Snow Angel (The Hope Falls Chronicles) (18 page)

bowl of spaghetti onto the table and slipped back into her chair.

“I don’t think we are quite at the family dinner stage, Mom.”

“What stage are you at then, bro?” Jake asked as he stuffed a large piece of garlic bread in his mouth.

“The M.Y.O.B. stage,” Eric replied.

“Ohhh burned,” Nikki said as she rubbed her palms together like they had when they were kids and

someone had been ‘burned.’

“I don’t understand all these abbreviations you kids use these days.” His mom shook her head. “I just

found out what L.O.L. means. Now what is this M.Y.O.B. nonsense? And is it a good stage for a

relationship or not?”

“It means mind your own business, Mom. It’s not a relationship stage,” Amy matter-of-factly explained.

“I gotta hit the jacks,” his dad said as he stood from his chair and stretched his hands over his head

before heading down the hall. Like clockwork, the minute the last bite cleared from his dad’s plate, he went to the john.

“Have you figured out what you’re going to wear for the party, Mom?” Nikki asked, clapping her hands

together in excitement.

“Oh well, I’m sure I’ve got something up in the closet that’ll do.”

“Mom, this is your fortieth anniversary party. You need to get a new dress!” Nikki exclaimed

dramatically.

“Oh, no one’s going to be looking at me.” Eric’s mom waved her hand dismissively.

Nikki looked at their mother like she could not believe those words had just left her mouth. “
Everybody

is going to be looking at you, Mom. It’s
your
party!”

Usually Eric thought that Nikki was a tad too dramatic about things, but in this case, he actually agreed with his sister. “It might be nice if you got something new, Mom,” Eric said, throwing in his two cents.

“Well, if you think so,” his mom nodded in agreement.

“Oh. My. God. Are you kidding me?” Nikki said, shooting Eric a dirty look, to which Eric just smiled

and winked at her.

He knew that it drove his youngest sister crazy that his mom did tend to favor the boys. His mom

maintained that it was how she was raised. Traditional Italian. Amy never seemed to mind it. At least she

never mentioned it bothering her.

Eric would have been upset on his sisters’ behalf if his father hadn’t treated the girls like they were

angels—which one of them was, but the other one had horns! It was fair to say that his dad was tough on

his boys and let his girls get away with murder. So in Eric’s book, the two of his parents pretty much

canceled each other out.

“What are you wearing to the party, Pops?” Eric asked as his father rejoined them at the table.

“Well, boyo, it’s been donkey’s years since I’ve tried on my good ol’ faithful suit but I bet ya the old

boy still fits.” His dad made a show of rubbing his belly.

“Are you bringing that lovely Lily?” his mom asked.

“Yes, son, are ya bringing that fine thing?” His dad leaned forward in his chair.

“Oh, Lily’s coming,” Nikki said casually as she cut her pasta into small pieces

“How do you know she’s coming?” his mom asked as she reached out and patted his sister’s hand,

making a tsk sound.

In Italy, it was a big no-no to eat spaghetti like that. You twirled your spaghetti with a fork and spoon.

Never cut it. He knew his sister was only doing it to get on his mom’s nerves.

When Nikki didn’t answer right away, Amy spoke up, “We invited her the other night at our book club

meeting.”

“Oh, that’s lovely my bella,” his mother said affectionately to Amy.

It didn’t matter that she’d already been invited by his sisters. Eric was still going to ask her to go with him.

He’d planned on inviting Lily himself, but the last two nights he’d had to work, picking up patrol shifts

since the department was so understaffed. So he’d only seen Lily long enough to drop off Shadow. And

kiss her. Yeah, he probably would have had time to ask her if the second she’d answered the door he

hadn’t grabbed her and pressed her up against the wall. Just like the sound and the kiss, that wall was

quickly becoming his favorite place in the entire world.

Nikki’s phone beeped, and right after that, Amy’s did as well. Both girls pulled their devices out of their purses and their faces lit up at the same moment.

“We gotta go,” Nikki said hurriedly, wiping her face as she began to stand. “Amanda’s back from her

honeymoon and all the girls are meeting at JT’s Roadhouse.”

