Veer (Clayton Falls) (30 page)

I still had to tease her.
“Are you complaining?”

“No, you know I’m ready for more.” She looked at me when she said it. Brody was only twenty-
two
. H
e still had a few years before she got on his case about it. According to my family, twenty-seven was ancient.

“I think I might go take a shower.” Becca sat
forward
, upsetting my arm.

“Okay, I think you’ll find everything you need in your bathroom
.
”
Mom snapped into hostess mode.

“I’m sure. Thanks.”
Becca
headed inside with a small wave. She seemed really nervous again.

“This is
a lot for her to take in
, huh?” That was a surprisingly perceptive comment coming from
Brody
.

“She’s an only child of a single mom
,
so yeah
,
a big family is a bit of a foreign concept
,
but she’ll be fine.”
I finished my coffee, setting down the empty mug on the swing
beside
me.

“Fine with
Amanda
,
David
,
and everyone, or fine
when fifty guests arrive later?” Brody polished off his second
Pop T
art.

“Both. I’ll just make
sure
not to leave her alone too much.”

Mom scowled. “She won’t appreciate being baby-sat
. G
ive her any space she needs. She’ll be
okay
.”

I waited about
a half hour
before heading upstairs. Becca
sat
on the bed blow drying her hair. I was s
urprised. S
he rarely took the time to do that. I guess she was trying to look nice for the party.
She needn’t have worried. She always looked amazing.

She hadn’t heard me enter over the noise of the
blow
dryer, so I snuck up on her.

“Arrgh.” She jumped off the bed
, flinging the blow dryer in the process
. “Was that necessary?”

“Absolutely.”
I
knew I hadn’t really scared her, and I brushed some nearly dried hair away from her face.

“Are you going to shower?” She
retrieved the dryer
, probably getting ready to turn it back on.

“That’s the plan.”

“Okay, I’ll wait here.”

“You don’t have to…” I wasn’t sure if she was suggesting it for me or for her.

“I want to
.
I need to go over some things with you.”
She sounded serious, but she didn’t seem upset
,
so I figured it couldn’t be too big of a deal.

“All right
. B
e out in a sec.”

I took a fast shower
.
I didn’t want to leave her waiting too long.
When I came out to get dressed
,
she
lounged
on my bed
and stared
out the window.

“How are you doing?”

She looked toward me
with
a slow smile spreading across her lips. “You look too good like that
.
”

“Like what?” I
feigned
innocence as I stood with a towel wrapped around my waist.

“If we weren’t in your parents’ house…”

“You won’t be able to use that excuse come Sunday.”

“I know.” She looked away. She always looked away when I changed, like she wanted to give me privacy or something. I
,
on the other hand, watched her like a hawk. I couldn’t get enough of seeing her body.

“I’m decent.”

She sat up and crossed her legs. “Okay, so I need to make sure I have this.
Amanda
is married to
Mark
,
and their kids are
Carrie
and Andrew.
Y
our brother David is married to Debbie
,
and they have Jason, Melanie
,
and Karen?”

I laughed. “Yup, good memory.”

She took a deep breath. “Okay, I can do this.”

I took a seat next to her on the bed. “It’s not that big of a deal
. R
elax.”

“Not that big of a deal? You drag me back here and have the nerve to say that?”
Her voice
went very
high
.
S
he was really worked up.

Okay, obviously I
took
the wrong approach. “I didn’t mean it like that
. I
t’s just they’re not intimidating people
,
and they’ll love you.”

“We’ll see.” She stood up, smoothing her
navy
t-shirt
down over the top of her khaki shorts
.

“You ready?” I let her
take my hand to
pull me off the bed.

“Sure.”

The sound of kids yelling outside meant at least one of my siblings had arrived
.
I really hoped they’d be on their best behavior.

***

“I don’t think my girls are going to let her go home,” David joked, leaning back in an Adirondack chair as
my brothers and I
watched Becca play with my nieces.

“Yeah, I think she won them over with those braids.” The girls had gone wild when Becca made these
cross-
over braid things for them
. S
he called them braid headbands or something like that.

“She’s obviously good with kids
,
”
David pointed out.

“That’s definitely true.” She seemed to be having as much fun as they were. She’d also had fun kicking the soccer ball around with my nephews. My sister and sister-in-law were as unathletic as they come, so I think
my nephews
were surprised to
meet
a girl who knew how to play.

David cracked his knuckles in that annoying way he always did.
“So, you going to tell us how you ended up with this girl? She almost seems
too go
od to be true.”

