I spotted the trio of trouble the moment we stepped inside the restaurant. They were loud and disruptive, and they looked like they were having so much fun that none of the patrons around them even looked annoyed.
“I can’t believe you talked me into meeting your sister,” Melody griped, swiping at her hair in an effort to look presentable. Truth was, she looked flawless.
“Why? Are you actually worried she isn’t going to like you? Have you met you?”
“Yes!” she whisper-yelled. “I have. And quite frankly, I’m a little bit of a bitch.”
Laughter, uproarious and unchecked, burst from my chest at the lie.
Three sets of interested eyes—those of Georgia, Cassie, and Winnie—locked on to us immediately. “Whoops,” I whispered, pushing Melody slightly in front of me with a hand at her back. “Looks like we’re busted.”
She moved the first few steps like her feet were encased in cement, so I used my hand and pressure to suggest she move a little faster.
“It’ll be fine,” I whispered right before we got to the table. “They’re going to love you.”
Melody’s eyes bounced over her shoulder, and I knew it had to be the tone of my voice. It said the words I didn’t: they’re going to love you. I know because I do.
I surprised even myself when I didn’t panic. I wasn’t completely sure if I was actually in love with her, but I knew what I felt was a little more than affectionate. I also knew we’d been together barely any time at all, but we spent literally every day together. Working, talking, laughing—all of it made me that much fonder of her.
“Hey, brother!” Georgia greeted, jumping up from her seat to give me a kiss on the cheek. “I didn’t know you were bringing a friend.”
“Yeah.” I looked to Melody and back to the group of women. “I hope that’s okay.”
Georgia waved my comment away. “It’s fine! The more, the merrier.”
“Great. But actually, Melody is—”
“We get it, Will,” Georgia cut me off, waving her napkin back and forth before putting it back in her lap. “You’re not dating. Winnie taught us the important lesson of what a woman ‘too smart to date Will Cummings’ looks like.”
“Yeah,” Cassie remarked with a laugh. “Hot. Stacked. Fire in her eyes. She’s definitely too smart for you.”
A tiny little river of hurt carved its way through my chest, the doubt it left in its wake making me wonder if they were on to something. Melody was good. She was positivity and a real conduit for change. And she was the most beautiful woman I’d ever laid eyes on. The sum of all those things easily outnumbered the total of what I deserved.
“Actually,” Melody cut in, her hand snaking out and linking itself with mine, “I’m not too smart.”
Fuck me. Doubt effectively dried up, I felt a little like puffing out my chest.
Winnie’s eyes were the first to light up. “Yessss.” She banged a hand so hard on the table it made everyone else jump. “I’m finally here for the fun stuff.”
Melody’s expression turned uncertain, so I leaped to explain with a pointed glare in Winnie’s direction. “She’s got a brilliant mind, but Winnie is just as deranged as my sister and Cassie. Ignore her words until they actually make sense.”
Cassie took no offense. “Don’t mind us. We just love to watch the drama.”
“You love drama?” Melody asked, slightly horrified at the prospect of what I’d gotten her into.
Cassie was once again unfazed. “Go through it, no. Watch it, yes.”
“There’s no drama,” I interceded. Fucking hell, this lunch was going to be long.
“Of course there’s no drama…” Cassie muttered. “Yet.”
“No. No drama. Ever.”
“Pshh!” She laughed. “Okay, William. Good one.”
“Cassie!” Georgia scolded. “Back off. You’re scaring Melody.” My eyes narrowed. I appreciated the backup, but normally Cassie and my sister played on the same damn team. I didn’t trust this new development.
“I’m okay,” Melody offered. “Really. A day in our office is a little bit like an episode of Dallas.”
“You work together?” Winnie asked excitedly, and Melody’s eyes jumped to mine.
No. I hadn’t shared that little detail.
“Yes,” I confirmed. “Melody is my nurse.”
“Ohh,” Cassie breathed, grabbing Melody by both hands and yanking her toward herself. “Are you his naughty nurse? Thatcher and I could really use some ideas for that role-play.”
“Gross,” Georgia muttered, grabbing her tea to take a sip.
Carefully, I reached down and untangled Cassie’s hands from Melody, asking, “Can we sit down now, please? We’re hungry and on a schedule. It took a little effort to sneak both of us out two times in less than a week.”
