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“So, you’ve officially been offered the position?” I ask him.
“Yeah. Uncle Will accepted his offer—one that I’m sure he would have been really stupid to refuse—last week, and then he immediately turned around and offered me the defensive line coaching position. I can’t turn it down. Hell, I don’t want to turn it down.”
“Congratulations, man. Has someone already called dibs on your room at the compound?” I ask him.
“I don’t think so.” Drew shrugs. “Only Finn and Emma are left at home, and I doubt their parents will let them move anywhere until they graduate.”
“Makes sense,” Liam says. “Okay, who’s gonna sing karaoke with me?”
“Dude, you’re not drunk enough for that.”
“Sure, I am.” He winks and sets off in search of a partner in crime.
“I have an announcement,” Stella yells out, clapping her hands. “Shut up and listen to me, damn it.”
“You’re such an attention whore,” someone calls out, but Stella only laughs and strikes a pose.
“I take that as a compliment. Anyway, Gray and I are getting married in two weeks. Invitations are in the mail, but I’m also spreading the word myself because we know it’s short notice. Whatever you have on the calendar, clear it. None of you are missing my wedding.”
“Why so fast?” Haley calls out. “Are you knocked up?”
A gasp rolls through the crowd of cousins, but Stella only laughs.
“I wish it was that interesting. No, we’ve just been waiting for a long time for the perfect time, and that’s not going to happen. So, I picked a day, and we’re doing it. It’ll be at the vineyard, and we mostly invited super close friends and all of the family.”
“So, it’ll be a huge wedding,” Olivia adds, making us all laugh.
“Hey, we love a lot of people.” Stella shrugs, then blows us all a kiss. “I love you guys so much. It would kill me if you weren’t there, so plan on it, okay?”
“Wouldn’t miss it,” I reply and look around the backyard for my date.
Sidney is standing next to Gray, her eyes glassy with happy tears, and I decide that I’ve had enough chitchat with these jerks and set off to claim her.
“Don’t cry,” I say as I wrap my arm around her and kiss her temple.
“I’m just so happy for them,” she says, wiping under her eyes. “They’re so happy.”
“I hope so. They’re getting hitched.”
She laughs and then leans her head on my shoulder. “There are always so many people at your family parties. I don’t know why it surprises me every time.”
“And the parents aren’t even here this time.”
My gaze skims the crowd, looking for our two underage kids, and I see Finn and Emma, sitting side by side at the edge of the pool, their feet in the water, drinking cans of soda.
“They better not have laced those sodas with vodka.”
“How old are those two?” Sidney asks, following my gaze.
“They’re both graduating high school in a few weeks. But they’re eighteen and the only two left underage. So, we decided to include them, with strict rules.”
“Looks to me like they’re having fun, laughing and talking, and they probably appreciate being included with the ‘big kids’.”
“Yeah, they seem fine.”
“Sidney!”
We glance over as Abby and Zoey hurry our way.
“Your video!” Zoey’s bouncing up and down. “Ohmygosh, this is fucking incredible.”
“What?” Sidney demands. “What happened?”
“You have three million views,” Abby informs Sidney. “On just that one video of you singing ‘Little Miss’.”
“Is that a lot?” Sidney asks.
The two women look at each other, then back to Sidney. “Yes! It’s viral. This is a great thing.”
“You’re getting more views on the other couple of videos you made, too,” Zoey adds. “I’m so proud of you.”
“How do you two know this?” I ask them, and they just roll their eyes at me.
“We follow her,” Zoey says slowly, as if I’m completely clueless.
Which, I am.
“We’re paying attention because she’s part of the family now,” Abby puts in. “And it’s just so awesome to watch. I love that you wrote the song with Uncle Leo. Who knew that he could write a country song?”
“It wasn’t country when we first wrote it,” Sidney replies. “He gave me permission to take it and tweak it for my audience. I’m so glad that people are loving it.”
“They do,” Zoey says. “And what’s not to love? They’d be stupid if they didn’t love it.”
“We just had to let you know, in case you weren’t paying attention,” Abby says. “We follow you, Sophie, our cousin Amelia, Ike…you know, everyone in the family.”
“Well, thanks,” Sid says. “Thanks a lot. And if you have any suggestions for things I should do for the socials, please tell me. I don’t know how to do this stuff.”
“Give us your number, and we can text you ideas,” Abby suggests.
The three of them exchange numbers, and then the other two are off to find another drink.