“What about dinner?” his mom said, a hurt expression crossing her face.

“Dinner was great! Dad’s already done and so am I.” Nikki leaned over and kissed their mom on her

cheek as she pulled her purse onto her shoulder.

Amy stood as well but she had her and Nikki’s dinner plates in her hands. “Do you need help with the

dishes, Mama?”

“Oh no no no, my sweet Amalia. You go have fun.” Then, lowering her voice to a whisper, his mom

added, “And keep an eye on your sister.”

“I can hear you, Mom!” Nikki shook her head in irritation.

Jake’s phone vibrated and he pulled it out of his pocket. “Looks like the boys are meeting up there too.”

“Great,” Nikki said, seeming disappointed.

“Don’t worry, sis. I won’t cramp your style.” Jake stood, put his arm around Nikki’s neck, and started

giving her a noogie.

“Dad,” his little sister whined.

His father stood. “All right now, that’s enough, boyo. Don’t be an eejit.”

Jake immediately released Nikki, who, in turn, stuck out her tongue at him.

Shaking his head at his siblings, Eric grabbed his coat. “Do you want a ride?” he asked Amy, who lived

down the street from his parents, since she had walked to their house for dinner.

“Sure,” Amy replied.

As he and his siblings left his parents’ house, he heard his dad yell, “Look at my kids. All headed out

together on the tear. Now don’t go getting locked.”

Jake looked at Eric sideways. “Only our dad would be proud of his kids all going out drinking

together.”

“Hey, he did say not to get drunk,” Nikki defended. “Daddy’s girl,” Jake said under his breath.

“I’d rather be a daddy’s girl than a momma’s boy!” Nikki pushed her brother.

“Kids,” Eric said to Amy, shaking his head as they got into his SUV. He truly believed that those two

would still be acting like this in their eighties.

Chapter Sixteen

“I came to meet my friends,” Lily told Levi, for at least the tenth time in so many minutes. He kept

teasing her, insisting that she’d come to see him.

“Sure ya did,” the bartender said with a wink as he went to take a newly arrived couple’s order.

Looking around, she couldn’t believe how packed the place was. All of the tables in the dining area

were full. The three pool tables in the back all had groups of people hovered around them, players and

spectators alike. And the bar itself looked to hold about fifty people and there were only a handful of stools open.

To his credit, Levi seemed to be handling the crowd like a pro. Everyone was served and happy. She

watched as he filled several orders at once, chatting with some customers.

On paper. Levi had it all. He was cute, funny, and tattooed, and he
definitely
screamed bad boy. But Lily looked at him and felt nothing.

No sparks. No fireworks. No volcanic eruption of tingles.

Which was exactly what happened when she looked at Eric. Or kissed Eric. Or just
thought
about Eric.

The last few nights that he’d come over to drop off Shadow, he’d definitely left her hot and bothered.

Not that she minded. Those few stolen moments they’d been sharing every day had been some of the best

of her life.

She loved the way that the second she opened the door he would press her up against the wall and kiss

her senseless. It felt raw. Like Eric needed to kiss her as much as he needed his next breath. It was a heady feeling to have that kind of attention focused solely on you.

Every night he ended the kiss the same way. By reluctantly pulling away and, in a very serious tone,

saying that they needed to talk. And every night she would just nod her head, not really able to form words in her lust-drunken state. Then he would kiss her once more, turn and leave.

They hadn’t actually gotten around to the ‘talking’ part of the program yet. Which was just fine by Lily.

In fact, if all they ever did was kiss, Lily would be perfectly content.

Well, that wasn’t true. They would definitely need to move things past the kissing stage if she was going

to be truly satisfied. But she would definitely take kissing over talking any day of the week.

“You sure I can’t get you anything else?” Levi asked as he walked past her and opened up the cooler,

grabbing a few beers. “It’s on the house.”

“No, I’m good, but thanks.”

Taking another sip of her water, she wondered just what Eric wanted to talk to her about. Was it her?

Her past? Was it
them
?

