Chapter Twenty-Three
Alice
“Alice, for the love of God, drive faster or there will be no food left when we get there,” Blake says. He’s in the passenger seat and has been nagging me to drive faster since we hit the road.
We’re meeting the entire clan for the picnic at my parents’ house and it made no sense for everyone to go with their own car, so I got saddled with Blake and Daniel. Nate had to oversee some reshoots today and said he wasn’t sure when they’d be over, so he’ll stop by later. It’s going to be a glorious day; I can feel it in the tips of my fingers. I so needed an outing with the family, and I’m happy everyone is coming. It’s also going to be the first time Nate joins a family event as my guy. It feels like an important milestone.
“I don’t think the car can take it. Whenever I go over sixty, it starts making scary noises,” I explain.
“Here’s a thought: buy another car,” Daniel supplies from the back seat.
“But I like this one,” I insist. “It’s got personality.”
In the rearview mirror, I see Daniel dragging his hands down his face, staring at me like I grew a second head.
“Always knew you were nutty,” he says under his breath.
“Heard you.”
“I meant for you to hear me.”
Blake groans, then abruptly straightens in his seat, as if an idea just occurred to him. “Let’s bet.”
“On how long it’ll take us to get there?” Daniel asks, looking equally animated. Whenever we’re together, the children in us surface. That’s a universal truth, at least in our clan.
I’d forgotten how much fun the twins like to have at my expense. I can’t deny I like it though. It’s our thing, and it has been for as long as I remember. Funny thing is I’ve never allowed any of my other siblings to tease me the way I’ve allowed Blake and Daniel. I suppose all of us have our soft spots.
Ah, I don’t foresee much good for me in the near future. My nieces and nephews will have me wrapped around their little fingers.
“That too,” Blake says. “I was thinking about which one of our oldest brothers will be the first to give Nate the talk, Sebastian or Logan.”
“They’ll corner him at the same time,” Daniel says immediately.
“Agreed. They like to work together when it comes to intimidating someone,” I explain.
The twins fall into an almost eerie silence.
“You’re not worried?” Blake asks cautiously.
I shrug, focusing on the road again. As the sun comes out from behind clouds, I have to squint at the blinding light. Well, if there’s a time for blinding light, it’s mid-August.
“Nate can handle it. I have full confidence in him.”
Another silence follows, right before Blake bursts out laughing.
“You have love blinders on, sister. But I’m neutral. I can assess everyone’s potential better.”
“Me too,” Daniel adds helpfully.
“It’s a good thing we’re bringing ice.” Blake whistles, lowering in his seat.
“Ice?” I ask, not following.
“In case anyone gets a black eye.”
“Don’t be an idiot. No one will.”
“The beauty is in the uncertainty.” Daniel earns himself a stink eye from me in the rearview mirror. “But I’m with Alice. Our oldest brothers will behave, even Logan.”
Blake considers this. “True, Logan’s acting strange. We’ve been getting along too well lately. He never rides my ass anymore. It’s weird.”
I grin, shaking my head. Knowing Blake, he’ll provoke Logan over any tiny thing just to rile him up. It’s always fun to watch. That reminds me, I should thank Logan. He must have spoken to Daniel and gotten through to him, because Daniel shared with me that he’s thinking of focusing more on expanding his range of sport-related activities and dropping the extreme adventures part.
We talk about a soccer game for the rest of the trip, and I’m so engrossed in the conversation that I barely hear my phone when it chirps with an incoming message.
“What was that sound?” Blake asks. “The car begging you to drive faster?”
“You buffoon. It was my phone. Daniel, can you please take it out of my purse and read the message out loud? I don’t like to look at my phone while driving.”
Daniel rummages through my bag for a while until he finds my phone.
“It’s from Nate,” he informs me.
“What does it say?”
“Are you sure it’s safe to open it?” he asks.
“Huh?”
“He’s afraid he might stumble onto dirty talk,” Blake explains with a shit-eating grin. That actually makes me pause, because… um… well, Nate and I are fond of sexting. But he should be at work now, so we’re safe.
“We might be more laid-back than our older brothers,” Blake continues, “but we still don’t like to know about our sisters doing the nasty. It’s a brother thing.”
