by Brown, Tara
“Won’t they be angry if we crash the guys’ thing?” I lower my voice.
“No, they’re terrified of me so we’re doing it. Not one of them will talk shit to me. They know what’ll happen.” She lifts an eyebrow. “Watch.”
She turns her head toward the head table, giving a shitty look to Brady. He catches the stare and winces, nudging Matt who glances over. He scowls but there is definite worry in his eyes. Brady mouths something and Bev turns back to me, leaving the two of them hanging.
“See? Terrified.” She starts drinking again as if it didn’t happen and offers nothing to Brady and Matt who now clearly believe they’ve done something wrong. Matt is visibly uncomfortable and Brady is trying to get her attention, but she doesn’t bother to turn back. “Have you paintballed before?” she asks.
“Yeah.” I don’t bother to lie. “I was on a team in college. My roommate was into it. He was a big nerd and they had a quota of girls they needed. So I’m pretty good.”
“Of course you are. Look how muscled your arms are.” She flexes her thin arms and we both laugh.
“What’s your story?” I ask. “Who’s the person in your life?”
“Why do you think I have a person?” She tilts her head and cocks that grin.
“You haven’t flirted with a single guy here tonight, not one, and like you said, this table has nothing but talent.” I motion my head toward the Southerners. “I get that you’re related to that part of the table, but the rest of these guys?”
Her eyes dart to the far side of the room where a camera guy films Sami smiling at Matt as Nat tells a story.
“Ah.” I nod at the cute guy behind the camera.
“That’s another thing I’ll ask you to take to the grave. My cousin would lose his goddamned mind.” She rolls her eyes and tucks her long hair behind her ear.
“How long?”
“Since last summer. We try to see each other as often as we can, but the distance thing is sucking.” Bev widens her stare. “So I’m moving up to New York to be with him, Geoff. I’m going to tell Mr. Grumpy then.” She motions toward Matt who’s still checking with her for what he’s done wrong. “No point in working him up before the wedding. Sami’s done that enough for all of us,” she teases but leans in more to whisper again. “What’s the story with your friend there and Cap?”
“No clue.” My eyes dart to Sukii and Cap. He’s switched sides and is now sitting beside her, regaling her with something that’s making her laugh. “Where’s his wife?” The question sobers me up. If this were to go public, Sukii’s putting me in a compromising spot as it would be my job to clean it up. At least there aren’t any phones here.
“Not a clue.” Bev wrinkles her nose. “Hockey players.”
“Yup.” I sit back, realizing I have to say something to Sukii about it.
Which is not a happy thought.
Bev’s stare darts to the right as the camera guy starts packing up. “Well, I guess I’m out of here.” She smiles back at me. “You’re next to Lori, right?”
“Yeah.” I wince but try to hide it.
“I’ll come get you before the game.” She finishes her beer and stands, swaying a little.
“You all right, Bev?” Carson calls to her.
She lifts a thumb and winks. “Night, boys.” She waves and walks between the crowded rows of people and chairs.
“I’m going to head too, Sukii. You want to walk with me?” I stand and feel the room shift but hope I manage to hide it.
“Lori will walk you back,” Carson says with a mischievous grin. “He was just saying he wants to go to bed, and you guys are cabin mates, after all.”
“Oh uhm.” I glance at Sukii who can’t seem to take her eyes off Cap.
Lawrence makes a weird face, hesitant maybe.
“It’s fine. I know the way.” I reach over and squeeze Sukii’s shoulder. “See you tomorrow.”
“Oh, you’re leaving?” Sukii clues in. Cap’s eyes dart to her face, likely hoping he can convince her to stay out with a look.
“Yeah, I need to pace myself.” I wink at her, trying not to be obvious that she needs to rethink her plans.
“Okay, I’ll see you at breakfast.” She squeezes my hand, signaling for me to beat it and mind my own business.
Rich stands as a gentleman, likely the only one with us. “Night, Jenny.” Everyone else joins him, smiling and wishing me goodnight.
