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“It’s nice to meet you, I’m Juliette, Adrian’s girlfriend.” It feels weird to say it out loud, but also right. Adrian finds my knee and squeezes it under the table, a small smile on his lips.
“Where’s Evie?” Adrian asks, looking around the backyard. Sensing my confusion, he clarifies, “Drew’s sister.”
“She’s up in New York, working. She keeps busy,” Kayla answers.
“Too busy if you ask me,” Drew grumbles, earning a look from his wife. “What? I just think she works too much.”
“Maybe she’ll find someone. Adrian started dating Juliette and took his first ever day off,” Maverick says.
I blush under the attention, but it’s not on me for long, because Drew continues his thoughts on his sister’s life.
“She is dating someone the last I heard. He’s a jerk, some male model so full of himself it’s unbelievable. He treats her like crap too.”
Adrian tenses slightly and so does Maverick. I look to Maverick and see more than a friendly protectiveness though, there’s a deep concern in his expression that doesn’t match Adrian’s. If they all grew up together, I wonder why Evie means more to Maverick? Is it a friendship thing or something more? I file the information away to bring up to Adrian later. It’s likely he noticed it too. That’s a perk of dating someone as observant as me: we can talk about everything we caught later.
“I’m sure the table doesn’t want to hear about Evie’s dating life,” Kayla says through gritted teeth. “And if she found out you were talking about it, she’d be upset.”
Drew sighs. “Fine, I’ll drop it. I just wish she was here.”
“She wanted to be,” Kayla assures Adrian and Maverick by addressing them directly. “But her boss threatened to fire her if she left. She said she would call you tonight, Mav.”
Maverick nods, then pushes back from the table. “I’m going to get some dessert.”
Once he’s out of earshot Drew sighs again. “I thought for sure he’d say something about Evie. I guess he’s still messed up over Alexis leaving.”
“Did you think talking about her was going to make him up and go to New York?” Kayla scrunches her nose up. I watch their conversation with unabashed curiosity.
“The man hassavior complextattooed on his forehead. I thought mentioning that jerk boyfriend of hers would trigger something in him.”
“Now is not the time to be matchmaking your sister and best friend,” Kayla scolds him, then shoots an apologetic look to us.
“You’re right, I’m sorry man.”
Adrian shrugs, a ghost of a smile on his lips. “Mom would be helping you if she were here. She loved Evie like her own.”
Drew and Kayla both smile at his words. I do too, but not because I know what they’re talking about. I’m smiling because Adrian brought up his mom on his own and I know that’s not easy for him.
“She did. I don’t think either of us would have made it through our parents’ divorce without her and your dad letting us stay over so much.”
“She always said everyone was welcome. That was her way.”
“She was the best,” Drew says, his eyes wet with unshed tears.
“Yeah, she was.”
The crackle of the bonfire in front of us is enough to lull me to sleep if I let it after such a long evening. Most everyone has gone home except the family. I’m nestled in between Adrian’s legs, leaning back on his chest. He gave me his hoodie out of his car earlier and I’ve been ready for bed ever since. But I won’t even consider leaving until Adrian wants to go.
He’s been more open tonight than I’ve ever seen him–barring when we’re alone. So even though my eyelids feel like tiny weights are attached to them, I’m going to hang out just for him.
“What if we went around saying some of our favorite memories of Mom?” Grayson suggests and everyone gives some form of agreement. “I’ll go first. One time, when I was ten, I ran my bike into a bunch of briars. Mom didn’t call me dumb or even scold me much, just got me cleaned and bandaged then gave me a Kool-aid pouch and let me watch my favorite movie.”
I smile at the sweet memory, ignoring the pangs of jealousy stinging my heart. I shouldn’t be jealous. They don’t have their mother. But at least when they did, she loved them. Anytime I made a mistake, even if I got hurt doing it, I was yelled at. My parents never forgot anything either, so they’d bring up the mistake years later just to hurt me all over again.
“When I broke my arm skateboarding, she did something similar,” Levi says from his place across the fire. “She got me stickers for my cast and let me get ice cream on the way home.”
“She let us be kids,” MJ adds, brushing Maddie’s hair back from her forehead as the young girl rests in her lap. “Raising Maddie has shown me even more how great Mom was at that. We didn’t grow up any faster than we needed to, even with her diagnosis.”
It’s hard not to tense up as they talk about their beautiful childhood. Adrian’s arms tighten around me and his lips find my ear. “You okay, Jules?”
