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“She’s taken, asshole.”
“No, she’s not,” says Alan.
“Yes,” says Cooper, his arms tightening around me, “she is.”
Alan stops and stares at the three of us.
“You’re here with my brother,” says Alan to Cooper.
“Yep.”
“So who…?”
“She’s with us,” says Drew tightly.
“Us,” echoes Alan, still not getting it.
“Both of us,” says Drew, wrapping an arm around my shoulders, sandwiching Cooper in between us.
“Mother of God,” breathes Alan. “I always knew you were an idiot.” He starts laughing. “Jesus Christ, Andrew. Grow up.” Alan keeps laughing as he walks away. Our audience inside is nearly silent, the only sound coming through the other set of open doors the clattering of trays and plates as the caterers continue their setup. Every eye is on our little drama on the porch.
I see Drew’s father pushing his way through the crowd, rounding the same corner Alan had directed me past.
“Andrew,” he says.
“Dad,” says Drew, taking a deep breath and withdrawing his arm. “This is Cooper Lawson, my boyfriend.”
“Mr. Hicks,” says Cooper. It’s the closest I’ve ever heard him come to sounding meek. Drew’s father gives Cooper a short nod.
“And you know Bailey,” finishes Drew.
“Your girlfriend,” says Mr. Hicks, drawing a matching wince from all of us.
“I didn’t plan for you to find out like this,” says Drew, regret thick in his voice.
“No, I expect you didn’t,” says Mr. Hicks. “But that’s out of your hands now. Your voice carries.”
Cooper laughs abruptly, slapping a hand over his mouth to cut it off.
“Sorry,” he says quietly. “It’s that teacher’s voice.” I want to say Mr. Hick’s lips twitch with humor, but it must be my imagination. He looks absolutely mortified.
Sound picks up from the ballroom inside, a mass of whispers and quiet conversations drifting through the open doors somewhere on the porch. If we can hear that much, it’s no wonder everybody heard Drew.
“What is the meaning of this?” A stern, angry male voice precedes its owner by several beats. Mr. JD Hicks stalks around the corner, his walking stick thumping hard every few feet. He’s a burly bear of a man with the energy of somebody half his age. I’ve only met him once before, at a cousin’s wedding many years ago. He hasn’t changed—he intimidated me then, too.
Cooper’s expression is unfazed but I can tell he’s having trouble processing. We never got around to talking about exactly what’s going on between the three of us, let alone whether to tell anybody. Or what to tell anybody.
Looks like we’re going all out, though.
“Grandfather,” says Drew, the anger in his voice tempered with respect. If JD Hicks is intimidating to me, I can’t imagine what it must have been like growing up as part of his family. If anything, Drew’s spine stiffens, bringing him to his full height. “This is Cooper Lawson. And I believe you’ve already met Bailey.”
“Andrew.” The elder Mr. Hicks sets both hands on his walking stick and keeps his gaze on Drew, not bothering to look in our direction. “Your parents have put up with your dithering for years. Bad enough to have left a perfectly sound career to flounder away at some television studio. Now this?”
Drew’s jaw tightens. “Grandfather, I—”
“No,” says Mr. Hicks. “We have tolerated your indecisiveness quite enough. Boyfriends, girlfriends, odd jobs. No commitment, no strings, no responsibility.” This last he punctuates by striking the porch with the end of his staff. “You were raised better than that.”
Drew looks to his father. “Dad, you can’t possibly think—”
