“Thank God, you’re here. I promised myself I would only start drinking when there was another adult in the house. Sam doesn’t count.”

Juliet gave her older sister a half-cocked smile as she was dragged in past the front door of her San Antonio home. She had come before Chance in order to help out with that night’s party. She certainly wasn’t going to start putting the man to work on what was technically their second date. She also wanted to feel out her sister to see what his reception would be like.

“Good to see you too, Bea,” she said.

Beatrice gave her a droll look. “Oh, don’t you start. Just wait until you have four kids, then you can start judging. Do you know James had the nerve to tell me this morning that Hillary Clinton was more centrist than liberal? Like I need political schooling from a 10-year-old.”

Juliet raised her hands in a defensive surrender. “No judging. I can’t even imagine.”

“Damn right you can’t, now come help me open this bottle of Chardonnay before we get started. I swear, already these kids are working my last nerve.”

Juliet walked over to where she knew the wine glasses were held and randomly grabbed two.

“Not those,” Beatrice said, “we’re going to need some Olivia Pope sized fishbowls today.”

Juliet laughed. It was their usual Thursday night routine to watch Scandal together while on the phone and yell at the T.V. Especially when Olivia inevitably got back with Fitz, whom neither of them preferred to Jake.

“What’s going on, Bea?” she asked, switching out the perfectly proper white wine glasses for the ones that might indeed be described as small fishbowls.

Beatrice just sighed. “Girl, what isn’t up. I’ve got a prima donna tween going on thirty with her sassy self, a know-it-all 10-year-old, and five-year-old twins. You do the math.”

“Hmm, fair enough,” Juliet said, bringing the glasses over.

“Mom!” the voice of her niece, Nicole preceded her into the kitchen. She paused only a second when she saw Juliet.

Beatrice’s husband, Sam, was white and Juliet could see the perfect blend of both of them in her niece.

“Mom,” Nicole repeated, now ignoring her aunt. “Can’t I just go to Monica’s house for a couple of hours while you all—?”

“Absolutely not, if I let you go now, I won’t see you until the party’s half over. Besides, it’s not like this was a surprise. You knew this was coming, and you knew you had to be here. I don’t even want to hear it.”

Juliet knew when to duck out and decided to focus on pouring the wine instead, making sure to give her sister an extra drop or two.

“But this is the first party with the new pool!” Nicole was nearly at the point of stomping her feet.

“Which means there will be plenty of others down the line.”

“Yeah but this is the biggest! Everyone is going to be there! Everyone except me!” her voice became increasingly excited and contentious.

“We’ll I guess that means you’ll be all the more welcome next time around.”

“Ugh!” Nicole grunted, with all the end-of-the-world angst that only a pre-teen could manage, before spinning on her heels to head out of the kitchen.

“Nicole!” her niece wasn’t so far into her double-digits to completely ignore the warning tone in her mother’s voice. “Are you forgetting someone who came all the way up from Houston to visit us? I think you need to say hello to your aunt Juliet.”

“Hello,” she managed, with enough sarcasm poured on top to sink the Titanic. Before Beatrice could reprimand her, she had spun back around and stormed off.

Beatrice gave a heavy sigh as she looked out the windows in the kitchen to the backyard. “Sometimes I miss the days when it was just me and Sam.”

She gave a slightly nostalgic smile as she swirled her glass of wine around. “Weekends like this, we’d wake up and share a bong and watch cartoons. How crazy is that?” she turned to Juliet with a wry smile.

Juliet’s eyes grew wide. She could picture that with her older, and far more Bohemian sister. Beatrice’s husband Sam was about as straight-laced as they came. Maybe they had more in common than Juliet had always thought.

It obviously made her think about Chance and herself.

“I mean, don’t get me wrong; I love my children to death, but…” Beatrice shook her head and gave another small sigh, “…days like today make me envy you, sis.”

As if to cement the point, a cacophony of what could only be described as World War III took place above them.

“It’s mine!”

“No it’s not!”

It sounded like her five-year-old twin nephews. Juliet cast a worried glance in her sister’s direction.

Beatrice gave a brief laugh. “Don’t worry, I can tell when something is broken or bleeding. They’re fine.”

