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Hudson: Oh God! TMI!
Sawyer: Is there a woman left in Philly you haven’t touched, Hud?
Becks: Ooh. Burn.
Jace: No one says burn anymore, old man.
Becks: Who you callin’ old, tweenager? Have your balls dropped yet?
Jace: I’m nineteen.
Max: Aww. He’s nineteen. In two more years, he can buy his own drinks.
Jace: Whatever Maxi-pad.
Max: Great comeback, jack-off.
Scarlet: Focus people. The benefit. The tickets. Who needs extra?
Amelia: I’ll be home with the baby. But Sam is going and bringing Dean.
Lenny: Are they driving the Impala?
Amelia: Ooh, now that’s a sexy picture.
Hudson: Don’t forget who the MC for the night is, people.
Sawyer: WTF, Scarlet. You’re giving him a microphone? Did Karaoke night teach you nothing?
Scarlet: I’m not the one organizing this. Just being a supportive girlfriend.
Scarlet: Cade’s giving him a microphone. Actually, Cade’s sister made the decision.
Becks: Bad move.
Jace: The worst.
Hudson: Fuck off, assholes.
Scarlet: I give up. Call me if you need an extra ticket.
* * *
My father’s been gone for six years, and I’ve never changed a thing in his home office. Never made it mine in the years since I’ve moved back into his house. I haven’t wanted to. A few years ago, my brothers and sisters and I came in here and went through his things. It was the first step in the healing process that never went further. It provided some closure. But not enough. It was also a day that would be burned into my brain as the day half my siblings admitted to having sex in here.
A silent laugh shakes my body as I remember Scarlet announcing she lost her virginity on this desk.
Leave it to her to go for shock and awe.
I raise my crystal rocks glass and run my finger over the condensation dripping down the side as I scan the room in a silent toast to my father. I stare at the portrait of us kids hanging on the wall. I was in my early twenties, and I think Jace was ten, so everyone else was scattered between the two of us.
We had no idea Amelia existed back then, and Madeline wasn’t born yet.
It was the seven of us.
The world was in front of us for the taking.
For the living.
