Page 48 of It Happened Back Then
“And yet,” she grins, “you love me.”
“Who’s a menace?” Lief comes in, bellowing the question onto the back deck. But he’s not alone. He’s with Drake and Bennett. And I want to crawl into a hole. Please don’t let them hear us. And please shut my sister's mouth right now.
“Oh we were just discussing how amazing Be–”
I jump from my chair and throw my hand over Meadow’s mouth. “Oh, she’s just being Meadow. Hey, where’s Cole?” I turn on her, giving her the look of death. She licks the palm of my hand, and it makes me want to strangle her.
“Girls’ day. I should have known we’d be walking in onsome bullshit,” Lief says, and I sigh as Drake kisses January then scoops up Lily in his arms. He kisses her on the nose, and she hangs on for dear life. I melt knowing Lily is getting the absolute best father figure despite her not being Drake’s biologically.
“We’re talking about how Aunt Blossom loves Bennett,” Lily announces in her sweetest little four-year-old voice, her eyes wide with innocent curiosity. “Is he gonna be my uncle now, too?”
The room goes dead silent, like someone just yanked the plug on the party playlist. I swear I hear an imaginary record scratch as every head whips toward me.
And then laughter explodes around the backyard.
I collapse back into my chair, groaning and covering my face. “Lily, why are you like this?” I mutter into my palms, afraid to look at everyone.
A second later, someone drops into the seat next to me. I peek through my fingers and catch Bennett smirking like heknowshe’s the cause for this chaos.
And to make it worse, because Meadow never knows how to quit while she’s ahead, she asks, “So, how much have you learned, Bennett? I mean, you’re not a little kid anymore, ya know?”
My eyes are wide as I yell at her, “Are you for real right now?”
“As real as the gossip in Bluemoon,” Drake replies.
“Bluemoon is the real menace here,” I say.
“So Bluemoon got it right and you agree he’s a menace?” January sing-songs, raising her eyebrows like she’s just caught me in a trap.
“No, no,” Drake cuts in, all smug. “Swoops Bar is the real source. They’ve always got the scoop on the best places to eat, the newest fashion trends, and the weirdest places to hook up.” He wiggles his eyebrows. “I heard about theseNilsson sisters and getting off,pun intended, on having sex in random places.”
I smother a laugh as January turns bright red. Those two met during a one-night stand in the bathroom at the bar, only to find out later Drake was our delivery guy at the store. There was no getting away from the story.
“Bro!” Lief groans, smacking Drake in the arm. “Can wenottalk about my sisters and sex in the same sentence? My ears are bleeding.”
“Why are you allsoobsessed with this?” I wail, throwing my arms up dramatically.
“Because there’ssomethinggoing on,” Meadow insists, pointing back and forth between me and Bennett like she’s a cop. “You've been too close foryears. Are we writing a slow burn here? I’ll fucking die of old age if this keeps up.”
I narrow my eyes on her. “So what? You want me to just blow him in the stockroom to kill the mystery?”
My mom chokes on her drink.
Meadow just blinks, then smirks. “I mean, that’smy spot,but sure, go ahead and copy me.”
The entire backyard howls, while Bennett shakes his head, grinning like the smug little secret he is. I roll my eyes, and he bumps my shoulder. “They're just messing around, don’t feed into it.”
I’m annoyed because the same questions that have been in my own mind are now swimming around in my family’s as well. It's always been us. He was there to comfort me, be my rock when I was left alone. He was the only one there for me.
I blush just thinking about how he manhandled me the other night and, as if he can read my mind, he leans over and whispers, “I guess menace is a good way to put it, though.”
Sweating and needing to change the subject, I ask, “Anyway, why are you here crashing girls’ day?”
“We’re just passing through. We’re heading to the Swoops Nest Bar to see Cole. We need to discuss all things bachelor party.”
January points the finger at our brother. “Don’t even think about taking my fiancé to a strip club.”
“Don’t worry, January. If he needs to see a half-dressed woman, we’ll just have you meet him in the bar bathroom.”
