Nerd and the Marine (22 page)

“
That's an excellent
question, and the one every dating couple has to work through.”
Zara snagged some Junior Mints.

“
So this isn't odd or
unusual?”

“
Nope, perfectly normal,”
Laurie quipped.

“
See, Lainy, it took you a
bit longer, but you're exactly like the rest of us.” Dory sounded
like a cheerleader. Something in Lainy shifted and swayed and she
couldn't say she enjoyed the sensation.

“
Is that supposed to cheer
me up?” Her head bumped against her arm on the table and Lainy
decided to stay there - she could smell the brownies and chocolate
wrappers better. Her grandmothers had already loaded their utensils
and plates in the dishwasher and cleaned everything else
up.

“
Remember, lovey, you'll
just know. That's how easy love is,” her mother said.

Yeah, love was so easy, that’s why she
was developing an ulcer. And why she’d failed so miserably in the
past. A past she still had to tell Mitch. Maybe it was good he’d be
gone for three months. It’d take her that long to figure out what
to write him.

“
This is what courtship is
all about.” Her Granda Elizabeth hugged her. The ladies disappeared
as abruptly as they’d arrived.

Lainy groaned as Bentley whapped his
tail against her leg.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Lainy closed the last window, locked
it, and stepped back to survey the room. Whistling for Bentley as
she locked the door, she tucked him into the truck and climbed in
after him. On the way home, she thought about Mitch. Just like
she'd been doing since his last e-mail.

She'd read it again every day and
still couldn't figure the dratted thing out. Like it was written in
some sort of code and she didn't have the key. Mitch, being a man,
wouldn't write anything difficult to comprehend.

Her intelligent self argued
with her girlie self who insisted on ripping every little word
apart to guess its meaning. This was a fine time for her girlie
self to show. Now suddenly she’d start screaming at the sight of
insects and shopping for pink clothes. And she kept tearing his
e-mail apart. “
Well, he used this word
because he was trying to tell me this. And this word so I'd think
that
.”

The constant mental bickering was
enough to drive her to drink. And she hated the smell of alcohol.
So, she'd taken to eating chocolate with every meal. Which meant
she had to run every day, without fail, since she liked her shorts
and jeans and didn't relish the idea of buying new ones. The minute
her girlie self insisted on one day of rest, her practical self
would pipe up about having to go lingerie shopping in addition to
clothes shopping and she'd don her workout clothes without
haste.

The only thing Lainy hated more than
this whole love mess was lingerie shopping. She didn't mind normal
shopping, but having to buy bras, panties, and a bathing suit went
against every nerd quality she possessed. And unfortunately for
her, she possessed many.

Which then brought her right back
round to the one subject she wanted to avoid. Mitch and how he
could love her. Did he love her? Or was he just thinking of her in
a friendly fashion? Because if she revealed her darkest secrets to
this man, she had to trust him with her heart.

She couldn't comprehend how a Marine
could love a nerd, and that sent her into a tailspin of agony.
Would she get hurt, or live happily ever after? Maybe he’d think he
loved her now, but change his mind later? Once he read that e-mail
she still hadn’t composed. What if he hated how she climbed into
her work and forgot everything else? Would he mind her forgetting
to make supper? Or waking in the middle of the night with a
brilliant idea she had to work on?

She didn't particularly care for fairy
tales. She'd never read one that featured a nerd as the heroine, so
she'd never taken to them. Her sisters loved them, because they
were all beautiful. They could picture themselves in the heroine’s
shoes.

Not Lainy. She'd figured, early on, if
an evil stepmother had ever made her work all the time and she had
nasty stepsisters, she'd be able to take care of the problem with a
simple zap of electricity. If they still didn't cooperate, she'd
nail them harder. Electrocution tended to grab people's attention.
Even that of an evil stepmother and nasty stepsisters.

Had she been left in the forest for
the handsome prince to come along and kiss her so she'd wake up,
Lainy always figured she'd have lain there a long time. Maybe had
the fairy tale been to wake up to the chorus of “Aunt Lainy's” or
dog pee or something, she'd have a major chance.

Fairy tales were for little girls. Not
for grown women. A circuit board could immerse her for hours. Give
her something useful to build and she'd forget to eat or go to the
bathroom. She probably needed another nerd, one who was as
fascinated by nerdy things as she, not a heroic Marine fighting for
her freedom. The image of twin work benches and a man with glasses
and a pocket protector didn’t sit well, though. Instead, the image
of a handsome, buff guy with a short haircut enticed her, excited
her, and worried her.

Lainy nearly missed her turn, but
Bentley barked and snapped her out of her revelry. “Sorry, buddy,”
she murmured, patting him consolingly as she made the turn. The
tires squealed, but she managed to do that from time to time, so
her family, also her neighbors, wouldn't think anything of her
crazy driving.

She pulled the truck into the garage
and hit the button to roll down the door. Bentley hopped out and
sniffed everything, probably to make certain no squirrels or other
vermin had broken into his garage. After the computer hacking
attempts, which had continued at the lake, she was more leery these
days. Lainy dropped the suitcases she'd removed from the truck when
Bentley let out a howled bark loud enough to wake the neighbors
three blocks over.

“
Bentley, what's wrong?”
She stared at him, wondering what had provoked him as he growled
viciously.

“
He's probably sniffed me
out,” a voice, a
familiar
voice, said from the doorway leading into the
kitchen. Lainy left the suitcases to run into Ben's outstretched
arms.

“
What are you doing here?
When did you come? Meet Bentley,” she said at the last when Mitch's
dog pushed between them like an overprotective
chaperone.

