by Layla Hagen
“Nate can handle it. I have full confidence in him.”
Another silence follows, right before Blake bursts out laughing.
“You have love blinders on, sister. But I’m neutral. I can assess everyone’s potential better.”
“Me too,” Daniel adds helpfully.
“It’s a good thing we’re bringing ice.” Blake whistles, lowering in his seat.
“Ice?” I ask, not following.
“In case anyone gets a black eye.”
“Don’t be an idiot. No one will.”
“The beauty is in the uncertainty.” Daniel earns himself a stink eye from me in the rearview mirror. “But I’m with Alice. Our oldest brothers will behave, even Logan.”
Blake considers this. “True, Logan’s acting strange. We’ve been getting along too well lately. He never rides my ass anymore. It’s weird.”
I grin, shaking my head. Knowing Blake, he’ll provoke Logan over any tiny thing just to rile him up. It’s always fun to watch. That reminds me, I should thank Logan. He must have spoken to Daniel and gotten through to him, because Daniel shared with me that he’s thinking of focusing more on expanding his range of sport-related activities and dropping the extreme adventures part.
We talk about a soccer game for the rest of the trip, and I’m so engrossed in the conversation that I barely hear my phone when it chirps with an incoming message.
“What was that sound?” Blake asks. “The car begging you to drive faster?”
“You buffoon. It was my phone. Daniel, can you please take it out of my purse and read the message out loud? I don’t like to look at my phone while driving.”
Daniel rummages through my bag for a while until he finds my phone.
“It’s from Nate,” he informs me.
“What does it say?”
“Are you sure it’s safe to open it?” he asks.
“Huh?”
“He’s afraid he might stumble onto dirty talk,” Blake explains with a shit-eating grin. That actually makes me pause, because… um… well, Nate and I are fond of sexting. But he should be at work now, so we’re safe.
“We might be more laid-back than our older brothers,” Blake continues, “but we still don’t like to know about our sisters doing the nasty. It’s a brother thing.”
“I get it. The caveman gene is alive and well. Go ahead and read it, Daniel. If you’re squeamish, cover your eyes and look through your fingers. Pass the phone to Blake at the first sight of a dirty word.”
“Okay,” Daniel says. “Here’s what is says. ‘Hey, shooting finished earlier, so I’m already here. So is everyone else, except for you, Blake, and Daniel.’”
“He’s already there?” My throat dries up.
“Yes, not everyone drives like you,” Daniel deadpans.
Blake chuckles, muttering something that sounds like “Let the cornering begin.”
Sweat breaks out on my palms, despite my previous claims about having full faith in Nate. My oldest brothers have been known to scare off my dates before. Sure, I was young and those dates were wimps, but history is history.
Praying that my car doesn’t leave me in the lurch, I hit the gas pedal.
“Look who’s driving faster now,” Blake remarks.
***
Nate
The picnic with the Bennetts reminds me of the old days. The clan is as loud and nutty as I remember it, only now it’s even bigger. Having the picnic at their house was a great idea because their yard is huge, complete with a gazebo. It’s warm and sunny now, but in case the weather turns unpleasant, we can take the party inside.
“This is a lot of food. It’ll take a long time to grill everything.” I survey the mountains of meat and vegetables. Jenna Bennett surveys it too. I have the utmost respect for her and her husband, Richard. They always had an open door for me, and for any of their kids’ friends.
“Big group.” Jenna gives me precise instructions on how long to grill each type of vegetable. I listen even though I know this stuff backward, remembering Alice saying that sometimes she lets her mom give advice she’ll never use because it makes Jenna feel useful, and mothers need to be needed.
She only stops when one of Pippa’s girls is tugging at her skirt. Pippa stands a few feet behind, clapping her hands and cheering her daughter. Bending down, Jenna lifts her granddaughter in her arms.
“I’ll start with the grilling right away, Jenna. Clearly, Mia wants more of your attention.” It was a wild guess, and by the way Jenna chuckles, the wrong one.
