Page 203 of The Friend Situation

“Great. They’ve contacted my exes. Guess we’re at that stage of this,” she grits out, locking her phone. She leans forward and hugs her grandma tightly. “Thanks for everything, Mawmaw. Good night.”

“You need me to come back and pick y’all up?” she asks.

“Nah, we’ll catch a ride with Lucas or Hudson,” she replies.

Mawmaw rolls down the window to talk to Carlee as she gets out of the car. “Now, y’all don’t stay out too late. I’ll call Judge Robinson and confirm when he can fit you in tomorrow. Last I heard, it was two.”

“Thanks again for everything,” I say, and she smiles wide.

“Thank you,” she responds with a wink. “That’s the happiest I’ve ever seen my Leelee.”

I meet Carlee’s gaze, placing my hand on her back. She glances over at me, and I interlock my fingers with hers.

Mawmaw honks, and Carlee waves.

“My brothers and cousins might try to pull something. They always do when I’m dating someone,” she tells me.

“Noted.”

As we approach, everyone bursts intowoo-hoos and applause.

“Y’all stop,” Carlee says, laughing.

I meet Easton’s eyes, and he smirks before I glance at Lexi. She’s wearing thatI told you sosmile. Brody sits beside my brother, and on the other side of him is Hudson. My eyes scan over her two brothers, Lucas, and a guy I haven’t met yet.

“Hi. I’m Weston,” I say, giving him a firm shake.

“I’m Jake, but my friends call me JJ.”

Moments later, Claire Manchester approaches me. “Weston, wow. You still look exactly like that asshole.”

Easton chuckles.

I give her a side hug.

“JJ is my fiancé,” she says proudly.

“And if one more person gets married before us, I’m going to lose it,” JJ tells her.

“Sorry,” Carlee says to him.

Once all introductions are out of the way, we’re handed bottles of the same shit we drank earlier.

“We’ve had enough of this. And by the way, Mawmaw is telling everyone it gives you the shits,” she says to him.

Hudson and Brody howl with laughter.

“It does taste like total shit,” Brody says.

Carlee walks away and grabs us some drinks from inside. I stand by the fire, waiting for her to return.

“There’s something about those Jollys, isn’t there?” Emma says, patting me on the back.

“Both Manchesters in the same vicinity. Have I finally died and gone to hell?” I joke.

Emma snorts as she sits on Hudson’s lap. As I look around, everyone seems happy. No drama. No business conversations. Just living, enjoying a hot fire and open sky. This is freedom.

Carlee returns with a bottle of tequila.

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