“You’re a Prince now, Katie,” Sienna shouts.
“She was before, idiot,” Whit points out.
“Oh my god,” Sienna huffs before she grabs Whit’s mug of cider and drains it. “Next one goes on your head,” she says sweetly.
Sienna did ten barrels and Whit did one before Aiden banned him on account of the games he has coming up.
“That’s right. You’re a Prince now.” Tristan bends to murmur in my ear, before his lips ghost over my skin. I turn my face and kiss him, and his siblings start to whoop. I break the kiss to laugh into his neck.
Tristan’s eyes are glinting when he pulls away. “In honor of new beginnings, I wanted to bring a new tradition to bonfire night.”
My heart clenches. Tristan told me he was going to do this, and I know he’s nervous. He’s been practicing every night, but I haven’t heard the whole song.
He lifts the blanket off his acoustic guitar and sets it in his lap.
“Someone I love told me to lead with my heart.” He clears his throat. He’s not looking at his siblings. Instead, his head is bowed toward the instrument, where he fiddles with the tuning. “I want to build something for the future, for this family. For all of you.”
He clears his throat again and then strums a chord. His siblings are unusually quiet. No jokes. The air is thick with anticipation.
“God, this is awkward,” he mutters, and the tension dissipates.
He strums another chord, opens his mouth, and my heart seems to pause in my chest. His voice, when he finally sings a line, is low, maybe even hesitant.
Shoulder to shoulder
Across the grass
I want nothing more
Than dreams that last
For our children
Should they come
To love this whiskey
Like we have
The words go straight to my heart, burrow deep into the marrow of my bones. I don’t know what I expected, but not this. Not his rough-tender voice, not the expression of agony on his face. I sit up straighter on the grass.
Tristan is magnetic like this.
He’s not the spare or the charmer or the rebel.
He’s just Tristan. And he’s letting us see it.
For if I go, do not cry
We’ll live on
And dreams don’t die
Shoulder to shoulder
And side by side
For if I love you