“
Bent, he's my cousin and
he's met your daddy, so be nice,” Lainy scolded as she pushed Ben
to the limits of her outstretched arms and looked him over. “How’s
Mitch?” she couldn't resist asking.

“
Mitch is great. Awesome,
actually,” Ben looked down at Bentley, “you've got a cool daddy.”
Bentley received and accepted a rub with aplomb. Apparently Ben had
been deemed safe because Bentley soon left them to rediscover the
house.

“
You saw him? He did
mention he met you in an e-mail, but he got called off to some
project.”

“
I like him. Although, when
he does come home, you're going to have to ease him into the
family. No massive reunions his first year or so back,” Ben
cautioned and Lainy nodded.

“
Wait, the first
year
?” she repeated,
staring at him in utter bewilderment.

“
Wow, you caught that
faster than I thought, nerd girl,” he complimented as he tapped her
nose and helped Lainy carry in her things. “Did you pack up the
whole house?” Ben complained as he went back to her truck for the
fourth trip.

“
No, but I needed certain
parts, so I had to take all of them. I didn't know what I'd
need.”

“
What'd you make?” he asked
eagerly, peering over her shoulder as she snapped a briefcase
open.

Ben whistled when she removed the
computer. “Mitch has one just like that,” he said in awe. “I was
jealous, but didn't tell him.”

“
I made his.” There was a
little pride in her voice.

“
You
built
that computer?” He wore his
I-can't-believe-you-did-that look.

“
I did.” Lainy opened the
lid and booted up her second project. She wanted to see how it had
taken the trip home. Of course, Mitch's computer had survived being
air-mailed and crossed more miles than she, so she didn't figure
this one would have problems.

“
You built him one, but not
me?” Ben sounded hurt, and Lainy turned to him with a mischievous
smile.

“
Yes. You see, Mitch
e-mails me every day when he's not out in the field, which is more
than I can say for you, oh favorite cousin. I didn't want to lose
contact with him like I have with you.” She kept her voice
innocent.

Ben didn't look impressed. “Yeah,
yeah, yeah. Melanie nails me every time I come home. But more often
than not, I'm can’t communicate at all.”

“
I know. But, you could
stay in touch a lot more than you do.”

“
Probably. I still can't
believe you built a computer for Mitch and not one for
me.”

“
Mitch is in a better place
to test it. At least for sand right now. Stop acting like a child,
I built one for you, too.” Lainy watched the screen. “I'm not quite
finished with this one yet, so you're going to have to
wait.”

“
What does it need still?
Wow, my very own Lainy-built computer. Cool.” Lainy had to avoid
him twice and sidestep him once to find the programs she still
needed to install.

“
Hello, would you get out
of my way?” she exclaimed after bumping into him for the third
time.

“
Sorry, but you know, I can
install these programs all by myself. I do have some computer
literacy.”

“
You're a Navy
SEAL.”

“
Yes, I know, which means I
do know how to install programs on computers.” He leaned forward
and whispered, “I even know how to write programs for
computers.”

Lainy flicked his nose and went back
to work. Something kept stealing her attention. With a sniff she
finally located the distraction. Rounding on Ben she asked,
excitement tinting her words, “Did you cook?”

He rolled his eyes. “Of course I
cooked. I didn't know when you were coming home and even if I had,
I still wouldn't have trusted your cooking. I've eaten your food.”
He rubbed his flat belly and formed a pained expression. “And I'm
not likely to repeat the experience any time soon.”

“
As I informed one of the
apes this week, nerds can read, therefore, we can cook. Besides,
I'm positive your digestive system has handled far worse than my
cooking. Especially since I've eaten Mel's concoctions.” Lainy used
their pet name for his sister, Melanie.

“
There is that,” Ben agreed
with a shudder. “I still can't believe you sent Mitch a computer
first. Of course, you've got the hots for him, and not
me.”

Lainy sent him a disgusted look.
“You're my cousin.”

“
Yeah, I know.”

“
So, how's Treeny?” Lainy
couldn't resist asking and Ben choked on the soda he'd just sipped.
She'd made a Navy SEAL choke.
Go
her
. She grinned.

“
Not funny.” He choked and
gasped at the same time.

“
Oh, you can tease me about
having the hots for Mitch, whom I haven't met yet, so I'm not
certain how that's even possible. While you, on the other hand not
only met Treeny a long time ago, you've also had the pleasure of
being discovered in Will's cabin closet with her.”

“
Did you know she giggles
when under fire?” Ben tried to act nonchalant, but Lainy wasn't
fooled. “Oh, yeah, and Mitch has a DVD that incriminates you, by
the way. There's no doubt you're the culprit and Grandmom and
Granddad and Will are definite witnesses.”

“
You saw that DVD?” Lainy
felt a surge of panic, but Ben wore a smile, so she decided to
enjoy the notoriety.

“
Yep. Actually we watched
all four videos.”

“
What four
videos?”

“
The closet detouring, and
by the way your time will come,” he warned as he ticked off fingers
to correspond with DVDs. “A herd scene, Bentley throwing your
brothers into the lake, and you and the other women doing the
commando bit. You probably could have a career in the
military.”

“
Thanks, but I think I’ll
pass. Let me guess, you military men made fun of our feeble
efforts.” Lainy rested her chin on her palm and stared at him with
baleful intensity.

“
We may, or may not have.
I'll never tell,” Ben said and changed the subject. “I do like
Mitch. He's a good match for you.”

“
Is he?”

Ben frowned. “Why wouldn’t he
be?”

“
I’m a nerd. He’s a Marine
and you know - never the twain shall meet.” This whole romance
thing wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.

“
Lainy, you’re so much more
than a nerd. Sure, you’re smart, but you’re also beautiful and
funny and sweet.” The intensity in his voice helped his
cause.