In Lily’s experience, the few guys she’d been involved with actually appreciated the fact that she didn’t

like to talk about herself, her past, or any kind of relationship status. They genuinely seemed to prefer it that way. But Eric had told her three nights in a row that they needed to “talk.”

Times like these were when Lily felt the most alone. When normal, everyday, run-of-the-mill, regular

life stuff happened and she really needed advice, guidance, or even just an outsider’s take on a situation,

she missed her mom.

Well, not
her
mom since she’d never known her mom, but a mom in general. Or a sister, an aunt, a

grandma, or a best friend. Any one of them would have been amazing.

Growing up, Lily hadn’t made that many friends. There was no point. When she knew that any day she

could come “home” to find a dark sedan parked out in front of her house, waiting to take her to her next

“home,” it really didn’t make much sense to make friends.

There had been a few girls in the group homes that she’d gotten along with. But that was more in an ‘I’ll

watch your back if you watch mine, survivor pack’ kind of a way. Not a ‘be my best friend’ situation. And

half of those girls had stabbed her in the back, one of them
literally
, the first chance they got.

True, Sylvia, her roommate at Evergreen Group Home, had only stabbed her with a fork and it had

barely penetrated the skin, but it still hurt, both emotionally and physically. She just didn’t understand how people could be so cruel to another human being. But they could. Having to face that cruel reality early in life was part of what had led her to love animals so much.

Especially dogs. She always knew where she stood with a dog. They gave her signs if they liked her,

were scared of her, or wanted to hurt her. People didn’t give her any such signs, and they were much more

ferocious than any dog she’d ever met. Which was why Lily trusted dogs and not people so much.

“I told you we’d beat them here.”

Lily turned as she heard Jake’s voice coming from the front entrance. He and Nikki walked in, high-

fiving each other.

“Hey, guys.” Lily waved from the perch at the bar.

“Are we the first ones here?” Nikki asked as she came over and threw her arms around Lily in a warm

hug.

Lily shrugged in Nikki’s tight embrace. “I haven’t seen anyone else.”

“Hello, beautiful,” Jake said, giving Lily a hug as soon as his sister moved to sit down.

“Hi.” Lily warmly smiled, hugging Jake back.

These people really like to hug.

Nikki pointed to the glass sitting in front of Lily. “What are you drinking?”

“Water.”

“Lightweight,” Nikki teased.

“You try to dance for twelve hours straight with a hangover and then we’ll talk,” Lily teasingly

challenged.

“True. I didn’t think about that,” Nikki conceded as she waved Levi over.

“Hey, blondie,” Levi smiled, nodding his head in acknowledgment. “You want the usual?”

“Yes please,” Nikki sing-songed sweetly.

Levi grabbed a martini glass as he yelled down to Jake. “What about you, Maguire?”

“I’ll just take a Bud. I have to be at the station at five a.m.”

That reminded her. Lily turned to Jake. “How’s Mr. Rickles doing? I called the hospital today and they

said he’d been released.”

“Yep, the old goat is back at home and already had one in-home care nurse quit because of

‘inappropriate comments.’” Jake laughed as he took a swig of his beer.

“Move down.”

Goose bumps instantly popped up all over her skin as she heard Eric’s baritone voice behind her.

Turning, she saw that he was talking to Jake.

Jake winked at his big brother mischievously. “What’s it worth to you, E-love?”

Shaking her head, she smiled. She just couldn’t help but be amused by Jake’s cockiness. She looked

back up at Eric. He was not smiling. He was not amused.

It wasn’t that he looked mad or upset or even irritated. No, the look in his eyes was much more intense

than those emotions. It was a you-better-do-what-I-say-because-you-don’t-want-to-deal-with-

consequences-if-you-don’t stare.

Jake threw up his hands as he moved down to the next stool. “Would it kill you to say please? It is the

magic word, you know.”

Eric sat beside Lily, and she had to admit that seeing his little alpha-male display was really hot.

“Hi, Lily,” Amy greeted her as she joined the group and sat at the bar on the other side of Nikki.

“Hey, Amy.” Lily really liked Amy. Of all the girls, she most connected to her. Lily didn’t know if it was

because she sensed that there was something more to Amy than what the world saw or if it was just because