“Stella and Liam have more,” I say as he takes the tray from me.
“Hell yeah. You get my sandwich?” Zeb asks.
“Meatball sub, yes,” I say, holding up a bag.
“Mushrooms, onions, and jalapeños?” he asks.
“You put mushrooms on your meatball sub?” Reed asks, face curling.
“Here I was hung up on the jalapeños,” Mads says.
“You don’t put mushrooms on your sub?” Zeb replies.
“No, that’s weird,” Reed says.
Zeb eyes him playfully. “Dude, you like peanut butter and pickle sandwiches, okay. We’re not going to get into an odd food combos contest together.”
Wren makes a gagging face, and Reed grins her way. “You know you like kissing me after I eat that.”
“You’re going to have to go brush your teeth just at the thought of that now,” she says.
“At least mushrooms and meatballs can both go in spaghetti,” Mads chimes in. “That peanut butter pickles shit has always been a weird Matthews household thing.”
“Dad loves it,” Andi says.
“That was our poor meal,” Reed says. “Or mayo and banana if we were out of the other.”
“That was my favorite cheap Tina meal,” Andi says.
“Or just mayo nights,” Reed says, smiling fondly at his half-sister.
“I think we need to have a Tina visit,” Bonne interjects. “Does she have a special way to do the peanut butter sandwiches?”
Her voice makes my heart sink. My gaze moves past the others as some of them stand to help Stella, and I peer at the very back where Bonnie is sitting on the steps that lead onto the bed platform. She smiles at me softly as Reed answers her question, and I don’t think either of us hears his answer.
I try to squeeze through the people sitting on the two built-in couches, making my way toward her with a bag of food.
“Hey,” she says when I reach her.
“Hey,” I say, extending the bag out to her.
I resist leaning over and kissing her like I want to. There’s a light in her eyes that she was missing last night, a spark I thought I might never see in them again. It takes all of my strength not to sink to my knees on the two steps in front of her and bury myself in her lap. I want to hold onto her for however long we might have in this little bubble before it’s all destroyed by the truth.
Bonnie groans and hisses a quiet, “Yes!” when she opens the bag. “Hell fucking yes,” she goes on. “How did you know I would want a big, greasy cheeseburger today?”
I chuckle, heart constricting at her joy. “I called your best friend,” I admit, glancing over my shoulder to Zeb.
Even though I knew your day-after meal has always been a double from In-N-Out.
“One burger patty, one black bean patty, double cheese, bacon, special sauce, pickles, with lettuce and tomato on the side so it doesn’t get soggy,” I say as she takes it out.
She presses the greased wrapper to her nose and inhales the scent. “This is fantastic,” she says as if she’s unwrapping a birthday present. “It might be better than sex.”
My brows lift, and she chomps down on a fry as she grins and meets my eyes.
“I mean, you’re welcome to challenge that later,” she says, and I laugh under my breath.
I take off my shoes and sit on the ground at the bottom of the steps then, my head hitting the wall behind me when I finally relax back.
