Sure enough, when I turn around, a woman is standing by the door, tapping her watch and giving us the evil eye as we hurriedly pack up our things and rush by her, throwing out apologies and giggling like two school kids who’ve been caught up to no good.
When we’re safe enough away, I stop and put a hand on Nate’s arm, he stops with me, and I lean in to kiss his cheek. “Thank you.” It’s all I have for now, it’s all I’m willing to share, but for the first time in a long time, it feels enough.
**********
One week later…
The sun is high overhead. I’m tanning my body while listening to the restless sounds of Archie huffing and puffing every two minutes like the big bad fucking wolf. Right, that’s it.
“Archie, I swear to all that is holy, if you eventhinkabout huffing and puffing again, I am going to dunk you under the pool until you can no longer breathe. Do I make myself clear?”
He has the good sense to look, wide-eyed and nod. Ethan mumbles. “Shit, that even scared me.”
Archie shifts on the sun lounger once more. “Well, I am so sorry that my discomfort is annoying all of you.”
Feeling a little bad, I sit up. “What’s wrong?”
His face tinges red, and he looks from side to side before whispering. “I’mitchy. Downthere.”
“Oh, fucking hell, Archie. I don’t need to know that!” I stick my fingers in my ears and think happy thoughts, but he swats my arm away.
“Not like that, you pervert! I can’t explain it, I swear, Nate’s pranking me again.” He adjusts himself in his shorts, and I have to look away.
“What’s Nate doing?” Nate saunters over to where we’re sitting, and Archie points a finger at him.
“Please tell me you didn’t?” His poor eyes are pleading, but Nate looks around as confused as the rest of us.
And then we hear it, a quiet snort at first and then a snigger before Ethan and Rafe erupt into guffaws. They can’t hold in their glee as Ethan swipes something from his bag and chucks it to Archie. Turning it over in his hand, he shows us the joke itching powder that they dumped into his shorts.
I give them both a dirty look. “That’s really fucking mean. I’m telling your mum and making sure that you don’t get any trifle the next time there’s a Sunday dinner!”
Ethan stops laughing. “You wouldn’t dare.”
I stand up to my full five feet and put my hands on my hips. “Try me.”
“Who says you’d be invited anyway?” The words hit their mark, as tears sting the back of my eyes, and my throat closed up, because he’s right. I haven’t been to a Peterson Sunday dinner yet, and why would I? After everything Pete has done to this family, why would they even want me? I turn on my heel, snatching my things from the sun lounger and storming off. It shouldn’t bother me, but it does, and he probably didn’t mean it the way it came out, but the words stung either way because, at the moment, I don’t feel like I belong anywhere.
I make it to the lifts, stabbing the button repeatedly, trying to hurry the fucking thing down. I jump when a hand grabs hold of my arm, and Nate spins me around, his eyes soft, and I wait for the apology, the explanation that his brother is a good guy and he didn’t mean it, but it doesn’t come, and instead, Nate Peterson knows exactly what I need in that moment.
“He’s a dick, shall we head out for a bit?” He smiles at me, and I melt into a puddle, nodding along.
**********
There’s nothing more that I want to do right now than drink, but that isn’t going to make me feel any better, and since Pete, I’ve found that I haven’t drunk as much alcohol, and I don’t know whether that’s because of him that I cut down or it was being with him that made me drink.
We walk along the Vegas strip, the sun blazing overhead as the sounds fly around us, and I find I’m enjoying getting lost. Out here, I don’t need to worry about what people think of me or whether or not I’m saying or doing the wrong thing.
Nate grabs hold of my hand and interlinks our fingers. “So what else do you want on your list?”
I’m not expecting the question, but for some reason, the answer pops into my head, and I blurt it out. “A cheesy romcom moment.”
Nate laughs. “Cheesy romcom moment, like dancing in the rain?”
I scrunch my nose. “God no, I hate getting wet.”
Nate snorts. “That’s what shedidn’tsay.”
I slap his ridiculously hard abs. “Pig. You know what I mean. No, I mean something fun and romantic…forget I said anything.”