“Night.” I step through the rows of chairs and people. In my peripheral, I catch a glimpse of someone moving nearby. I hope it’s Sukii changing her mind, but when I leave the pavilion and pass the tent with the band, I see it’s not. She’s still seated and laughing with Cap.
Sighing, I try not to be the death of fun and the moral police, and turn to head toward the cottages.
“Red, wait up!” a familiar voice calls to me over the music. I cringe but fight the urge to walk faster and instead smile and turn, seeing Lawrence running after me. “I just want to say—”
“No,” I cut him off. “I want to say something to you first.”
“No, me first.” He frowns and for the first time when he looks at me I don’t see that smug, shitty attitude. “We got off to a bad start.”
“Which was my fault—”
“I should have locked the door.”
“Okay,” I relent. “The door should have been locked. But I shouldn’t have reacted so badly.” I cover my eyes with my hand for a moment. “And the bathroom—”
“Can we start over?” he asks, sounding genuinely interested in a fresh start.
“It’s my week for fresh starts,” I say though he can’t possibly know what I’m talking about. “I’m Jenny. I’m also Canadian. I like short walks in the city and donairs from Halifax.”
“Oh my God!” He brightens up instantly. “I love Halifax donairs. The sweet sauce.” He places a big hand on his chest. “I would kill for that right now. A bunch of beers is best followed by a greasy donair and a Coke.”
“Yes!” I burst. “You have to bite the paper it’s wrapped in at least once or it’s not a complete meal.” I hold out a hand. “It’s nice meeting you.”
He takes my hand in his, wrapping it in warmth. “I’m Lawrence. My friends call me Lori.”
“Okay, Lori.” I shake his enormous hand and smile up at him. “Have a good night.”
“You too, Jenny.” He holds my hand for a second too long, but we’re drunk and laughing about donairs so I don’t pay attention to it. He finally lets go, releasing me. His face has all the schoolboy charm it held when he looked at Bev.
“Night,” I say again and walk away, waving back over my head.
It’s a better end than I expected to an awful day.
Maybe tomorrow will be my fresh start.
10
Manhandled
Thursday, June 15
Lori
“One more minute, Lori!” Cap shouts, standing next to the treadmill where I’m sprinting so hard I want to puke or pass out or both. “Thirty seconds, you got this. Stay with it! You wanted to get drunk and have fun, you have to earn it.”
I have no idea what he’s talking about. He’s the one who got drunk and banged the cute brunette, but I’m pushing it so hard I think I might die until he smacks the “stop” button and it ends. I walk until the treadmill dies. I’m gasping for air and lightheaded.
“Nice,” Cap shouts and nudges me in the arm.
“Earning those beers, buddy!” Brady hits me too.
I’m breathing so heavily it feels like I’m sucking jam through a straw, and it’s hard to give a proper comeback. My hands grip my hips as I pace the small gym and nod.
Brady jumps on the treadmill for his turn.
Cap starts him light the way he did me. “Where’s Brimstone?” he asks.
“Slacking in his workouts for wedding week,” Brady says with a husky laugh as his feet hit the treadmill a little faster. “But as someone who is staying in the same house as them, don’t worry, Sami i
s working him out plenty. He’s been rage pacing for days.”
We all laugh.
“Speaking of rage, you bang that ginger last night?” Brady asks. “I saw you talking to her at the end of the night.”
“He’s talking an awful lot for someone working out, Cap. It’s clearly not going fast enough.” I point at the treadmill and start my stretches. “Speaking of the ginger, Cap, how do you know her?”
“Not my story to tell,” he says flatly, meaning he won’t. Cap’s a gentleman, but I assume there’s some dirty puck bunny story behind it. Hence the reason she got so weird about me calling her one. “But her brother’s band is awesome. You know, Twin Peeks.”
“Yeah, they’re cool. I saw them on Saturday Night Live. They’re funny. She doesn’t seem like the kind of girl who has a funny brother like that.”
“Maybe she’s playing hard to get.” Brady will never let his weird obsession with Jenny go.
