EJ slowly glances at Wyatt, who is glaring up at them with hard eyes now, his jaw ticking.
“Absolutely not,” Seth finally says, breaking from his trance. He shakes his head, waving them off. “No way in hell.”
“Yeah,” Lauren breathes a laugh, slapping her hand on his shoulder, “this isnothappening.”
“What?” Penny asks quietly, her face falling.
“It’s too much,” Wyatt tells her in a stern voice. His dark eyes slide over them both and he shakes his head, pointing a finger at them. “We don’t do this shit.”
Avery is still stunned to silence.
I’d like to go back to the car and hide for a few minutes.
“Guys,” Declan pleads. He glances at his future wife, whose face has fallen to near devastation. She was excited about this. So incredibly excited to share this with them, and they’re too overwhelmed to see that their reaction is breaking her heart. Her throat bobs, and Declan’s expression sinks further.
EJ Dalton, though, doesn’t get overwhelmed. His smile falters, noticing the subtle shift in Penny within an instant ofthe change. So, he does what he’s supposed to do as their token golden retriever. He saves the day.
“Wedon’t do this shit? Speak for yourselves, I’m milking all the benefits of having a millionaire for a best friend,” EJ says to the rest of them, shooting them a look of disbelief. He drops his bags on the ground and sprints toward the house. Penny’s eyes are full of disappointment, so she’s the one he goes to. He reaches forward to cup her face, smiling down at her. “You can havebothof my loonies, P.”
She laughs, her lip shaking. “I really want this to beourplace. Christmases, summers, and…memories, Eej, you know?”
His face softens. He glances at Lowesy, who smiles a bit gentler than usual. EJ smacks him on the shoulder and tugs them both to his chest.
“You know there is no way we’re ever repaying you, right?” he asks, and the whole lawn breaks into laughter. Their friends don’t seem to realize that EJ just prevented a problem. They almost broke the bride’s heart before her wedding day.
“You repay us by using it,” Dec says, patting EJ’s back. His eyes skirt over the lawn. “Please, guys. This is something we’ve wanted since Lucky moved to Pittsburgh.”
Because their home willalwaysbe in this town. With these people.
The rest of the crew exchange a few weary looks, their startled expressions slowly growing into stunned smiles of disbelief. Tiffany is now in tears, and I’m sure she’s imagining her son growing up here—eventually surrounded by siblings and cousins. Seth is close to tears, too. He removes his glasses and pinches the space between his eyes.
As if connected by one brain, they all take off running up those stairs to the bride and groom, vanishing into one big hug—Avery completely disappearing in the middle of it.
I glance beside me to Boston, Arden, and my brother. Callum slowly makes his way toward us from across the lawn, too.
Boston’s eyes dart down to mine.
“Thishasto be a cult of some sort, right?” I ask under my breath.
He barks out a big, surprised laugh.
My brother reaches forward, wrapping his arm around my neck in a headlock, pulling me toward him, and rubbing his knuckles in my hair for the comment.
I smack at him, fighting against his hold and my smile.
Saltzy lets out a long, deep breath, staring up at the porch. He buries his hands in his pockets, not bothering to give any of us a second look. “I’m going to have to start spending summers in fucking Canada, aren’t I?”
Boston laughs even harder.
Carter finally lets me go, grinning at Callum, who made a rare joke, and we all take a second to watch him watch Wyatt Caulfield the way he always does.
I have a feeling he’ll go anywhere Wyatt asks him to.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
boston
This place is nice.
