Page 110 of Until Then

“Uh… yeah… Derrick wanted to show me the view.”

“In my day, we went there to… what do you kids call it these days? Hook up?”

Beside me, Via angles in close and whispers, “Did you have sex in the lighthouse?”

Stiffening, I purse my lips and inhale through my nose, avoiding her gaze. If I look at her, she’ll see the answer written all over my face.

Unfortunately, keeping my mouth shut doesn’t help. Slapping my arm lightly, she says, “Oh my God, you did.”

“You had sex in a closet on Halloween with Reid,” I blurt out, my voice way too loud. “What’s wrong with sex in a lighthouse?”

The room full of women dissolves into laughter.

“Trust me,” Cassandra says from her spot on the love seat. “Most of us have had sex in that lighthouse. It’s like a rite of passage around here.”

“Oh, God.” I nearly drop my plate in an attempt to hide my face.

Does that mean Derrick knew about it being a hookup spot?

Looks like we’re going to have a conversation about this later.

I fill my plate with snacks and pour myself a glass of wine. Is the one glass more like two? Perhaps. But I need it.

Settling on the couch beside my sister, with Ella and Anna on my other side, I take a deep breath to help center myself.

Maybe if I stuff my mouth through the entire meeting, I’ll make it out of here relatively unscathed.

Or not. Because the moment my sister opens her mouth, the room erupts.

“My sister’s moving here officially,” Via says.

“Izzy!” Ella squeals. “Really?”

“Yeah.” I shove a handful of nuts into my mouth. “I love it here. So why not?” I shrug like it’s no big deal, all the while racking my brain for topics that may distract the group and take the pressure off me.

“Does that mean you’re moving in for good with Daddy Crawford?” One of the ladies asks.

Glenda clucks her tongue before I can answer. “That’s not Daddy. That’s Grandpa Crawford.”

A wave of mortification washes over me. If I could melt into the floor, I would.

Covering my face with my hands, I ask my sister, “Why did you bring me here?”

She laughs. “You’re going to be a full-fledged Parkerville townsperson. You have to pay your dues.”

“I hate you.”

That only makes her laugh harder.

“Do you think you’ll get married?” Lucy asks from across the room. “Might I recommend?—”

“Lucy, dear,” Glenda interrupts, waving a dismissive hand. “No one wants to get married at your family’s mausoleum. It’s a mausoleum. There are dead people.”

“But… it’s pretty,” Lucy defends.

“I think we’re getting a bit ahead of ourselves here,” I say, my heart rate spiking and sweat breaking out at my temples. Not that I haven’t thought about the possibility of marrying Derrick, but our relationship is brand new. I want to enjoy where we are before I think about marriage. So to once again try to take the heat off myself, I blurt out, “Reid and Via are looking at houses.”

Did I totally throw my sister under the bus so that I can stop drowning? Yes. Do I feel bad about it? Not in the slightest.

---