Marvin smacks his arm, nearly making him spill his beer. “Look at the man. Of course he has better luck than you and I ever could.”
“My life would’ve been so much better with his body,” Clyde says.
“You’d need his face too,” Marvin says to Clyde. “Because yours is not that.” Marvin points a finger at me.
“Mine’s not bad,” Clyde argues.
“It’s not good either.”
Clyde gives Marvin the middle finger.
“They’re the best,” Tate says at my side, but she’s looking at them. “Don’t be too hard on yourselves. You are two good-looking fellas.”
“Liar,” Marvin mutters against the rim of his glass.
“Told you,” Clyde says, looking satisfied with himself.
“She’s being nice, dummy,” Marvin says to Clyde.
“Well, I have to go open the shop. What time are we meeting?” she asks as she walks toward the doors.
“Meeting?”
“For our double date.”
“Damn,” I whisper. “I’ll talk to Iris and get back to you.”
“Don’t forget,” she calls out as she leaves.
Ten hours later,Tate and Iris are laughing beside the fireplace at one of our favorite bars.
“No, he didn’t.” Iris covers her mouth to dampen her laughter as her eyes brim with unshed tears.
“Yes, girl. He so did.”
Tate’s telling Iris the story of how I broke my arm when I was sixteen. I always did ridiculous things when I was younger, and it’s a miracle I somehow survived those years.
“Boys are so dumb,” Tate adds.
“Hey now,” Wylder warns playfully as he slides his arm across the back of Tate’s chair. “What fun would we be if we didn’t do crazy things sometimes?”
“Thank goodness we have girls,” she tells him.
“Because they’re the bastion of sanity.”
“Maybe not, but I understand them better.”
“Well, hopefully that one—” Wylder’s eyes dip tomy sister’s stomach “—will be a boy so you can better understand how we function.”
My eyes widen as Tate’s head swivels toward Wylder with the meanest glare I’ve ever seen her give anyone, and I’ve seen some doozies. “Wylder.”
“Wait. Are you…?” I ask, not finishing the sentence.
Tate’s face softens as she looks across the table to me. “It’s not official yet. I just took the test this evening at home, and it was positive. But I have to schedule an appointment at the doctor to be sure.”
“Oh my goodness. That’s so exciting,” Iris says.
“We weren’t telling people yet,” she says, pointing that glare back at Wylder. “I thought we discussed this.”
