Page 136 of Champagne Nights

“It’s very nice to meet all of you. Paisley has told me so much about you.”

“I bet she has,” Keaton said with a cough.

He was standing right next to me, so I gave him a light kick.

“Ouch.” His brows furrowed.

“You’re the fireman I saw in the ER last week,” Charlotte said as she pointed at him.

Ben smiled. “I thought you looked familiar.”

“Ben, come and sit down.” My mom smiled, taking his hand, and leading him to the table.

I caught my dad leaning up against the counter with his arms folded, smiling at me. As I smiled back, Piper and Charlotte walked up and stood on each side of me.

“Why didn’t you say you were bringing him?” Piper asked in a whisper.

“It was a last-minute decision. We went surfing this morning.”

“WHAT?! You went surfing?” Keaton asked in a loud voice.

“Yeah, I did. I asked Ben to go because he had never been. Now shush up.”

We heard the doorbell ring, and Keaton walked out of the kitchen. A few moments later, he walked in and introduced us to Brielle.

“Everyone, this is Brielle.”

She looked like a teenager with large, perky breasts that were hanging out of her low-cut shirt. She walked over to me and held out her hand.

“It’s nice to meet you, Paisley. I love your column.” She smiled as she snapped her gum.

“Thank you, and how old are you?” I asked as I cocked my head.

“I just turned eighteen.”

I sighed as I looked at Keaton, and he shrugged. My mom called everyone to sit down at the table because dinner was ready. As I sat in my chair, Ben sat down next to me, and my brother and sisters stared at him.

“What?” I asked.

I already knew what they were thinking. “Nothing,” they said as they placed their napkins on their laps and looked down.

After eating and listening to Brielle’s stories about her dysfunctional family, I grabbed my cigarettes and took Ben to the patio. As I put the cigarette in my mouth and lit it, he made a comment.

“You do know how bad that is for you, right?”

“Yeah, I know. But these babies get me through the day.”

It felt wrong to smoke in front of him, so I put it out.

“You didn’t smoke it.”

“Nah, I decided that I didn’t want to.”

“I hope it wasn’t because of what I said.”

“It wasn’t.” I smiled.

The rest of the family came outside and sat around the table. Keaton sat on the other side of me and gave me hell about going surfing.

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