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I nod approvingly. I’m liking this family more and more.
“Anyway, marrying into the family is very different than being a natural born Salinger,” Sophie continues.
“You make us sound like serial killers.” Eli frowns.
“Nope. Just overwhelming.” She takes my hand. “Eli tells me you’re from New York,” she says. Francie tugs on Eli’s face and says something to him. He nods and looks over at me. “Francie wants me to give Charlie his gift. I left it in the car. You okay here?”
“I’m good.” I smile at him. He walks out of the kitchen with Francie slung over his shoulder like he’s a firefighter. She giggles loudly.
“I’ve lived in New York for the last sixteen years,” I tell Sophie, returning to our conversation. “Before that I was all over the place but I managed all four years in LA for high school.
“Was your dad in the military?” she asks. And I realize Eli hasn’t told them who I really am.
It touches me.
“He’s a hockey player, too.” My heart is racing, but it feels good to tell the truth. To stop hiding.
“How long have you been seeing Eli?” Sophie asks.
“A little while.” I think back to that first time we touched. When they lost the game and he dropped to his knees in front of me. Breathed me in.
It feels like a lifetime ago.
“Will you go back to New York?” Sophie asks.
“That’s where my work is,” I tell her. “So yeah, when this project is over I guess I will.” And there’s that twinge again. I don’t like thinking about endings. Especially this one.
She looks over at Myles and Liam, who’ve walked into the kitchen to join us. “Liam and Myles both worked in New York until recently.”
“You’re from New York?” Liam asks. “Where about?”
We descend into a conversation about different companies in Manhattan. It turns out that Liam and I have some mutual acquaintances. He still travels to New York regularly, but his home is now in Charleston.
“I don’t miss it at all,” he says, when I ask about his move here. “Whenever I have to travel for work all I think about is coming home.” He looks over at his wife. Their gazes connect and she smiles softly.
“Sophie, on the other hand, can’t wait for him to leave,” Myles says dryly. “Because he’s a sap.”
“Only for her,” Liam says, good-naturedly. “And you’re the king of saps, man. So don’t start with me.”
They banter again. Myles goading Liam about chasing after Sophie at five in the morning when he thought he’d lost her.
Liam teases Myles about having to drive him from New York to Charleston because he needed to see Ava.
It’s sweet. But it also makes me feel wistful. They’re all so at ease with each other. When I’m with my family they find it hard to know how to talk to me. I’m just so different from them and they don’t understand what I do.
Maybe they don’t try to understand it.
Sophie rolls her eyes at her husband and brother-in-law trying to one-up each other, and tops up my wine glass. “Boys,” she mutters. “Don’t even get me started on the subject of the Salinger Olympics.”
“The Salinger Olympics?” I repeat. “What’s that?”
Ava groans. “You don’t want to know.”
“But I do. What is it?”
“It’s my brothers’ way of trying to prove who has the biggest dick,” Eli says, kissing my neck. He’s holding a gift in one hand and Francie’s tiny hand in the other. He passes the gift to Francie. “Give this to Charlie,” he says. “And ask him if you can be friends again.”
She nods, her face serious, then walks over to where her – I guess Charlie must be her nephew – is sitting. She passes him the gift and he leans forward to kiss her cheek.