“This is Elena.” She pushes Elena’s hair away from her face and the toddler laughs, grabbing Jenna’s sweater in her tiny fists and then a strand of Jenna’s hair, tugging with surprising force for such a little thing. “Let’s take you back to your mom and sister, shall we?”
“You’re getting a kick out of being a grandmother, aren’t you?”
“Absolutely. It’s even more fun than being a mom. I do all the spoiling while their parents worry about pesky things such as educating them.”
With that, she leaves me to get on with the food.
***
It’s a good thing they have three enormous grills; otherwise, the process would take hours. I’ve barely poured the coals onto the first one when Sebastian and Logan join me.
“We’re on grilling duty too,” Sebastian announces.
Logan nods, extending a hand. “Pass the coal.”
Two minutes later, I realize they plan to grill more than veggies and meat. They’re also here to grill me, which I expected.
“So, what exactly is going on with you and Alice?” Sebastian asks, cutting right to the chase, looking straight at me while prodding with the coal fork around the coal.
“I was wondering when you’d start with this.”
“You still haven’t answered,” Logan supplies, looking far less laid-back than Sebastian. Then again, I’ve known these guys for almost twenty years. Sebastian is the cool-headed and analytical one, while Logan is more impulsive.
“Alice and I are dating, and it’s going great. I respect her, and I’m going to take care of her.”
“We’ve known you for a long time,” Sebastian says, and I hold my hand up.
“I know my track record. But what Alice and I have is the real deal.”
Sebastian relaxes visibly at this, but Logan holds up a finger. “If you hurt her—”
“Let me guess, you’ll kill me?”
Logan lifts a brow. “We’re watching you. Closely.”
“I’d be surprised if you didn’t.”
The sound of a car approaching makes the three of us turn around. Alice’s battered old Ford comes into view.
“Sorry for being late, everyone,” Blake explains once he, Alice, and Daniel are out of the car. “Alice here wanted to win the trophy for slowest driver of the year.”
Alice elbows him but doesn’t lecture him for making fun of her. Interesting. I get another treatment altogether when I tease her about her old car. Double standard if I’ve ever seen one.
“Uh-oh,” Alice exclaims, heading toward me and pointing to her brothers at my side. Blake tails behind her while Daniel joins the rest of the group on the other side of the yard.
“Did you give Nate a hard time?” she inquires once she’s in front of us.
“No idea what you’re talking about,” Sebastian says.
“So it’s a coincidence that you and Logan are flanking him?”
I just smile, watching their interaction.
“There are three grills. Three guys are needed,” Logan explains, knowing as well as I do that’s shit. One person is more than enough to man the grills. Blake is snickering from behind his sister.
“Everything’s fine,” I say.
Alice folds her arms, surveying the three of us. “So they haven’t flexed their big brother muscles on my behalf? I feel discriminated against.”
That actually catches me off guard. She wanted them to corner me? This calls for a thorough revenge plan on my part.
>
Logan grins. “Nah, we did. But we decided he seems honest, so we’re just going to keep an eye on him.”
“Told you Logan’s lost his touch.” Blake steps right next to Alice. “Look at Nate. He doesn’t look intimidated or pissed.”
“Oy,” Logan exclaims.
“Just so you know,” Blake replies, “I’ll pick a fight with you sometime today. Things need shaking up.”
“Sometimes I can’t believe the conversations in this family,” Sebastian mutters.
Alice shakes her head at her brothers’ shenanigans. I hold up my hand. “All right, show’s over. I need to talk to Alice alone. Watch the grill until I’m back.”
Without waiting for anyone’s answer, I take Alice’s hand, leading her toward the house. Once inside, I turn to face her, holding her against me.
“First things first.” I kiss her thoroughly, needing to get my fill of her. I haven’t seen her in three days, and that’s about three days too long. Her sweet mouth welcomes me, her lips parting with ease. I lose myself in her warmth. We’re both insatiable.