“I don’t think that’s a thing, bro,” I reply sarcastically.
“I agree,” Cap adds. “Girls are either into ya or they’re not, and she is not into you, Lori. Every time she looks at you, her eye twitches.”
“Hard to get is so a thing. Sami played it with Matt forever. I thought he’d die from exposure, he iced his nuts so much.”
We all laugh.
“Well, I’m neither a fan of icy nuts nor girls who play games. So the redhead is not going to happen. Sorry, man.” I switch legs as Matt enters the gym. He’s got that crankiness in his eyes. “But speaking of icing nuts, how’s it going, Brimstone?”
“Never get married,” Matt grunts and walks to the other treadmill to warm up.
“What stage are you at? The ‘we can’t have sex before the wedding even though we already have a kid,’ or the ‘should we even be getting married if we can’t agree on anything’?” Cap asks as he turns up the treadmill for Brady.
“A little of column A and a little of column B.” Matt sounds bitter. “She’s making me crazy. I swear to God, I’m losing it. I thought we would get here and she’d chill out. But that Princess and the Pauper nonsense is killing me.”
“Ah, you’ll be fine.” Cap slaps him on the back and turns back to Brady, bringing more heat on the speed. “Once this is over, it’ll be back to normal.”
“Don’t threaten me with that.” Matt laughs. “It’s just this whole influencer gig is making me want to smash things. I can’t take a shit without Geoff the camera guy in my grill. They’re all over us. Filming everything. We’re living when the camera is on and zoned out when it’s off. Like living for posing for pictures. Getting married is stressful enough, adding cameras, film crews, and Sami is like tossing water on an oil fire.”
I feel sorry for the guy. On a good day, I can’t handle Sami constantly working her brand. And this is clearly not a good day.
“Did you tell her about paintball yet? I told everyone we should meet there for one,” Brady says, sounding as if he’s getting winded.
“No, we’re not paintballing. My redneck cousins are doing it, but if someone in the wedding party gets injured or bruised, Sami will lose her—”
“Bro!” Brady pauses the machine. “She’s goners, my dude. The girl’s mind is lost. She can’t get more annoying and she’s dragged Nat right down to crazy town with her.” He walks off the treadmill and hits Matt’s machine, stopping it. “So pop your balls back out and stop being a little bitch.”
“Watch it,” Matt warns.
Brady laughs. “Or what? You’ll ask Sami if we can fight in the yard?”
I stifle a laugh as Cap steps closer, ready to hit pause on the two of them as they huff and glare at each other.
“No, man, it’s the last couple of days before you get married. This isn’t like getting strippers to rub their coochies all over your face. It’s paintball.” He hits Matt in the balls with a little swat. “Buck up, Nancy. We’re fucking paintballing and we won’t tell Sami. It’s need to know and none of the girls need to know.” He hops back on the treadmill and starts running again. “I refuse to turn down a challenge from the hillbillies.”
Matt glares.
“He has a point. It’s just paintball, buds. A friendly game between us and your cousins.” I try to smooth over Brady’s typical crassness. “And if Sami is stressing you out that badly, maybe we can help out more. Is there anything we can do?” I ask, not actually wanting to do more, but I’m good at putting on the face.
“Yeah, man. We’re all here for you,” Cap adds.
Matt takes a deep breath before starting up his machine again. “We’ll never get away with it. Sami doesn’t want to go to the spa now. She’s freaking out about some butterflies that won’t be arriving in time. If she doesn’t go to the spa, how will we sneak off and paintball?”
“Lori, you’re the Sami whisperer,” Brady manages to say. “You should pull the little-brother act and convince her to relax so Matt can stop tiptoeing around. Get her to go to the spa.”
They all turn to me.
“Okay,” I agree. Taking one for the team is my thing anyway.
“Honestly, I don’t get women, man,” Matt says, slowing down the treadmill. “We planned and paid to have a relaxing experience here, where every single thing is thought of and our every whim is catered to, and she’s still acting like she’s planning.” Matt continues, “This morning I told her if she wasn’t done planning by now, maybe she should consider it too late to fix whatever isn’t done.”
