My mother’s meticulous logistical planning of sleeping arrangements had been mentioned more than a few times in our conversations. Aside from the head count for food, it was, “Where would everyone sleep?” Never once did I think I would be the one in there, considering my mother knew the deep fear I’ve held of it since that dreadful night. But yet, I was, with Josh no less, on a futon that was roughly the same age as us.
My hands gripped the edge of the sink, steadying myself.Get a grip. It’s one night and at least you’re not alone. When I stepped out into the hallway, I nearly collided with Josh. Nose to chest. His clean, fresh scent was replaced by the campfire smoke and damn, he smelled good. Rugged, in a way. I caught myself inhaling longer than necessary. Josh chuckled and leaned in to me.
I swatted at him before stepping around him. “You stink.”
“You’re right. We should shower before we get into bed.” He grinned, clearly amused with himself. He edged toward me, dropping his voice low so only I could hear, even though no one else seemed to be around. “That would certainly put any suspicions to rest.”
I choked out a laugh. The image of me showering with myboyfriend,with the entire family here, would probably send my Papi keeling over. Let alone, what my mother would do. I imagined her face watching us come out of a steam-filled bathroom and nearly cackle. I covered my mouth with my hands.
When I glanced up at Josh, his eyes were lit with amusement, like he’d seen the same image that was dancing aroundin my head. He waggled his brows, nodding toward the bathroom, and for a split second, I almost said yes.
Instead, I shook my head. “You’re nuts.”
“Just about you, baby.” He winked.
He emphasized the wordbabyin a playful, mocking tone. We had already decided pet names like honey, baby, and sweetie were okay. It was so generic and typical. Him using it now made me giggle even more with the absurdity of it.
Before I could say anything else, my mom came back around the corner.
“The towels are in the linen closet. You need to be quick before you run out of hot water, unfortunately, your uncle got to it first.” She let out an exasperated sigh. Josh and I stared blankly at each other.Did my mother just suggest I shower with him? Did someone slip something into her wine?
As I stood blinking, Josh let out a low whistle. “I don’t even know what to do right now.”
“You shower, I will go make our bed.”
“Alone?” A hint of worry was etched in his voice.
“I’ll be okay,” I whisper-sighed.
“Nah. Wait. It’ll be two minutes.”
His concern was endearing and doing things to my chest it shouldn’t be. I bit my lip. It was ridiculous. Surely I could go out there for a minute to set our stuff up.
“I’ll be fine.” My voice was not convincing.
“I’ll go with her.” My sister’s voice floated from around the corner, as if she had been listening the whole time. Like when we were kids. Whenever one of us was in trouble, shocker, it was usually me, she would hide behind the wall eavesdropping and snickering.
Like the time I’d snuck out to a house party. My dad found out and pulled me out of there in front of everyone. I was mortified. It turned out, May had ratted me out. She was jealous I was invited by the quarterback of the team instead of her. I was grounded for a month, but I got the best of her,because a week later at school while she was flirting with him, I walked right between them and kissed him in the middle of the hallway to a bunch of whoops and cheers. When I let go of him, I stared right at her blazing eyes and grinned. It wasn’t long after that the bunkhouse incident happened. Sibling rivalry was a bitch.
The bunkhouse was dimly lit by the small lamp in the corner. The place felt tiny with both of us in here. There was an uncomfortable silence as I put down the stack of folded blankets on the side table by the tiny window, so that I could unfold the godforsaken futon couch from my childhood.
“He seems nice. And surprisingly into you,” May said. It always amazed me the talent she had to give a compliment and a slap.
Surprisingly? What the fuck?I wasn’t sure if it was the heat from the sun, the wine I’d consumed throughout the day to take the edge off, or just sick of her snide comments all day, but I snapped. “What’s that mean?”
“Oh, nothing.” She tried to wave me off.
“Obviously not,” I stated plainly.
“Okay, fine. I was skeptical at first.” She shrugged, grabbing a fitted sheet, shaking it out.
“Why?” I knew why, but I wanted to hear her version of it.
“I dunno, you show up with one of the players as your boyfriend and despite not knowing much about you guys, I figured you would have been bragging about him being on the team. But you never did. Everything you ever said was vague.” She tucked in her side of the sheets before grabbing the flat sheet. “He was nameless, you said he was busy with work, had a difficult schedule, and other nonsense stuff, so yeah, I didn’t believe you were with someone.”
I thought back to my previous conversations with her about Wes, and she was right. I never mentioned his name. I barely brought him up in conversation and then I always made weak excuses about why he wasn’t around or that weonly met up late after work. It was likeIbarely believed I had someone. But I guess that was the point. I didn’t really have Wes.
For the first time, when I stared at May, she didn’t look doubtful or resentful. I sighed.