“Mmmm, I’ll ask my brothers to corner you more often if it means I’ll get kissed like that,” she says when we pull apart.
“You don’t deserve to be kissed like that after practically cheering them on. I remember you saying you’d talk me up.”
“I did a while ago.” Alice shrugs, laying her palms on my chest. “I was torn between wanting them to give you a hard time and defending you.”
“This is supposed to make me feel better?”
She nods with conviction. “Yes. And when you wrote to say you were already here, I even panicked a bit and drove fast. Well, as fast as she’d go.”
“That car—”
“Watch it. Make fun of it and you won’t get laid.”
“I’m confident enough in my seduction skills.” I rub my thumbs against her bare shoulders in small circles and her cheeks redden. “See?”
“You’re not playing fair.” She fidgets in her spot, and some of that playful glint in her eyes has faded. She looks concerned now.
“Alice, everything okay?”
“Yeah.” She fidgets even more, drumming her fingers on my chest. “So my brothers haven’t scared you off, huh?”
“Of course not. That’s how little you think of me?”
“No, but I thought it would be a good test.” She swallows, glancing at me apologetically, as if she just let slip something she wasn’t supposed to.
“What are you talking about?”
“Well, if you got scared about their big brother talk, it would’ve been a red flag.”
There are times when I think I have her all figured out, and then she surprises me by showing me just how vulnerable she can be.
“This thing between us is important to me. You’re important to me.”
“Yeah?” She smiles, and everything feels right again.
“Yes.”
“So I’m forgiven for secretly wishing my brothers would corner you?”
I kiss her forehead. “You, Alice Bennett, will never cease to blindside me. Now let’s get back outside before someone interrupts us. Accidentally, of course.”
We spend the rest of the day catching up with everyone, and I seem to get a variation of the talk from every member in the family. It gets annoying at some point, but I’m also glad that even as adults, they still have each other’s backs.
***
“That went well,” Alice exclaims toward the end of the day, when most of the group is preparing to leave.
“Yeah, I got far fewer death threats than I was expecting.”
“Am I being childish to be nervous about tomorrow?”
We’re visiting my mother tomorrow. She was very excited when I told her we’re going over. Being surrounded by this loud and boisterous clan, I can’t help feeling guilty for not visiting her more often, even if she lives three hours away.
“I can guarantee my mother will not issue any threats. Unless she tries to feed us marshmallows.”
“Oh, crap. I remember her marshmallows. They’re hard as stones. A threat on their own.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Alice
Next morning, we leave at the crack of dawn, or so it seems. I love sleeping in on Sundays, and though I doze off, Nate wakes me when we arrive and I scramble to put myself together, jumping out of the car and following him blindly as he leads me inside Babette’s property. I’m so out of sorts I’m not even taking in my surroundings.
Calm down, Alice. This will go just fine.
When Babette meets us on the doorstep, she pulls me in a very tight hug, acting like she’s never seen me before.
“Mom, you already know Alice,” Nate says.
“Nah, I knew a teenage girl with a sharp tongue. Let me look at you. My, my, you’ve grown up beautifully.”
“Thank you. I still have a sharp tongue, I’m afraid.”
“Tsk, tsk! Never apologize for that. Best weapon to get you through life.”
“You look great!”
“Add ten years and subtract ten pounds, a second divorce, and a pug, and you got a brand-new Babette.”
Last time I saw Babette, she looked completely different. Her hair was dyed jet-black, for one. Now it’s chocolate brown, and this color suits her much better. The black was too strong, painting her delicate features in a sharp light. She seemed to have a permanent scowl on her face back then, her mouth always set in a grim line. Now she’s beaming, holding her overweight and totally adorable pug, Felicia, in her arms.
“So good of the two of you to come visit me. Want to see the house, Alice?”
“Sure.”
She gives us a quick tour of the bungalow, which is small but very quaint. It’s clear Babette is very proud of it.