“It’s a long story.”

Brody tossed a football up in the air over and over. “We’ve got time.”

“
F
irst I tried to stay away, then I fucked up
,
and then
I
miraculously got a second chance.”
Out of habit
,
I looked around to make sure my mother hadn’t heard me. Cursing was practically a capital crime in her house.

Brody caught the ball, holding it this time. “What did you do?”

“Nothing worth repeating.”

“No
,
you don’t
. S
pit it out, bro.” David was now at full attention.

I let out a deep breath. “I slept with her and told her we should pretend it never happened.”

“Please tell me you’re joking
.
” David
stared at me like I had two heads
.

“Afraid not. Like I said, it’s amazing she gave me another chance.”

“Putting everything else aside, why’d you say something so stupid?
It obviously couldn’t have been that bad
,
or you wouldn’t have her here now…” Brody started up with the damn ball again.

“I knew she was only in town for the summer
.
I figured it’s what she wanted.”

“But it wasn’t…” David trailed off.

“No. And it gets worse.”

“Worse?”

I figured I might as well lay it all out there
.
I usually told my brothers everything. “I was her first.” I preferred to think of it that way
,
and so did Becca. What happened to her at
seventeen
didn’t change that I was the first one she gave herself to
—even if she was incredibly drunk
.

“
L
et me get this straight
.
You hook up with a gorgeous virgin and then tell her to hit the road? And I’m usually the screw up.” Brody laughed dryly.

“I know.”

“And how’d you get her back?” David
ran a hand through his thick brown hair.

“I got her car fixed
,
took her out to lunch
,
got her some flowers,
and took care of a drunkard.
” I smiled
.
I still couldn’t believe how lucky I
’d
got
ten
.

“
W
hat changed your mind?”
Brody set the ball aside once again.

“About?
”

“Come on, about her. What happened to her only being in town for the summer?”
he continued.

“I couldn’t resist her. I wanted more, and then I got more
,
and I needed more
. Y
ou know?”

“Yeah.
I get that.” David smiled, leaning back.

I looked out into the yard, unable to take my eyes off
Becca
.

Chapter Twenty-
Nine

Becca

I was making friendship bracelets with
Gavin’s three nieces when his sister Amanda asked if I wanted to take a walk with her. I knew it was just an excuse to interrogate me
,
but I agreed anyway. I didn’t really think I had a choice
, so
I got up and followed her.

I was exhausted and still had a party to get through. The day went better than I
’d
expected. I spent most of it playing with the kids. When in doubt in a social
situation, spending time with
kids is the answer.
I wondered if Gavin knew how lucky he was. He had such a loving family. I liked them all
,
even if they did seem a little overbearing at times.

We we
re barely out of the yard when Amanda
started in. “
H
ow’d you and my brother meet?
I haven’t been able to talk to him
much today
.”
Her blond hair made her stand out from
the rest of her family.
I wondered if it was her natural color.

“He actually helped me out when my car broke down.”

“Seriously? That’s kind of romantic.”

Romantic? I’d never thought of it that way… but that was probably because of how rude he was to me after.

The expression on my face must have given me away. “What aren’t you saying?”

“We didn’t exactly hit it off immediately.”

“Really?
”

“No, we actually argued quite a bit. I insulted him somehow by saying he had a southern drawl.”

She laughed. “Yeah, Gav has a bit of a temper sometimes.”

“That he does.”
Hearing squeals of laughter, I turned to see a group of children running through a sprinkler. I envied them. Life was so much easier as a kid.

“
W
hat changed things?”

I paused. I definitely wasn’t going to give her the whole story. “I guess
,
in the end
,
we couldn’t stay away from each other. I think we both realized there was something there and decided to see where it went.”
I held in a breath as a bee buzzed around me. I was pretty sure I was a magnet for them. I’d been stung more times than anyone else I knew. After a moment, the bee moved on, and I let out the breath.

“Well
,
I’m glad you
guys decided to give it a go
. I’ve never seen him so happy. I bet he’s already thinking about the ring and proposal. I’m sure he’ll make it really romantic
.”
She got this
far-
off look on her face.

I froze. “Proposal? Oh no, we are definitely not there yet
. M
aybe we’ll never be. We’ve only been together two months.”

“He brought you home. He’s planning on making it permanent. You
’ll be engaged in no time. I can’t wait. Do you think you’re going to want to get married back home? Because if you want it here
,
Debbie, Annie
,
and I can take care of everything even though
you’re
far away.”
She bounced along, seeming so much younger than her thirty or so years.