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I grin at her. Trish is probably insane, but I’m realizing that insanity doesn’t bother me as much as it might have in the past.
Though, I don’t think I could live in the same house as her, so whoever she married has to be a bit off as well. It just makes the prospect of tonight even better.
There’s a knock at the door, and Addison hops up, nearly knocking off the tray of meat and cheese in the process. I don’t understand why she’s so nervous. It’s almost like she’s never had people visit her before.
She opens the door, and I hear Sera’s voice. And Andrew’s. They must have shown up at the same time.
“You must be Andrew,” Addison says. “I’m Addison. Phillip’s roommate.”
“You mean savior?” he says, and I can hear the grin in his voice. “He told me how you basically dragged him out of a storage closet and forced him to sleep on your couch.”
“I don’t know if that’s how I’d describe it…”
I’m doing my best to get these damned mushrooms off the tray and onto the serving dish so I can actually see my brother when Trish’s voice joins the party. “Holy shit, Andrew-fucking-Loughton showing up to my date night.”
I get the last mushroom onto the serving tray and walk into the living room to see everyone grinning except my brother, who looks a little concerned. “I’m sorry. I don’t think I’ve met you before.”
Trish moves to introduce herself, and I catch sight of the only person I haven’t met yet. He looks completely normal. We’d both been nervous about who would marry Trish, but this guy looks like he’d fit in just about anywhere.
“I’m Trish, Loughton House’s official hooker.” Andrew blinks, confusion written all over his face, and he glances at me with a “What the fuck did she just say?” look.
I chuckle. “She’s the person who gets called when the first chapter needs some work.”
“Oh!” Relief washes over him as he recognizes what she meant. “You write hooks. Okay. For a minute, I thought my brother had truly lost his mind.”
That’s when we begin to find out that Trish may be the more normal of the two of them. Her husband steps behind her and wraps his arms around her stomach in an embrace which feels far too intimate for the occasion. I don’t even know his name…
“Trish may be a hooker, but I’m her only John,” he says, and everyone except Sera looks a little bothered by the pre-introduction PDA.
Trish grins back at her husband and says, “Everybody, this is my husband, John. Don’t mind the terrible joke. He is a dad after all, so it’s legal.”
Sera breaks the tension. She obviously already knows John, and isn’t bothered by his terrible dad joke. Or the PDA. “Okay, now that everybody’s met, what are we drinking and what are we playing?”
Addison says, “We’ve got two options for drinks. Andrew was gracious enough to bring a…” She looks down at the bottle and makes a face. “Chateau… Okay, I’m not even going to try to pronounce this. It’s French. Or Italian. European wine. Andrew brought European wine.”
He chuckles. “Chateau Cos d'Estournel. It’s a cab from France.”
“And I made three gallons of sprite and box wine. So if you hate wine, you’d better have brought something else.”
“Excellent. Who doesn’t like to remember the college years?” Sera says with a grin. “And what do we have for games?”
“Monopoly,” I say. Immediately, Sera boos me. “What’s wrong with Monopoly?”
“We’re here to laugh and make fun of each other, not pay rent. Next.”
Trish nods. “Yeah, I’m vetoing Monopoly. You and your brother would end up writing contracts and getting lawyers involved. I suggest poker.”
“And if we get drunk enough, we can play strip poker,” Sera says in agreement.
I feel like we’re losing control of this. I didn’t sign up to play strip poker with anyone. “Maybe we dodge the sexual harassment suit,” Andrew says before I can. “A simple game of charades, maybe? I’m sure there’ll be plenty of chances for laughs then.”
Everyone glances around the room, seeing if anyone disagrees with that suggestion, and we all kind of shrug with acceptance.
“Well, if it gets boring watching my bosses act like elephants, we can always get the cards out. I wouldn’t mind playing some high stakes poker with the boss.”
Finally, I jump in. “Are you sure we’d be that easy to beat?”
“With my eyes closed, Madonna. I may have traveled the country as a karaoke singer, but I paid for food with poker winnings from guys who take gambling a lot more seriously than the two of you.”
