Page 50 of Let It Breathe
Reese blinked, then regrouped. “Sure. I can do that. I think I’ve got frozen shrimp and some angel hair pasta. Scampi okay with everyone?”
“Perfect,” Eric said. “I just picked up a great little Pinot Gris from Sokol Blosser that’ll go great with that.”
Reese felt Clay go still beside her. She looked at him, trying to read his expression. “I have water,” she offered. “Or soda. Or juice. Or?—”
“I’m fine,” he said, his eyes fixed on Eric. “Really, I don’t want to impose.”
“I insist,” Reese said. “So dinner at my place in an hour. Axl? Want to join us?”
“Nah, I’ve got a hot date. Don’t tell Francie, okay? I’ve got a little somethin’ on the side with this other lady, if you know what I mean.”
Axl tried to wink, and Clay reached out to steady him before he started to tip.
“Okay,” Reese said with an eye roll. “Well, then. I’ll see the rest of you at my place in just a little bit.”
Reese marched out of the room, feeling eyes on her back. She wasn’t sure whose they were, but she didn’t dare turn around to look.
As she got outside, she breathed in the smell of wet grass and spring onion. Leon spotted her and came trotting up, his shaggy ears pricked. She surveyed him for any wobbly movements or odd behavior, but he looked pretty much the same.
“Quite a day, Leon,” she told him. “First you get stoned, then I lose a whole barrel of one-of-a-kind Pinot Noir. Not sure which is worse.”
Leon hummed and fell into step beside her as she marched across the lawn toward her house. Her phone rang right as she walked in, and Reese scrambled to answer, leaving the front door ajar so she could keep an eye on Leon.
“Hello?”
“Hey, cuz,” Larissa chirped. “What are you doing tonight?”
“Making dinner for Clay and Eric, apparently. Why?”
“I just got stood up by this guy I’ve been seeing. Wanna get together and play with makeup and have pillow fights in our underwear?”
“Did you miss the part where I said Clay and Eric are coming over for dinner?”
“No, I got that part,” Larissa said. “I thought they’d like to watch.”
Reese snorted. “No. No pillow fights, no makeup. But if you want to come over, I’m making shrimp scampi. Bring salad.”
“I’ll be there in a few. Love you!”
Reese hung up the phone and went to her refrigerator to make sure she had everything she needed. She hadn’t planned on an impromptu dinner party, but felt pleased to discover she had plenty of shrimp and a big bunch of asparagus. Maybe an easy hollandaise sauce? Plenty of butter for the scampi, plus a couple loaves of French bread in the freezer.
She pulled out the ingredients and was about to check on Leon when the phone rang again.
“Hello?”
“Hi, honey, it’s Mom—listen, Grandpa’s got other plans for dinner tonight, and I thought maybe you’d like to come over and join us? I made huckleberry cobbler for dessert.”
“Actually, I’m having Eric and Clay and Larissa over here.” She hesitated, not sure if having her parents there would make the dynamic more or less awkward.
Could it really get more awkward?
“Why don’t you two join us for dinner?” Reese suggested.
“We wouldn’t want to impose?—”
“Don’t worry about it. Just bring chairs. And bring the cobbler, too.”
“You’re sure?”