“I made lunch,” she announces once we’re out on the back patio. “You kids hungry?”
“Starving,” I reply, elbowing Nate, who inspects the food with skepticism. Babette never was a great cook, and still isn’t, if the dry-as-bone chicken we’re eating is anything to go by. At least there are no marshmallows.
Over lunch, we chat about Nate’s job, my restaurants, and her life here in the town.
“I’m so glad I decided to move here,” she says. “Small towns have a charm all of their own.”
“I imagine they do,” I reply, and Nate and I exchange accomplice glances. We’re both such city junkies that the mere thought of living in a town with a population of only three thousand makes us feel claustrophobic.
“Of course, it also has downsides,” Babette says, glancing at the pug, which is in her arms again. She only put it down while she ate lunch. “The president of the pageant organizing committee, Clarissa Lawson, is out to get me, I swear. Felicia didn’t win anything in any of the pageant competitions.”
Nate told me all about his mom’s new hobby—dog pageants—on the way, but part of me thought he was pulling my leg. It appears not.
“No one has anything against you or your pug, Mom. But the dog is overweight.”
Babette covers the pug’s ears. “Don’t talk about Felicia like that.”
“It’s true though,” I add.
“Letting her walk on her own now and again would help,” Nate continues. “It would be great exercise.”
“But she likes it in my arms, don’t you, darling?”
In response, Felicia licks Babette’s neck.
Nate doesn’t insist on the topic, and after he finishes his chicken, he asks, “Mom, do you need me to fix anything around the house?”
Nate explained that he likes to fix things for her, and she usually has a long to-do list for him when he stops by. I’m to use that time to talk Babette into allowing Nate to help her with the mortgage payments.
His first task is to look at some of the wiring in the kitchen, so he heads inside the house, leaving Babette and me alone on the patio. Well, with Felicia, who is now sniffing Babette’s plate tentatively.
“I’m so happy y
ou two stopped by today,” Babette says, scratching her dog’s head. “I’d hoped Nate would bring you around every time he mentioned you.”
“He’s talked to you about me?”
She nods, beaming brighter. “I was so happy when he said you two were… well, whatever you kids are naming it these days. I was afraid I’d damaged him for good.”
“What do you mean?” I ask.
Babette slices me with a glance that seems to say ‘We both know what I’m talking about.’ But I’m genuinely confused.
“Let’s not pretend, Alice. I wasn’t a good mother, just like I wasn’t a good wife to either of my husbands.”
“Babette,” I say in a low voice, clueless as to what to add. I wasn’t expecting this.
“It is what it is. Regrets don’t repair the past, but it’s good to acknowledge the things one has done wrong. It should help not repeating the same mistakes.”
“You shouldn’t blame yourself. It takes two people to make a marriage work.”
“Honey, don’t worry. I blame both my ex-husbands plenty.” She chuckles, but her eyes grow sad. “But no man likes to come home to a hysterical woman. I wasn’t working on my marriage, just driving the people I loved away. Do you think I don’t know that my boy was so often at your parents’ house because he couldn’t stand my shouting?”
It takes a great deal of strength to admit one’s mistakes and faults, and I respect her even more than I did before.
“You’ve changed a lot, Babette. You’re so much calmer now.”
She shrugs, holding her pug even tighter. “My second divorce really put things in perspective for me. Went to therapy too, and it helped a lot, but I was afraid my boy would choose to always have passing liaisons with women because I never painted a pretty picture when it comes to family. Even now I can’t stop bitching about his father.”
I press my lips to hold back a chuckle, wondering if she really thinks ‘kids these days’ use the word ‘liaisons.’ But I also ache for her, this strong woman with so many regrets.
“Babette, you did your best. And really, that’s all any of us can hope to do.”
“Doesn’t mean I don’t get to feel guilty about it.”
Oh damn. Here’s my best chance to convince Babette to accept Nate’s help. I can guilt her into doing it. For the record, I was not planning to use this tactic.