“I get it. The caveman gene is alive and well. Go ahead and read it, Daniel. If you’re squeamish, cover your eyes and look through your fingers. Pass the phone to Blake at the first sight of a dirty word.”
“Okay,” Daniel says. “Here’s what is says. ‘Hey, shooting finished earlier, so I’m already here. So is everyone else, except for you, Blake, and Daniel.’”
“He’s already there?” My throat dries up.
“Yes, not everyone drives like you,” Daniel deadpans.
Blake chuckles, muttering something that sounds like “Let the cornering begin.”
Sweat breaks out on my palms, despite my previous claims about having full faith in Nate. My oldest brothers have been known to scare off my dates before. Sure, I was young and those dates were wimps, but history is history.
Praying that my car doesn’t leave me in the lurch, I hit the gas pedal.
“Look who’s driving faster now,” Blake remarks.
***
Nate
The picnic with the Bennetts reminds me of the old days. The clan is as loud and nutty as I remember it, only now it’s even bigger. Having the picnic at their house was a great idea because their yard is huge, complete with a gazebo. It’s warm and sunny now, but in case the weather turns unpleasant, we can take the party inside.
“This is a lot of food. It’ll take a long time to grill everything.” I survey the mountains of meat and vegetables. Jenna Bennett surveys it too. I have the utmost respect for her and her husband, Richard. They always had an open door for me, and for any of their kids’ friends.
“Big group.” Jenna gives me precise instructions on how long to grill each type of vegetable. I listen even though I know this stuff backward, remembering Alice saying that sometimes she lets her mom give advice she’ll never use because it makes Jenna feel useful, and mothers need to be needed.
She only stops when one of Pippa’s girls is tugging at her skirt. Pippa stands a few feet behind, clapping her hands and cheering her daughter. Bending down, Jenna lifts her granddaughter in her arms.
“I’ll start with the grilling right away, Jenna. Clearly, Mia wants more of your attention.” It was a wild guess, and by the way Jenna chuckles, the wrong one.
“This is Elena.” She pushes Elena’s hair away from her face and the toddler laughs, grabbing Jenna’s sweater in her tiny fists and then a strand of Jenna’s hair, tugging with surprising force for such a little thing. “Let’s take you back to your mom and sister, shall we?”
“You’re getting a kick out of being a grandmother, aren’t you?”
“Absolutely. It’s even more fun than being a mom. I do all the spoiling while their parents worry about pesky things such as educating them.”
With that, she leaves me to get on with the food.
***
It’s a good thing they have three enormous grills; otherwise, the process would take hours. I’ve barely poured the coals onto the first one when Sebastian and Logan join me.
“We’re on grilling duty too,” Sebastian announces.
Logan nods, extending a hand. “Pass the coal.”
Two minutes later, I realize they plan to grill more than veggies and meat. They’re also here to grill me, which I expected.
“So, what exactly is going on with you and Alice?” Sebastian asks, cutting right to the chase, looking straight at me while prodding with the coal fork around the coal.
“I was wondering when you’d start with this.”
“You still haven’t answered,” Logan supplies, looking far less laid-back than Sebastian. Then again, I’ve known these guys for almost twenty years. Sebastian is the cool-headed and analytical one, while Logan is more impulsive.
“Alice and I are dating, and it’s going great. I respect her, and I’m going to take care of her.”
“We’ve known you for a long time,” Sebastian says, and I hold my hand up.
“I know my track record. But what Alice and I have is the real deal.”
Sebastian relaxes visibly at this, but Logan holds up a finger. “If you hurt her—”
“Let me guess, you’ll kill me?”
Logan lifts a brow. “We’re watching you. Closely.”
“I’d be surprised if you didn’t.”
The sound of a car approaching makes the three of us turn around. Alice’s battered old Ford comes into view.
“Sorry for being late, everyone,” Blake explains once he, Alice, and Daniel are out of the car. “Alice here wanted to win the trophy for slowest driver of the year.”
Alice elbows him but doesn’t lecture him for making fun of her. Interesting. I get another treatment altogether when I tease her about her old car. Double standard if I’ve ever seen one.
