Page 57 of Bourbon and Bluebells

He caught Alyssa’s gaze, and she made big eyes at him, as if asking him what the heck was going on.

There was nothing for it. His mom had given him the perfect opening. “As a matter of fact, there is something we need to talk about.” He looked at Russ. “Something all four of us need to talk about.”

His mom laughed. “Why don’t we get a drink and take it out onto the terrace? You make it sound like you have big news for us. Do you?” The way she waggled her eyebrows at him was soout of character for her that his heart started to pound even harder.

Alyssa made a little noise that was kind of a squeak and kind of he didn’t know what. When he met her gaze, it looked like she was begging him to just get it over with. And he felt the same way. He didn’t even want to wait as long as it took for them to get drinks and get settled out on the terrace. There was nothing for it.

He went to Alyssa. It might not be the wisest move with her dad standing right there, but he had to do it. He put his arm around her shoulders, needing her to know that they were in this together. That she didn’t have to stand alone, either figuratively or literally, as they faced their parents.

He cleared his throat before he spoke, half wondering as he did whether Russ would tell him to get his hands off his daughter. To the contrary, when Bentley dared to look at him, Russ was grinning at them, and his mom let out a little squeal sound of her own.

“It’s true then? You do have big news for us?” she asked with a big smile.

Bentley tightened his arm around Alyssa and drew her into his side. “We do. I know it might seem strange given the situation, given that we’re …” He hesitated to say it, but it was the only problem he could see that they might have with his and Alyssa’s relationship. “… That we’re almost stepbrother and sister, but Alyssa and I have gotten to know each other this last couple of weeks. And we’ve decided to explore a relationship.” He wanted to keep his explanation as brief as possible. And that was all they really needed to know.

Alyssa’s arm tightened around his waist when she spoke. “I hope you guys are going to be okay with this.” She looked at herdad first and then his mom. “Bentley’s awesome, and we want to get to know each other better. We’re going to be spending more time together.”

Bentley held his breath, waiting to see what they’d have to say. It felt like Alyssa was doing the same thing as she clung to him.

He felt like everyone must be able to hear his heart pounding into the silence that seemed to drag on for minutes, but which probably only lasted for a few seconds before his mom and Russ looked at each other and burst out laughing.

He and Alyssa exchanged a look.

“Oh my goodness, I’m sorry,” said his mom. “But you should see your faces!” She laughed again.

Russ winked at Alyssa and then turned his smile on Bentley. “Sorry, we just couldn’t resist. We know. We’ve known since the beginning.”

Bentley swallowed; he doubted that was true. He couldn’t imagine that Russ would be smiling and looking so happy if he knew about that first night.

“What do you mean?” Alyssa asked. Her voice was so high-pitched that Bentley could tell that she was thinking the same thing that he was.

His mom came and put her hand on Alyssa’s arm, which made him relax a little. She was seeking to reassure her. That had to be good.

“It’s okay, sweetheart. You can relax. We’re thrilled.” She looked at Russ, and he nodded.

“We are,” he said. “We were surprised at first, but come on, how could we not be thrilled at the thought of the two of you getting together?”

“But how… How do you know?” Alyssa asked.

Bentley felt bad that he was letting her do the talking, but he was still struggling to catch up with their unexpected reaction.

Russ smiled at her. “That weekend when you both came to visit, Ria kept saying that she sensed chemistry between the two of you.” He smiled at Bentley’s mom and put his arm around her shoulders. Then he shot a glance at Bentley. “What can I say? I’m a guy. I didn’t pick up on it. But on the Sunday afternoon when the two of you were getting ready to leave, even I could see it. You were both sad to say goodbye to each other.

“We were talking about it after you left, wondering if and how we could engineer another meeting between the two of you.” He smiled, “That’s what the audit was all about. After you’d gone, we decided to go out for a run. We’d skipped the whole weekend with you guys being there.”

Bentley sucked in a deep breath as realization hit him. The couple on the road above the beach, the couple who had stopped when he and Alyssa were kissing.

His mom met his gaze. “We thought that you’d seen us.”

Alyssa looked up at him, and he nodded. “When we met up at the beach to say goodbye? I saw a couple running.” He gave his mom a rueful smile. “I thought that it was kind of rude of them to stop and watch.”

Russ smiled through pursed lips. “You can hardly blame us. We couldn’t believe what we were seeing at first.”

His mom laughed. “I could! I just knew it. I knew it from the very first moment the two of you met.”

Alyssa’s arm tightened around his waist, and Bentley swallowed. They were both hoping that his mom believed that the first moment they met was at The Boathouse on the Saturdaymorning. He was relieved that they both seemed so pleased, but he still didn’t want them to know about his and Alyssa’s first night.

Russ met his gaze and held it for a long moment. “We’ve been waiting, hoping that you might decide you were ready to tell us. Don’t worry, I don’t blame you for wanting to take a little bit of time first.”

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