Part 65 (2/2)
At that point, he decided it would be safer if he just kept quiet.
”Two admissions that someone else might be right and an apology. Circle this day on the calendar,” Austin muttered as he followed Claire toward the bas.e.m.e.nt.
”The boys seem to be getting along better,” Claire noted as she opened the padlocks.
”They're not boys,” Austin snorted from the top of the was.h.i.+ng machine.
”It's a figure of speech.”
”Dean likes you.”
”Get real, he calls me Boss.”
”He called you Claire when you fell down the stairs.”
”He did?” Given the way her tailbone had impacted with the edge of the step, she wasn't surprised she hadn't noticed. ”Means nothing.”
”Then what about the way he looks at you?”
”He's twenty. The way he looks at women isn't under his conscious control.”
”All right; what about the way you look at him?”
She twisted around enough to grin at the cat. ”Like I said, he's twenty. It's an aesthetic appreciation.”
Austin's tail beat out an audible rhythm against the enameled steel. ”I know that babysitting a site at your age was the last thing you wanted, but it's given you a chance few Keepers get and you'll kick yourself if you blow it.”
”Blow what?”
”The chance for a relations.h.i.+p.”
”A relations.h.i.+p?” Claire sighed. ”Have you been watching Oprah again?”
”No! Well, actually, yes,” he amended. ”But that has nothing to do with this.”
”Forget it, Austin. Dean's attractive, yes, but he's too young.”
”Jacques isn't.”
”Jacques is too dead.”
”Dean isn't.”
She hung the chains on their hooks and turned to glare at her companion. ”You're not the only one concerned about my having or not having a relations.h.i.+p; h.e.l.l suggested Jacques and I settle down for the duration.”
”Just because something is an anthropomorphism of ultimate evil, that doesn't mean it hasn't your best interests at heart.”
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