Brady, Cap, and I all grimace at the same moment.
“Right, I knew it was a mistake to say it, she just makes me so nuts.” His eyes dart to mine in the mirror. “So yeah, if you can get her to chill out, please. Be my guest. But I don’t think paintball is a good idea. That’s all I’m saying about that.”
“No one wants to hear your shit, man. Lori will take care of it.” Brady waves me off.
“Yeah. I’ll catch a shower and see if I can’t persuade her to have fun.” I get up and nod at the guys. “Thanks, Cap.”
He waves and I hurry to the golf cart waiting for me. If I had my phone, I’d text Carson and Rich to come help me deal with her, but no phone means a solo attempt at mellowing Sami.
As I park at my place, I catch a glimpse of the red hair in the window on her side of the cottage. I turn off the cart and slowly step toward the flash of red flinging in the air. A sound and a beat make their way out of the living room where I see something I don’t expect.
Jenny is dancing to a song I’ve never heard before. It’s fast paced and old-school sounding. She’s singing her guts out, dancing in a Montreal Canadians tee shirt and some tight white butt-hugging underwear. Her arms are in the air and she’s got killer moves.
A grin spreads across my lips as she spins around, shaking her ass. It’s perfect, like she’s done serious presses all her life. She’s muscular and fit as fuck. She’s singing into her TV remote and then she’s strumming a fake guitar. The drums hit and she’s playing them in the air in a way that makes me think she’s played before.
This is the sister of a famous musician.
Her head is back, she’s singing into the ceiling as she drums for her life, and shaking her ass.
“What you got there?” Carson shouts, seeing me in the bushes. He pulls his golf cart up next to mine and jumps out. “Oh sweet God, look at that ass! I love this song.”
Somehow, God being against me as far as this chick is concerned, she hears him over the loud music, and turns. Her mouth drops, as it always does when she sees me, and her eyes narrow.
I have nothing.
I’m sweaty from working out, smiling like an idiot, standing in the bushes, peeping in her fucking window, watching her air band in her underwear.
She lifts her middle finger at us.
Carson claps, offering applause. “You’re awesome!” he shouts.
She smiles and offers a curtsey to him but loses her smile as she glares at me and stalks away from the window.
“What song
is this?” I ask.
“‘Need Never Get Old’ by Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats. Saw them live last year. We did some speed first, it was magic,” Carson says in his weird way of being excited without sounding it. “Why is she always glaring at you? I thought you guys patched things up last night,” Carson jokes and goes back to his golf cart.
“We did but obviously that was before she caught me peeking in her windows like a pervert. She probably assumes you’re strictly gay since you’re with Rich. You get a pass and I get the stink eye.” I sigh. “But I have other fish to fry. I have to talk to Sami and get her to mellow out and go to the spa.”
“I’m not coming, don’t ask.”
“Matt’s ready to kill something.”
“Told you he was coming to the end of his patience. Paintball will be good for him. Blow off some steam.” Carson wrinkles his nose at my sweaty shirt. “You need a shower. We’ll meet you at the paintball place at one.”
“Fine.” I walk to my front door as he drives away.
The music continues to play on Jenny’s side. I wish I had my phone so I could Shazam the song. I’ve never heard of the band, but I leave my bathroom door open so I can hear it faintly through the walls. She’s rocking it out in there, which is surprising since she comes across as one of those uppity spin-class girls who leaves with the bike seat lodged in their arse.
I struggle to focus my mind back on Sami and how to solve that. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do to fix this. Do I kick the door down and force her to get a pedicure?
Unfortunately, I don’t have an answer by the time I arrive at the house so I decide to wing it. Matt and Brady aren’t back yet, likely giving me time to work some magic or Xanax on her.
Inside, I find Sami in the living room pacing in short shorts and a tee shirt. She has no makeup on yet and her hair is in a messy bun. “What are you doing? You don’t look ready for the spa,” I say as I enter, a bit afraid.
