Page 53 of The Exception

“Yes. Everything is fine. I’m glad you’re coming.”

“Me too.” His shoulders loosened, and one corner of his mouth curved into a familiar grin. “Thank you for inviting me. It really is important to me that we can still be friends.”

“It’s important to me too.”

“Good.” He tossed his bag in the back, and did a double take as Dani’s blonde ponytail disappeared behind the seat.

Sonya shook her head. “Those, unfortunately, are my other friends. Come on.”

She rounded the SUV and got back behind the wheel. Trav climbed in beside her, turning over his shoulder to greet the others.

Dani reached between their headrests to shake Trav’s hand. “I’m Dani. Sonya’s best friend no matter what Emma says.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“That’s Dylan,” Sonya said. “He lost his voice in a tragic accident so he won’t be speaking.”

Dylan gave a silent thumbs up.

“Sorry to hear that,” Trav said, laughing.

“You won’t be.” Sonya put the car in gear and pulled out onto the road. “So it’s about four hours to the lake, give or take—What are you doing?”

Trav rolled down his window, letting his arm hang out.

Her pulse hammered in her neck.

“What?”

“Nothing. Nevermind.” She tossed ashut the hell uplook at Dani who cackled loud enough to wake Dylan.

Dylan took one look at Trav’s blatant violation of rule number three, and fell into a fit of laughter. “Oh, this is going to be fun.”

* * *

As soon as they pulled into the dirt driveway of the lake house Sonya’s friends had rented, Trav knew he made the right decision to come. Not that he’d doubted it. He was desperate for some adult interaction that didn’t involve his dad, or Elliot who hated him more each day, and every time he hung out with Sonya, they had a lot of fun.

And sometimes they accidentally made out and needed to dedicate a weekend to fixing it.

Besides hopefully patching up any weirdness with Sonya, he had a feeling he was going to like hanging with her friends. Dani was a spitfire, and he already knew he was going to get along with Dylan. Hopefully the others would be cool.

They unloaded their bags, and Trav followed Sonya into the house. The walls were open wood, with a vaulted ceiling and exposed beams. Sunlight flooded in through a picture window overlooking the lake. It was tastefully decorated but still looked like the kind of place you could walk around with a wet bathing suit and not ruin anything.

Baby paraphernalia already littered the foyer, and Trav smiled at the sight. He had to admit, he was looking forward to being around kids for the weekend as much as he was the adults. He’d only seen Asia a handful of times since she was born and he missed his adopted niece and nephew.

A woman wearing a floral sundress and carrying a platter of fruit and crackers squealed as they came in. She attacked Sonya with a hug, and Trav quickly slipped Sonya’s bag off of her shoulder before it crashed to the ground.

“You’re here!” She gave Dani the same greeting, then turned to Trav, offering her free hand. “I’m Emma. It’s so nice to meet you!”

“Trav. Nice to meet you too.”

She motioned them into the open space. “There’s snacks here,” she said. “Coffee on the counter. What can I get y’all?”

“Em,” Sonya said. “You don’t have to play hostess. Relax and enjoy your kid-free weekend.”

As if offended, a baby strapped to a short, dark-haired woman’s chest wailed.

Sonya’s face crumpled. She put on this cutesy baby-talk voice as she cooed over the infant whose name was apparently Lulu.

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