Page 23 of Last on the List
Dean feigns surprise as he places a hand on his chest. “You want to host our wedding? Wow, Max. I mean…boy…I’m not sure…we’ll have to really give it some thought…hell yes!”
I laugh and shove him away from me. “You are about as subtle as a boulder falling in my pool, Dean Moser.”
“I know.” He smiles gleefully and cups his hand to his mouth to yell down to the girls by the pool. “Sugar butt, Max said yes!”
“Yes!” I hear a high-pitched squeal from Norah, and all the girls lean in to figure out what she’s excited about.
“Seriously, Max, you’re the best.” He throws his arm around me and looks toward my sprawling backyard. “This is going to be perfect.”
“Do you have a date in mind already?”
“Thinking mid-October, maybe?”
I grin and shake my head. “I’ll have my assistant clear my schedule.”
Miles holds his beer out. “Congrats, Dean. I’m happy for you. It’ll be nice to add another kid to the group.”
“Hopefully a boy,” Dean says, clinking his glass with Miles’s. “Not that I wouldn’t love a girl. But I wouldn’t trust your son and my daughter growing up together.”
“Fair enough.” Miles laughs and turns his attention to Sam. “Now it’s your turn.”
Sam shakes his head. “Just because you nut jobs are all popping out kids doesn’t mean we are. Maggie and I are enjoying our time with just the two of us.” Sam winks at the group.
Miles groans. “That’s my fucking sister you’re talking about, bro.”
“You just told me you wanted us to have a baby,” Sam argues with a laugh. “You do know how babies are made, right?”
Miles looks ill. “I need more beer.”
After we eat, it starts getting dark out, so we have the kids change into pajamas and all curl up in the theater room for a movie. Everly looks so happy having friends over. It’s not something I’ve ever really let her do, and I realize I need to change that.
The ladies work on getting the girls settled so I head down to the creek to start a fire on the beach. Cassandra is the first to join me with a fresh drink in hand.
“I’m sorry for crashing your party, eating your food, and drinking your alcohol. Mercedes…I mean…Kate is not an easy person to say no to.”
“Oh, trust me, I’m aware,” I reply, stirring the fire around with a long stick and sending sparks up into the air. “And don’t worry about it. You’re not crashing at all. You were invited.”
She pulls a face and lowers herself into one of the Adirondack chairs. “I about fainted when I answered the door. I’ve been binge-reading Kate’s books for the past few months.”
My brows lift knowingly. “So that’s why you couldn’t turn in your own book report.”
She nods regretfully with a small embarrassed laugh. “I’m afraid so. God, I love her stuff.”
“She’s very talented…not that I’ve ever read her work.”
“Why not?” Cassandra gazes up at me, her round eyes sparkling in the firelight.
I huff out a laugh. “I don’t think I’m exactly her target demographic.”
She shrugs and takes a sip of her beer. “Maybe you should. Might help loosen you up a bit.”
I pause my work on the fire. “Need I remind you I went zip-lining yesterday?”
“And you screamed like a girl at least half a dozen times.” Her shoulders shake with silent laughter as she covers her smile.
I point an accusing finger at her. “You promised me in the car we would never speak of that again.”
She bends over, full-on belly laughing now. The sound travels straight to my groin. She composes herself and exclaims, “I promised I wouldn’t speak of it in front of other people. I never said I wouldn’t tease you privately.”
