Page 12 of Take Me
Mason frowns.“I really thought you’d like that one.”
“Maybe you’re not such a great judge of what I like.”For some reason it comes out snappish.I start to apologize, but Mason just laughs.
“Remember that time I tried to fix you up with Greg Riley?”
“I’ve been trying to forget.”I nod thanks to the waiter who sets down my Coke, but my focus stays locked on Mason.“He had onion rings for dinner and tried to kiss me.”I hold up a hand when he starts to argue.“Withtongue.”
“Okay, but?—”
“He still had half an onion slice in his mouth at the time.”
Mason groans and sips his kombucha.“I promise not to kiss you with onion in my mouth at Maxine and Sam’s wedding.”
“Thank you for that.”It had never occurred to me I might have to kiss Mason as part of this ruse.“Thanks for what you did back at Lucy’s house.I know I’ve been flipping you shit about it, but that was good thinking.”
“No problem.”He glances at Harper, who must sense her uncle watching her.She hops out of her chair and lopes over to join us.“Uncle Mason, can I go home with Ryan Cole?”
Mason snorts.“Tell me you didn’t just ask if I’d hand you over to some testosterone-drunk teenage punk wearing his baseball cap backwards.”
“At least it’s an OSU Beavers cap,” I point out.“Could’ve been the Ducks.”
Harper sighs the fraught sigh of teenage girls everywhere.“Everyone else is going.It’ll be a big group.Please?”
The grumpy-ass uncle beside me growls.“If everyone else jumped off a fucking building, would you?—?”
“Yes.”Harper crosses her arms.“Because of your swearing, I would not only jump off a building, but cross the street without looking to buy lima beans I could stick up my nose.”
I snicker and dive into my cheese sticks.“You can only blame yourself, Uncle Mason.”
He flips me the bird, but does it behind his arm like we used to in school when the teachers would turn their backs.
Harper doesn’t miss the gesture.The kid doesn’t miss much.Clapping her hands, she lifts them in an urgent plea.“Please?Mom knowshismom, and she says he’s a good kid.”
“Unless your mom says itto me, along with the words, ‘I’m okay with you sending my child to hang with some teenage lothario,’ you’re going home with me.”
Huffing a breath, Harper goes back to her friends.Mason shakes his head and leans over to grab one of my cheese sticks.“Last week, she tried to get Peter to buy her a strapless dress for Jake and Cassidy’s wedding.”
“What’s wrong with that?”Chewing a cheese stick, I channel my inner feminist.“A young woman should be able to wear whatever makes her comfortable, without having her body sexualized.”
“It was fire-engine red and hit just below her ass, with mesh cutouts on the sides.”
Oh.“Not wedding appropriate?”
“Not unless my brother and his fiancée have changed their theme to Vampire Hookers.”
I snicker and stuff one more cheese stick in my mouth as another thought occurs to me.“Were you planning to take Annabelle to Jake and Cass’s wedding, too?”
“Yeah.”He sighs.“Same with Lucy and Peter’s ceremony the weekend after that.Guess I’ve got a little while to figure it out.”
He’s a groomsman in both, so maybe a plus-one doesn’t matter as much.“I’ve been planning to fly solo with girlfriends, for what it’s worth,” I tell him.“Hazel’s not taking a date, and neither is Shanice from the library.”
“A wedding date wolfpack.I like it.”
“I still can’t believe your siblings planned their weddings so close together.”
Mason shrugs.“It’s for Dad and Parker and Noah and anyone else who only makes it back here every few months.They can do one trip instead of two.”
It makes sense, though I think I’d prefer a little more limelight for my wedding.Even though I wanted to keep things simple with Neil, I loved the idea of a beautiful ceremony in the church where my parents got married.
