“Don’t mind Julie,” he whispered.
“Sounds like it’s ayouproblem,” I said.
He stood up and went into the kitchen. He opened the oven and checked on all the potatoes he started earlier. He smothered them in seasoning and oil, baking them low and slow. He pulled out the ingredients for the drink and the bag of corn cobs. I watched him from the corner of my eye.
He grabbed the large glass drink dispenser we’d gotten from the store earlier. He poured the entire bottles of Vodka and Blue Curaçao into the pitcher. Then he took out the lemonade, filling it up. One-third liquor and two-thirds lemonade. It was gonna be stout. He filled up two glasses, bringing me one. Then he walked out with the bag of corn and his glass in the other hand.
I took a sip. Shit. I’d have to nurse this. I hadn’t drunk in over five months.
I could hear them all chattering outside, but couldn’t make out what was being said with the radio playing and them trying to talk over each other. Lucy crawled into my lap and fell asleep. I carried her into the bedroom, placing her into her makeshift bed on the floor next to my bed. When I wasn’t in the room, I didn’t place her on the bed anymore, after she’d nearly crawled off earlier this week.
I headed outside to the side yard. There were chairs all around the small fire pit. Quinn and Nash were standing at the grill cooking, and everyone else was sitting around the fire. I took the open seat between Callie and Kai.
“So, you’re from Townsend?” Kai asked.
“I am. Have you been there before?” I asked.
“Oh yeah. When Quinn moved there, he would come here for one month, and I’d go there for the other month in the summer. Well, until we turned nineteen, then we got busy,” he said.
“The longest month of my life, too,” Callie said.
He rolled his eyes. “So, how did y’all meet?”
“We hang out with the same group of friends,” I said.
“He doesn’t have friends… so you must mean Daxyn and Benji… his dreadful cousins,” he said.
“Yeah… through them,” I said.
“Hey. Hey. My cousins, too,” Callie said.
I sipped on my drink some more. Everyone around was engaging in conversations, either with the person next to them or butting in and yelling across the fire.
Kai made a little cough, and I turned my head toward him.
“A girl like you shouldn't be stuck in a cabin in the bayou. I could fix that,” he whispered. Callie coughed on her drink.
“I’m not stuck in a cabin,” I said, narrowing my eyes.
“Hmm… well, I sure haven’t seen you around town,” he said.
“Yeah… I was under the weather, and I didn’t leave the house much,” I said.
Callie had gotten up and gone into the house. Part of my stomach turned.
“So… are you and Quinnreallyjust friends?” he whispered.
“Yep,” I said, nodding my head.
“Too bad for him,” he said. Then he smiled and leaned back in the chair, kicking his legs out.
Callie rejoined us, a full glass in hand. “Quinn made the blue stuff inside. Help yourselves. There is also beer or wine spritz in the fridge,” she called out.
“Supper is almost done, too,” Quinn announced.
Within several minutes, we all followed him inside, piling our plates with food, before going back outside to eat. Scarlett and Beau were sitting close, chatting and giggling every few minutes.Julie grabbed the open seat next to Quinn. I went back to the seat I had been sitting in, between Callie and Kai.
After two cups of Blue Lagoon, I was quite tipsy. Several of them were way more drunk than I was. Neither Graham nor Minnie drank anything; both of them said it wasn’t for them. Nobody pressured them either. Back home, saying no felt like a crime. Everyone would badger you until you finally gave in. It felt nice to know that I could choose to drink or not, as well as choose how much.
