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“Sign me up for that!” Lark called with a smile.
I was acutely aware of Lee’s presence, his front nearly touching my back as he looked over my shoulder at the ingredients Kate began to lay out. “I’ll have some of that white lightning.”
Kate laughed and slid an ancient-looking bottle of liquor away from her older brother. “Not a chance. Don’t you see this label?”
The amber bottle still had liquid in it, and the label was faded and worn from time. Despite its age, you could just barely make out the wordsKing Liquoron the bottle.
“As far as we know, this could be poison. Even then they could have been out to get us.” Kate’s expression was serious.
“I don’t know...,” Lark piped in. “I still can’t get over that picture you found of all of them. They looked pretty happy together.”
“We still haven’t figured it out.” Kate shook her head. “And Bug King isn’t giving up any details.”
Truth was, Kate didn’t have as much time to devote to unearthing the reason behind the King–Sullivan feud since she and Beckett had become so consumed with their thrivingHome Againbusiness. It was an interesting mystery they had yet to unravel.
Kate made a show of shaking up her version of a gin fizz and poured each of us a serving in embossed antique crystal glasses.
She popped back underneath the bar top to join us on the other side and held her glass high. “To Annie Crane, the best sister a girl could ask for.”
Wyatt held up his glass. “To Annie, the best sister a guy could ask for.”
“Hey!” Kate cut in, slapping him on the arm as his deep chuckle filled the room.
“To Annie. The best sister life brought into our lives,” Wyatt corrected.
I swallowed thickly.
“To Annie. The most amazing, creative, and talented friend. You’re sunshine on a cloudy day.” Lark beamed at me. If anyone was pure sunshine, it was her.
“To our Annie, who deserves all the love this world has to offer.” Tootie gently saluted me with her crystal cup before taking a sip.
My eyes shifted to Lee, who had yet to move from my side. He looked down at me.
Did his eyes just move over my mouth?
My heart hammered. “To Annette. You were always meant to be a Sullivan.”
“Hear, hear!” Katie shouted.
I used my glass to hide the emotion welling in my throat. When I was with the Sullivans, I wasn’t Little Orphan Annie, but a part of a unit.
Theirunit.
Beckett broke the simmering tension by twirling his fiancée gently and pulling Kate into the small open space next to the table. “Get over here, woman.”
Kate and Beckett moved together toward the bluesy jazz music. Lost in each other, lost in love, they swayed.
The tart cherry gin fizz tickled my nose, and I let the bubbles soothe my tense stomach. I had always wanted a love like that—a love that left you so consumed with the other person that you couldn’t imagine taking a single breath without them.
Too often images of Lee in that role flickered in my mind, despite my attempts to place him solidly in theFriends Onlycolumn.
Against my will, my best friend had become the measuring stick next to which all other men came up sorely lacking. But looking around, I couldn’t imagine risking it—riskingthem—just to see if Lee felt the same way about me.
As a group we danced and laughed and let the mood and ambiance of the speakeasy carry us into another round of cocktails.
“Are we going to eat? Or are you all just going to get stupid drunk down there?” Duke’s agitated voice rolled down the narrow stairwell.
“Oh look! The good-time assassin is back,” Lee shouted up the stairs to goad his oldest brother.