I looked at Georgia pointedly. She’d all but insisted that we come to lunch today.
“Fine, fine,” Cassie acquiesced. “Sit down. Eat pussy. Doesn’t bother me.”
“Oh, Cass, geez,” I snapped, noticing Melody’s eyes were now the size of saucers.
Georgia had employed her own tactic, covering her ears and chanting, “La La La, that’s my brother, La La La!”
“Sorry, Melody,” Winnie apologized. “Cassie has zero filter.”
Melody’s cheeks were pink, but all in all, she recovered nicely. “Oh, that’s okay. I’d be in trouble if I were bashful with this guy around. The other day he had a woman come in for an exam with a laminated phone number in her vagina.”
I sank my head into my hands. “Oh, here we go!”
“What?” Georgia yelled. “That is incredible! You have to tell us everything!”
“Dish, diva!” Cassie commanded.
And she did. For the next twenty-five minutes, I watched, enthralled, as Melody inserted herself into their little circle seamlessly. I didn’t even really mind that ninety percent of her material came from embarrassing stories about me. I’d sacrifice myself as long as she felt comfortable.
“You should hear the way she—” I said, hoping to actually add something to the conversation.
“You know what I just realized,” Cassie interrupted now that someone with a penis was trying to talk. “There’s a chance we could have a little birthday baby!”
“What?” I asked. “Whose birthday is in late July?”
She rolled her eyes. “No one’s. But Big Dick’s is at the end of June.”
“But then she’d be having the baby a month early,” Winnie pointed out, and I nodded.
“And?” she said, waving her off with a swat.
Winnie looked to me and bugged out her eyes, prompting, “Will?”
Cassie’s hard stare turned to me swiftly. Her look was nearly as sharp as I knew her tongue could be, so I dropped my sandwich onto my plate and cleared my throat as a means to gather my courage. “As a medical professional, I’d have to advise against it if at all possible.”
“Ugh,” she huffed. “What do you know!”
Melody’s eyes came to me, and let me tell you, they were wide. “Um, you’re only the head of obstetrics at St. Luke’s Hospital,” she leaned close and whispered.
I smiled, turning to kiss her on the cheek before whispering back into her ear, “Trust me, that doesn’t matter at all.”
“Anyway, how great would it be to have Big Dick Junior share a birthday with his dad?” Cassie went on.
“Would you stop?” Georgia shouted. “My baby is a girl! She doesn’t have a dick, big or small, for shit’s sake.”
“Meh.” Cassie shrugged. “I’m not convinced.”
“It’s a girl!”
“I’ll wait until Big Dick’s birthday to find out.”
“My baby isn’t coming that early!” Georgia continued to shout.
“Relax, George,” I advised. “Calm is better for the baby.”
She took a deep breath, smoothing the air down with her hands like it would actually help her calm herself.
And then a gleam entered her eye.
“Oh my God, I know!” Gigi squeaked excitedly, bouncing up and down like a teenager. My eyes shot to her stomach. Okay, a pregnant teenager. “You guys should come over to my house tomorrow to watch the new episode of Dr. Obscene.”
That little fucking schemer. I bet that’s why she’d wanted me to come to lunch in the first place—so she could force me into another horrific family gathering for one of my episodes. She knew seeing her all pitiful and pregnant made it harder to say no.
“Ugh,” I groaned. “Don’t call it that.”
“Why, William?” Cassie cooed seductively. “You can’t fool us.”
Melody’s eyes shot back and forth between Cassie and me in question, and I shook my head no. No. Sure, I’d joked about a fictitious affair between her and me in the past as a means to get under Georgia’s skin, but there was a little too much crazy in her recipe for me. Too much spice and I broke out in a sweat.
“But seriously,” George implored, grabbing on to Melody’s hand and squeezing. “You guys have to come! Please, please, please! You can’t say no to a pregnant woman.”
“You really can’t,” Winnie advised with a shake of her head. “I tried, like, three times when she invited me to this lunch. And yet, here I sit. Eating.”
I groaned. “Mel?”
She shook her head, but what I took away overall was her smile. “I guess we’ll see you guys tomorrow.”