wasn’t a fan of ranting women, he was a fan of Hattie.

“Babe, chill out,” he urged.

“I cannot believe this,” she said.

“Yeah, I got that message all the way home from Mercury Café.”

“This is unbelievable,” she mostly repeated.

This time he didn’t respond.

“I mean, if this goes somewhere, and they’re clearly into each other, so it’s going somewhere, what kind of provider is he going to be?” she asked preposterously. “I think he was actually high at brunch. I’m not sure it’s a good mix, carving wood, which would, I assume, require sharp instruments, and being stoned.”

“Wait. Did we get thrown back to 1952 and we gotta worry what kind of provider your mom’s boyfriend is gonna be when she’s got a successful cake decorating business that she’s kept successful for nearly twenty years?” he asked.

She looked chastised at that.

“If that’s the case, don’t worry,” he went on to tease. “I got you covered. And I’m all in for you to wear a short, little apron over your tight skirt and twinset when you make me dinner and greet me at the door with a martini. Though I think we need to interrupt our plans of doing nothing but fucking the rest of the day to go out and buy you a string of pearls.”

She slapped his arm halfheartedly then asked, “You know what a twinset is?”

“My mother, until very recently, was the dutiful wife of a prominent attorney. Once a month, she had what she called her Twinset Lunch. Which was supposed to be about being on a guild to raise money for some charity, but from what Mom said, it was a chance for all the women to try to beat each other out on who had the best set of pearls. I think Mom has seven sets. And those were something Dad never bitched about buying her.”

She made a face.

Adorable.

“Yeah,” he agreed. “Think that’s the same thing Mom thought of it.”

Her expression changed again, as did her tone.

“You hear from her today?” she asked.

And Axl’s mood changed to match her tone.