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“No, I’m not. I’m just grateful. Now, I think I need a drink.”
“Oh, that’s me,” Stella says, clapping her hands. “Don’t worry, I’ll hook you right up.”
Chapter19
Drew
“What the fuck, man?” Hudson scowls at Liam, who just smashed the ping-pong ball in his face.
“Seriously?” I ask and point to Caleb. “There’s a kid here. Watch your mouth.”
“It’s okay,” Caleb assures Hudson and takes a swig of his cola. “My mom swears all the time. I’ve heard it before.”
Hudson winks at him and then serves the ball back at Liam.
A bunch of us guys have decided to get together since all the girls are at their holiday girls’ night out. We’ve gathered at Ike and Sophie’s place because he has an awesome man cave with not just ping-pong but also arcade games, a pool table, and a full bar.
“I’m surprised you weren’t called out tonight,” I say to Liam as he misses the ball.
“It’s my few days off,” he says. “I just finished a four-day shift.”
“You were at work forfour days?” Caleb demands with big eyes.
“Liam’s a fireman,” I inform him. “He works a lot.”
“But you save people’s lives.” Caleb’s voice is hushed and serious as he stares at Liam as if the man was Captain America himself. “That’s the coolest.”
“I reallyamthe coolest,” Liam agrees as my dad and Uncle Luke cheer at the pinball machine. It seems like a lot of people to pack into this room, but we don’t mind.
Some of the guys are out watching a basketball game in the living room.
We’re kind of spread all over the place.
“Looks like you guys are headed for the playoffs,” Hudson says as Ike walks into the room.
“We have to win Sunday,” Ike reminds him. “Then we’ll be in the playoffs.”
“I’m trying to talk my mom into letting me go,” Caleb says. “She’s weird about it.”
I smile down at him and ruffle his hair. He’s going to be stoked on Christmas morning when we tell him he gets to go.
“Maybe she’s just trying to be a good mom,” Liam says conversationally.
“She’s the best,” Caleb agrees. “But sometimes she’s too strict.”
“Moms do that,” Hudson agrees. “Hey, Liam, I forgot to tell you, I ran into Bee the other day.”
My eyes fly to Liam, who’s suddenly gone very still. “Is that so?”
“Yeah, she looks great. She just opened that new salad place on Alki Beach. I took my mom there last week, and it was really great. I didn’t realize she’d opened a restaurant. Did you know?”
“No.” He stares down at his paddle, then turns to Caleb. “Hey, buddy, do you want to step in for me? Kick his butt.”
“Sure,” Caleb says and hurries over to take Liam’s paddle. “You’re dead meat, Hud.”
“Yeah right, kid.”
I hurry behind Liam, who’s bounding down the stairs and through the house to the back door.
