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Sitting next to Bree up on the tree house’s terrace in the Millses’ backyard, Kate glanced at the initials carved on the hard, wooden floor next to her thigh.
B + D
Bree snorted when she’d noticed what drew Kate’s attention. She took the knife from her paper plate and started to vigorously carve over the two initials. She broke the plastic utensil at her second try and threw the unhelpful piece of equipment in a corner on a dramatic sigh.
“Come on. Things are not that bad,” Kate tried.
“Well, yeah, they are. I’ve been in love with the boy next door since I was six years old. Whenever I see him, I can’t help but think of how good we are together, and it just makes me so angry because he doesn’t see what I do when I look at him—when I look at us.”
“Declan sees it.”
“No, he doesn’t. He just stands there next to that damn grill, with no shirt on…. Ugh, he’s so hot. Look at him. Did you see the muscles he’s packing? I swear to God, he’s joking and laughing with everyone here but me. Ever since I told him I’m in love with him, he just ignores me.”
“At least Declan still talks to you,” Kate grumbled, thinking about her own troublesome Mills brother.
Bree bumped her shoulder to Kate’s and whispered, “Donovan is staring at you right now, you know.”
Kate peered into the backyard, and sure enough, he’d looked up their way but briskly turned his head around to look in the opposite direction. Bree and Kate sat on the tree house terrace with their legs dangling down the side. The squeaky terrace before the small entrance of the tree house was big enough for five adults to sit together. The tree house itself was too low for them to stand upright in, but the two friends sat happily together as they were.
Kate took a sip from her white wine out of her paper cup and swallowed the lukewarm liquid. She winced but swiftly took two other gulps to be sure she downed the last drop.
“Take it easy there, slugger,” Bree joked.
“It was getting warm, blech.” Kate scrunched her nose as she spoke.
Bree chuckled and then asked, “So… how are you finding your first Labor Day weekend here in Austin?”
“It’s really great. I can’t believe it’s only been five months since we met. I love working with you. And I think moving here has been good for us Walsh sisters. Kayla has really found the love of her life in Duncan, and his family is so nice to us, even inviting Errin and me over for this barbecue.” Kate waved her hand in the direction of the Millses’ backyard.
Bree hummed in response. “Yeah, they’re real great like that. Me and my sisters were always welcome here. Even before things went south between my parents, I spent a lot of time here. Ha, following the boys next door around, pretending to understand what they were talking about. I think it was Ronan who figured out first just how badly I wanted to join them in their adventures. I wasn’t going to back down from any dare, just as long as I could hang out with them.”
Bree snickered and took her last gulp of wine before she set her empty cup down next to Kate’s. She trailed her fingers over the scarred wooden floor. “When I was six years old, I got stuck on the rooftop of this tree house. Ronan had dared me to climb the damn thing. Where the other Mills brothers found it hilarious to see little Bree screaming at the top of my lungs, it was Declan who climbed up after me. He was shouting something at Ronan, but I’ll never forget the angst he had in his eyes when I nearly slipped and fell. He gripped my hand just in time, pulled me up, and dried my tears with the sleeve of his hand-me-down G.I. Joe sweater.”
Kate pictured a six-year-old Bree and eight-year-old Declan sitting on top of that rooftop where he comforted her and she gave her heart to him. Now Bree wistfully stared at Declan’s bronzed muscular back as he talked to his brothers Donovan and Ronan while waving the barbecue tongs in the air. Where Declan and Ronan had taken off their shirts sometime during the day, Donovan remained in a white button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up. His proud stance in his dark blue designer jeans was always a dead giveaway of his presence. His natural dominance drew people’s eyes to him, but he wasn’t as approachable as his brothers. Donovan’s aloof attitude and stormy eyes told people he wasn’t to be messed with.
Their grandfather, Pops, shuffled over to the grill and boomed in his usual grumpy way, “Boyo, how long am I to wait for a piece of meat? Are yous done talkin’ so ye can start cookin’ already? Or do I have to take over?”
The five Mills brothers, seeing Brennan and Duncan now joined their group, chuckled at Pops’s words, but sure enough, Declan immediately turned his attention back to the grill. Their father, Sean, walked up and clapped Pops on the back and said, “Come, we’ll let these guys cook. We’ve done our share of barbecuing. It’s time for my boys to take over. It’s a good thing, right? It gives us time to enjoy a drink, eh?”
Pops grumbled something unintelligible in his thick Irish accent before he walked slowly over to the large oak table in the center of the backyard. Kate’s sisters, Errin and Kayla, sat on an oak bench with yellow cushions and were talking with Caitlin—Bree’s sister, and Maureen, who both lived on each side of Kate’s apartment. The seventy-six-year-old Maureen also happened to be a Mills family friend, so they all carpooled today.
Before Pops sat down in the folding chair at the head of the table, he kissed the top of Kayla’s and Errin’s head. They looked up lovingly at the seventy-eight-year-old, gray-haired grumpy bear who stood six feet tall with a big belly. Bree’s sister Caitlin sat opposite of them, talking to Maureen. Unfortunately, Bree’s other three sisters couldn’t attend this weekend; Kate had really liked the idea of finally meeting them.
That thought brought Kate’s attention to the last Ryan family member, since Bree’s dad was no longer in the picture. “Where’s your mother right now?”
“Last I heard, Brazil. She was in Argentina for the past week, but she told Cait that Brazil is going to be her final destination before she returns in a few weeks.”
“She’s got the best job ever.” Kate sighed.
“Well, being a PA for some hotshot businessman definitely proves to be more exciting than our playground adventures.”
Kate snickered. “Well, I don’t know about you, but Jonathan makes recess on the playground quite eventful.”
Jonathan was a five-year-old in Kate’s class at St. Helena’s Kindergarten who often confessed his love for “Miss Kate” while bringing her a bouquet of plucked grass and dirty leaves.
“Aww, I love little Jonathan. I want three little Jonathans when I grow up,” Bree chimed in.
“You’re already grown up, Bree.”
