“Join the club.”
Lane goes to Willow and wraps her in a hug, which Willow reciprocates. “I’m low-key pissed that I didn’t get to wear a pretty dress and go to a bachelorette party, but I’m happy to have a sister,” she says, putting my anxiety to rest.
“Awww,” Willow coos. “I’m happy too. And I’m sure they have something like Thunder From Down Under in Montreal. Why don’t you look it up for us?”
Lane glances at me, a question in her eyes.
Good to know I still have some authority around here.“Whatever Willow wants,” I tell her.
Willow tilts her head. “I like how you trust me,” she says, smiling funny at me.
Beck hands his phone to me, a line of half naked, overly muscled men occupying his whole screen. “Your wife and our sister are going to go seethat.”
“Cool,” I say, feeling my jaw clench and my heartbeat pick up.
Willow taps my chest, then pecks my cheek. “You did good. Don’t worry, we’re not going to that. It’s overrated.” She stays tucked against me, her hand lingering where it has no business being, then turns her back to my front to talk with Lane, clasping my hand so it wraps on her shoulder and ends dangerously close to her breast. “We’ll go on a shopping spree. We can have fun with all the money we saved on a wedding.”
Beck snorts. “And… another reason never to get married.”
“Dude, I don’t see a line out the door to marry you,” Lane says as she sits back at the counter.
“I didn’t see a line for No-no either. Matter of fact—”
Lane swats him behind the head.
“No-no?” Willow asks, turning her face at me, playing the loving wife a little too much to aT. She has my arm clasped so tight around her I wonder if she’s using it as a shield.
“It’s what I used to call him when I was little,” Lane says.
“Uh-nope,” Beck says. “It’s because he always says no to everything.”
If I didn’t say no to their crazy ideas, we’d probably all be dead by now.
“Like what?” Willow asks.
I free myself enough from her to refill my coffee, and give it three more minutes before heading out.
“Like hiking Mount Mansfield in the winter—”
“No! You were twelve.”
Willow looks at me weirdly, and I know she’s doing the math in her head.
“Having hot air balloons on The Green.”
“That was your idea?” Willow laughs, looking at Beck.
“No, are you nuts? You need open fields.”
“Or reopening the underground passage between the house and the shop,” Lane says.
Willow gasps. “Shut up! There’s an underground passage?
I have to say something before she falls for that. “No! No, that’s a myth.”
“No-no! No no no no,” they both repeat.
“Alright, assholes, I got work to do.”