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, all this freedom of mine goes to waste. Do you know what my Saturday mornings are like? Spin class, Starbucks, and laundry, or grocery shopping, or grading papers, or, well, something other than smoking pot and watching cartoons.”

She thought about the weekend with Chance that was anything but normal. She sipped her wine and eyed her sister over the top of her glass, deciding what to tell her about Chance.

Finally, she set it down and took a breath.

“I invited someone.”

The doorbell rang just as Beatrice set her wine glass down to hear more.

“Viola!” Nicole’s voice shouted excitedly, which answered the question as to which of her aunts was her favorite.

The two older sisters waited for their youngest to make an appearance in the kitchen.

“Hello, hello!” Viola said, throwing her hands in the air as she made her entrance, eagerly followed by Nicole, who all of a sudden didn’t care about a pool party that was going on elsewhere in San Antonio.

Once again, Juliet was struck by how different she was from her sisters. Viola was more rebellious than Bohemian, with her afro mohawk dyed a bright red at the ends. She wore denim overalls over a bright yellow tube top, the perfect attire for their parents’ 36th wedding anniversary, even if it was a barbecue.

“Is Sarah coming?” Nicole asked. For some reason, the fact that her aunt was a lesbian gave her a certain caché. Even Juliet had to admit that Viola’s girlfriend was…interesting.

“Later, Nikki,” she assured her niece, then turned her attention to Beatrice and Juliet. “And how are my two favorite sisters?”

“Juliet was just telling me that she has a beau.”

“Ooh, do tell!” Viola said gleefully. Even Nicole seemed suddenly interested in her aunt.

The intimate chat she’d planned with her oldest sister had turned just into a side show. Juliet took a sip from her wine, now glad for her sister’s insistence upon opening a bottle.

“He’s a man I met two weeks ago,” she smiled as she remembered the Mixers & Elixirs event. “We went on a date and hit it off.”

She shrugged as though that was all there was to it and took another sip.

“Oh no you don’t get off that easily,” said Viola.

“There has to be more to it than that,” Beatrice chimed in. “Especially if you’re inviting him here.”

“Is he at least cute?” Nicole asked skeptically.

“Yes, he’s cute,” Juliet said.

“One date and you’re inviting him to Mom and Dad’s anniversary party?” Viola asked.

“It’s not like it’s a formal occasion, and there will be so many people tonight that mom and Dad won’t even notice.”

Viola laughed at that. “Oh, they’ll notice all right.”

“But will they approve?” Beatrice added, raising an eyebrow.

Juliet blew out her mouth.

“Oh, snap!” Viola squealed. “I know that look.”

“What look?” Nicole asked.

“The look that says Dad’s gonna have a shit fit.”

“Viola!” Beatrice said, rolling her eyes toward Nicole, who just rolled her own eyes.

“So what’s the deal?” Viola asked. “Spill it.”

Juliet took another sip before answering. To be honest, she wasn’t sure how to answer.

“Well, right now he works on an oil rig,” she said, keeping it somewhat ambiguous.

That was met with stunned silence.

“But he actually plays poker for a living,” she added quickly, which she realized too late didn’t sound much better.

Beatrice just raised her eyebrows as she sipped her wine.

Viola had a half smile on her face.

Nicole was just looking at her as though she was an alien.

“What?” Juliet asked with exasperation.

“Maybe don’t lead with that one when you introduce him to Dad,” Beatrice suggested.

“Screw that,” Viola said. “If you’re bringing that guy here after one date, he’s obviously something special. I saw that smile when you first brought him up. Own your man, Juliet.”

Juliet gave a pleased smile to her younger sister, feeling slightly bolstered.

“Well, I do have to say it’s a refreshing change from the guys you usually bore my ear off of with.”

“What?” Juliet retorted, casting a surprised look Beatrice’s way.

Beatrice just shrugged, sipping her wine before continuing. “You never seemed interested is all I’m sayin’. At least this one seems to spark something in you. Anyone who can put that smile on my little sis’ face is perfectly welcome in my home. So he’s coming?”

“Yeah,” Juliet said, still amazed he agreed to it.

“There’s that smile again,” Viola said. “Gurrrl, you better hold on to this one, oil rig poker player or whatever.”

“At least he’s cute,” Nicole said, sticking to the important point.