AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m Sean,” the man next to me says, “and this is my husband Braden. I think we should start by having the member of each couple who chose the ambassador thing raise their hand.”
Sean raises his hand, as does Tre. The woman from the other couple at our table raises her hand, and both Ben and I raise ours.
Ben gives me a look, taking his Owen role seriously. “This one’s on me.”
“It was mutual,” I tell the table.
“I’m Cindy Holmes,” the woman who raised her hand says. “And this is my husband Pervis Holmes.”
I can feel Sean recoil next to me. “Your name is Pervis?”
The man, a nondescript looking guy with glasses and blond hair, nods. “Blame my parents. It’s Latin. And it’s fine to joke about it, I’m pretty much immune to it at this point.”
“I mean, do people call you Perv for short?” Sean asks, and most of us can’t help laughing even though no one bursts out into loud, obnoxious laughter.
“My family does. And some college buddies did anytime they were drinking.”
“Damn,” Tanisha says. “Your parents should’ve thought that one through.”
Tre grins and points at Ben. “Before you introduce yourself, I think I know who you are. Ben Hogan, right? You play defense for the Coyotes.”
Ben grins sheepishly. “Ben’s my twin brother. I’m Owen Hogan.”
“Oh, damn!” Tre grins at his wife. “His twin brother. That’s hella cool. We’ve got twin girls.”
“How fun,” I say. “I’m Stella Hogan, by the way.”
We find out as we talk that Tre is a retired pro football player, Tanisha is a stay-at-home mom, Sean owns an interior design business, Braden is an attorney, Cindy is a teacher, and Pervis is an engineer. It takes no time for us all to be talking and laughing like old friends.
When our table is dismissed to get food, Ben loads his plate up with steak, salmon, and sushi. I get rice pilaf and several kabobs with vegetables, shrimp, and steak.
“So Stella, how did you and Owen meet?” Sean asks me.
I still remember the first time I saw the Hogan boys. My parents had followed the moving van carrying our family’s furniture in their sedan, and we were about to pull in to our new home’s driveway.
“Looks like you’ll have lots of kids to play with, Stelbell,” my dad said.
My brother was too cool for playing by then, but I looked eagerly at the group of neighborhood boys playing street hockey. The tall, sandy-haired identical twins stood out immediately.
“We were neighbors growing up,” I said.
“Aw.” Sean puts a hand on his heart. “How romantic. Was it love at first sight?”
“It was for me,” Ben says.
The sincerity in his eyes is scary good. Ben is pulling off his role so well I think he may have missed his calling as an actor.
“What did you love about her?” Sean asks, resting his elbow on the table and his chin on his fist.
“She’s fearless. There was nothing the neighborhood boys ever did that Stella couldn’t do as well or better. She fished with us, played football with us, and she could climb trees faster than any of us. It just fascinated me that this gorgeous girl with pretty green eyes and pigtails loved so many of the same things I did.”
“Okay, I might have just fallen in love with him,” Sean says, leaning his head on my shoulder.
I don’t know how Ben is pulling this off so well, but it’s messing with my head. What if, instead of warming up to makeup, clothes, and bold, outgoing Owen when I hit adolescence, I’d realized how much better the solid, quiet brother was?
“It’s very easy to do,” I say, finishing my drink.
“I’ll get you another one,” Ben says, standing up even though he’s in the middle of eating.
“Thanks.” I turn to Sean. “How did you and Braden meet?”
He snort laughs. “Good ‘ol online dating. We’ve been together for six years and he finally decided to make an honest man out of me.”
“Is he romantic?”
Sean considers. “He can be. And don’t tell him, but I like that he’s not romantic every day. When he is, I know it’s a conscious effort on his part, if that makes sense. His love language is creating financial stability. When I wanted to start my own business, he didn’t hesitate to sink a big chunk of our savings into it. For him, that’s love.”
“I love that.”
When Ben returns with a drink for me, he also hands a fresh one to Sean. Sean shapes his hands into a heart and then gasps.
“Holy shit, he winked at me. God, I adore a straight man who’s secure enough in his masculinity to be sweet to gay men. He’s a keeper, Stella.”
Our table has been laughing, eating, and drinking for almost two hours when Tre points at Ben and says, “Owen, you should be proud of your brother. If he keeps playing like he has, he’s got the stats to end up in the hall someday, but that’s not what I mean. He’s known as a great teammate. A stand-up guy who helps people out anonymously, even though it’s not as anonymous as he thinks.”