“Uh-oh,” Alice exclaims, heading toward me and pointing to her brothers at my side. Blake tails behind her while Daniel joins the rest of the group on the other side of the yard.
“Did you give Nate a hard time?” she inquires once she’s in front of us.
“No idea what you’re talking about,” Sebastian says.
“So it’s a coincidence that you and Logan are flanking him?”
I just smile, watching their interaction.
“There are three grills. Three guys are needed,” Logan explains, knowing as well as I do that’s shit. One person is more than enough to man the grills. Blake is snickering from behind his sister.
“Everything’s fine,” I say.
Alice folds her arms, surveying the three of us. “So they haven’t flexed their big brother muscles on my behalf? I feel discriminated against.”
That actually catches me off guard. She wanted them to corner me? This calls for a thorough revenge plan on my part.
Logan grins. “Nah, we did. But we decided he seems honest, so we’re just going to keep an eye on him.”
“Told you Logan’s lost his touch.” Blake steps right next to Alice. “Look at Nate. He doesn’t look intimidated or pissed.”
“Oy,” Logan exclaims.
“Just so you know,” Blake replies, “I’ll pick a fight with you sometime today. Things need shaking up.”
“Sometimes I can’t believe the conversations in this family,” Sebastian mutters.
Alice shakes her head at her brothers’ shenanigans. I hold up my hand. “All right, show’s over. I need to talk to Alice alone. Watch the grill until I’m back.”
Without waiting for anyone’s answer, I take Alice’s hand, leading her toward the house. Once inside, I turn to face her, holding her against me.
“First things first.” I kiss her thoroughly, needing to get my fill of her. I haven’t seen her in three days, and that’s about three days too long. Her sweet mouth welcomes me, her lips parting with ease. I lose myself in her warmth. We’re both insatiable.
“Mmmm, I’ll ask my brothers to corner you more often if it means I’ll get kissed like that,” she says when we pull apart.
“You don’t deserve to be kissed like that after practically cheering them on. I remember you saying you’d talk me up.”
“I did a while ago.” Alice shrugs, laying her palms on my chest. “I was torn between wanting them to give you a hard time and defending you.”
“This is supposed to make me feel better?”
She nods with conviction. “Yes. And when you wrote to say you were already here, I even panicked a bit and drove fast. Well, as fast as she’d go.”
“That car—”
“Watch it. Make fun of it and you won’t get laid.”
“I’m confident enough in my seduction skills.” I rub my thumbs against her bare shoulders in small circles and her cheeks redden. “See?”
“You’re not playing fair.” She fidgets in her spot, and some of that playful glint in her eyes has faded. She looks concerned now.
“Alice, everything okay?”
“Yeah.” She fidgets even more, drumming her fingers on my chest. “So my brothers haven’t scared you off, huh?”
“Of course not. That’s how little you think of me?”
“No, but I thought it would be a good test.” She swallows, glancing at me apologetically, as if she just let slip something she wasn’t supposed to.
“What are you talking about?”
“Well, if you got scared about their big brother talk, it would’ve been a red flag.”
There are times when I think I have her all figured out, and then she surprises me by showing me just how vulnerable she can be.
“This thing between us is important to me. You’re important to me.”
“Yeah?” She smiles, and everything feels right again.
“Yes.”
“So I’m forgiven for secretly wishing my brothers would corner you?”
I kiss her forehead. “You, Alice Bennett, will never cease to blindside me. Now let’s get back outside before someone interrupts us. Accidentally, of course.”
We spend the rest of the day catching up with everyone, and I seem to get a variation of the talk from every member in the family. It gets annoying at some point, but I’m also glad that even as adults, they still have each other’s backs.
***
“That went well,” Alice exclaims toward the end of the day, when most of the group is preparing to leave.
“Yeah, I got far fewer death threats than I was expecting.”
“Am I being childish to be nervous about tomorrow?”
We’re visiting my mother tomorrow. She was very excited when I told her we’re going over. Being surrounded by this loud and boisterous clan, I can’t help feeling guilty for not visiting her more often, even if she lives three hours away.
“I can guarantee my mother will not issue any threats. Unless she tries to feed us marshmallows.”
“Oh, crap. I remember her marshmallows. They’re hard as stones. A threat on their own.”