Page 88 of Love, Luck & Clusterf*ck

“Come on, please. I don’t want to eat all these alone.”

And I didn’t. Stephen was either a good sport or completely batshit, but he let me pick out whatever I wanted, and he ate it without complaint. He couldn’t prevent himself from making faces while he chewed, but that only made me laugh harder.

Laughing and eating jelly beans. What a wonderful way to spend an afternoon.

By the time we were done and back in the truck, my stomach was happy and my heart was light. The dark cloud had dissipated. I couldn’t believe he’d done something like that for me.

I glanced over. “Now it’s my turn to ask if you’re feeling all right. You put away almost as many as me, and I’m no amateur.”

“It was worth it to see you laugh again.”

I stared out the side window, doing whatever I could to tug back that piece in me that was struggling to shift over. We shared afriendship, and that was all. And that friendship was beginning to mean too much to me to throw away. I didn’t want to interfere too intimately in his life, and I didn’t want him to interfere in mine. I just wanted to continue what we had.

Because hegotme.

The next couple weeks brought me into May, and my life settled into a nice rhythm. Work, spend time with Sam and Emily, repeat. Dre and Christa had both left me alone, which made things a hell of a lot easier. I was still sleeping in my sister’s spare room, but it hadn’t been as skin-crawling as I’d imagined. Paul had been away on a business trip one of those weeks, and the other he was barely around. I was really enjoying the extra time with my niece, but I couldn’t hang around forever. I was saving up for a rent deposit, and once I had enough stashed away, I’d be getting my own place.

Stephen and I texted each other regularly at night, but we didn’t see each other outside of work. In fact, I didn’t see anyone. For the time being, I’d taken the antisocial route and turned down after-work invitations from Kate and Adam. And since Stu was living in blissful cohabitation, I couldn’t have made him put on pants and go out even if I’d wanted to.

Yep, I was doing just fine. Until I’d let Stephen talk me intothis.

“I can’t believe I let you talk me into this.”

“It’s good to get out once in a while. You’ll have fun. Don’t you trust me from the last time I said that to you?”

“Yeah, but that time was a surprise. This time I know what we’re doing, and it’s a little nerve-racking.”

We were going to a bonfire at his sister’s house.His sister. I hadn’t even introduced him to my sister yet. The only thing more butterfly-inducing would be meeting his parents. I’d learned that he had a tight-knit family, and soon I’d be meeting one of those members. Why was I making this into such a big deal?

“I’m not trying to give you a panic attack here,” he said. “I just thought you’d have a good time. Jillian’s cool. You’ll get along with her great.”

I nodded. “Wait, your parents won’t be there, right?”

“No, you won’t be meeting them until I bring you over for family dinner on Sunday.” My mouth dropped and he laughed. “I’m kidding, Perry.”

“You’re lucky, pal.”

“But you will get to meet my nephew, Daniel. It’s only right since I already met your niece.”

Only because he’d showed up unexpectedly on my doorstep like a puppy.And I took him in.

“Who else will be there?”

“Jillian’s husband, Mike, and a few of their friends. Alex might stop by. Probably not too many tonight. She does more for holiday parties. This’ll probably be just a smaller get-together.”

Hmm. I think I would’ve preferred an enormous crowd to get lost in. I smoothed my hands over my shorts. It wasn’t summer yet, but it felt like it. The sun was just starting to go down, and hopefully the temperature would too; otherwise, it’d be way too hot for a fire.

“Just another minute now,” he said, pulling down a street withhuge wooded lots. She lived in a suburb of Milwaukee, and the area looked like its own little world outside the city.

“Wow, I bet it gets pitch black around here.” There weren’t even streetlights.

He nodded. “You can see the stars perfectly.”

We pulled into her long driveway that already contained half a dozen cars and my nerves spiked again. It made no sense. It wasn’t like I was Stephen’s date for the evening.

“Come on, we’ll walk around back. I’m sure everyone’s outside.”

I stepped out and my eyes caught sight of…. “Holy shit, are those turkeys? And they’re just running around like that?” There were like twenty of them.

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