Twice Smitten (A Modern Fairy Tale) by Melissa Blue Page B

small wonder Abigail isn’t crazier than a Betsy bug.” She stopped the tirade to gasp. “No, don’t tell me.”
    Marilyn ignored the baseballs hitting the gate. “Is that the complication? Please tell me that is not what’s gotten a hold of your jock strap. She’s bad news. You see what she did to Greg.”
    It was no surprise when he missed the ball. “She’s the complication,” he confirmed.
    She shook her head at him and didn’t bother to make an attempt to hit her last ball. Neither did he.
    Keri cleared her throat. She’d won the contest hands down. “I still get to walk away with my pride and dignity, but I think this conversation has made the point moot. Who’s Abigail?”
    “Just a woman who took Greg’s heart and supped upon it like a she-demon. Now, numb-nuts here has fallen into the same spiderweb.”
    “Too many analogies,” Drew muttered, wishing he had kept his mouth shut.
    “Not enough,” Marilyn growled back. “Listen. This is a crisis. We must leave now, go for beers, and I can talk you off this ledge of insanity.”
    “Why is it insane?” A stupid question, but it needed to be asked.
    “She’s incapable of love,” Marilyn said.
    “Ouch.” Drew rocked back on his heels.
    “It’s the truth.” Marilyn clung to the gate. “If she found fault with Greg, she simply is incapable of anything loving. Not to mention, she listened to some guy who had the hots for her and broke off her engagement.”
    Drew stepped back with surprise. “What?”
    “Oh, you think I couldn’t see you drooling over her?”
    Keri sighed behind him, and he heard the machine going again. “I’m tapping out of this one. She’s on a roll.”
    “You weren’t obvious, but you had the look of a lost puppy every time she came around. I was proud of you for not crossing the line. We’re family but that means nothing if there isn’t anything stronger behind it. When you didn’t cross the line, it meant your friendship with Greg meant something.”
    “But now you’re mad at me because she broke the engagement?”
    His cousin huffed. “I’m mad because she listened to you. She listened to a guy hard up over her and that means she felt something back. And I was right.”
    “Or, maybe I was right,” Drew argued. “No one else seemed to notice she wasn’t happy. Why in the hell would I want my cousin to marry someone who wasn’t ecstatic about marrying him?”
    “Which goes back to my point. Why wouldn’t she be happy with Greg? He’s a great guy.”
    He shifted the bat between his fingers, uncertain of what to say next. He settled on, “You should tell Greg this.”
    “Yeah, maybe, but right now that’s not the problem.” Her fingers clawed into the gate. “You’re looking at that she-witch with puppy dog eyes again. I’m not going to let another cousin go down like that.”
    He crossed his arms, because every barb had landed on its intended target. How many times had he wondered if Abigail would ever feel anything but lust for him? He didn’t believe he was less of a man compared to Greg. Just that his cousin had qualities women looked for in a man, for the long term. Women looked at Drew and figured one night or a few months. It’s why he’d called it quits for a while with relationships. He wanted more. He wanted someone he could be more with.
    “You don’t know her,” he said.
    “Even if I did, I wouldn’t want her for you. She’s got a crap track record as far as I’m concerned.” Marilyn sighed. “I’m saying you should have someone who won’t get cold feet and run.”
    All things he’d tried to tell himself. Drew walked over to her at the gate. “Everyone does.”
    “Ok.” She stopped the tirade for a moment and then perked up. “How about I put it this way? Don’t do it. It’s insane. You’re going to get your heart ripped out and I’ll have to beat her senseless.”
    He scoffed. “I’ve gotten my heart broken before. You didn’t beat her