At the door we headed right on in, knowing that none of our friends stood on formality—you knocked once as you were walking in and shouted hello. Conversations filled the air, as did a low level of music that was, if I wasn’t mistaken, the Avett Brothers. I deposited my coat on one of the wall hooks near the door before Aidan and I headed to the kitchen to add our cooler bag to the lineup of the others from the guests already here. Levi was standing at the island, looking from the coolers already in the kitchen to ours.
“Is this a small-town thing?” he said to Aidan, pointing to the collection.
“Hmm?” Aidan asked, not following.
Levi nodded to the plethora of coolers. “You all don’t trust the host to have something to drink so you bring your own?”
“Not sure if that’s a small-town thing, a Midwest thing, or just a common-sense one. I feel like it started with our friends in college, though that was often a case of cheap beer back then. No one ever had a ton of cash, so we’d bring whatever we wanted to drink. Now we just bring what we know we like but are happy to share with others if they need something.” Aidan shrugged, looking at me as if to confirm his thoughts.
I nodded my agreement.
Sully leaned over across the island. “Yeah, Jake and I brought growlers from the brewery.” He pointed to a setup by the fridge.
Glancing at the island, I noticed the platters of food. I’d brought the bacon-bites appetizer that Max always devoured, but I saw charcuterie boards, dips, some veggie trays, and enough desserts that we would all be in a sugar coma if we ate everything. The scent from the oven told me Allyson was making her pizza dip, which made my mouth water.
I looked over the food to Levi, thinking about his comment. “I think it’s kind of like this food.” I gestured at my appetizer. “When you host this crew, you’re opening your home to a large group. The host always has food and drinks, but we all also bring stuff to make it a little easier for them.”
Max walked by, gave me a fist bump, and grabbed two pinwheels of the cream-cheese-bacon-crescent-roll goodness. His mumbled thanks around the mouthful of food made me laugh as he headed back to talk to Drew Spencer by the fireplace.
“So what you’re telling me is that I can grab a beer from any of those?” Levi gestured with a thumb over his shoulder to the bags against the wall.
“Or the growler, or the drinks in the fridge, or pour a glass of wine—”
“—Or Irish whiskey, or bring your own beverages, you freeloader you.” Logan came up beside his twin with a smirk. “Highland Falls social etiquette stumping you?”
“Doesn’t take much to stump the lesser twin.” Maeve, Allyson’s sister, joined our group.
Aidan leaned over, his mouth brushing my ear as he whispered, “This is about to get good.”
I nodded, trying to keep my smile to myself as a shiver went down my back at the contact. Aidan and I had been placing bets on what was going on between those two. Levi moved to Highland Falls from the suburbs this past April. Logan had been a resident for at least three years, so I’m not sure what made Levi decide now was the time to move down to join his brother, but his move caused a chain reaction and the Traub parents had recently moved down too.
Maeve, Allyson’s sister, wasn’t a resident yet, and I couldn’t imagine her becoming one. She’d visited for the first time this spring and bounced in and out of town since then. Allyson said she never settled in one place for long. Neither one of the Murphy sisters were close to their parents, who lived on the East Coast, but the two of them were determined to see each other more now. And whenever Maeve came to town, she and Levi clashed like oil and water. Or so it seemed. In Levi’s case, I felt like it was one of thoseprotests too muchsituations. Time would tell, but I strongly believed there was some attraction simmering just below the surface.
Maeve was corralled by Allyson though, so no fireworks show for us.
Levi joined Aidan and me with his own drink and snagged a bacon bite. He moaned around a mouthful. “Damn, this is good.”
“And ridiculously easy to make,” I pointed out. “If you want the recipe, let me know.”
“Maybe I just need to follow you around to parties,” he said with a smirk.
“That’s what I do,” Max called over.
“Thanks, guys,” I leaned over and pressed a kiss to Aidan’s cheek. “I’m going to go talk to some of the girls.”
He squeezed my waist as I moved past him and off to join Maggie and Emma.
As I headed in their direction, I glanced around the large cabin, stopping to talk to a few small groups as I moved through the room. Logan and Allyson’s great room was gorgeous with a living room and kitchen running the back of the cabin and a wall of windows facing the woods. The deck off the back had chairs that faced the woods and white lights lit up the winter night, showing off the snow coating the branches of the trees and giving some ambience to the firepit and Adirondacks in the yard. Aidan and Levi caught my eye as they headed through the french doors to join Sully by the fire just off the porch.
Bringing my focus back into the house, I reached the large media lounger Maggie and Emma were reclining on in the corner of the living room. The two of them had their heads together as Emma sipped on some LaCroix and Maggie held a mug in her hand. They had a perfect location to see what was going on outside by the firepit and inside in the great room, which was not surprising considering Maggie’s desire to be in the know with all that was happening.
“Saved you a spot, Grace,” Maggie said, patting the seat as I slid onto the lounger with them.
I gave a brief moment of gratitude to my change of dress for the night. I’d almost worn another wrap dress since Aidan had mentioned how much he enjoyed them last night, but then in our group text thread, Allyson said they were planning on using the firepit for those who wanted to head outside, so I’d chosen dark skinny jeans tucked into tall boots, a white fitted sweater, and a red plaid scarf. I felt like it was festive without being over the top. Maggie and Emma had clearly gotten the message too as they were both in leggings and longer sweaters.
“Thanks for the spot,” I said, kicking back and relaxing into the down cushions.
“Do you need a drink?” Emma looked from me to search for Max, I’m sure to tell him to go get me what I needed.
