Chapter Nineteen
“I’M REALLYnot sure it’s a good idea,” Kevin said.
Ben tried not to frown at him. Ofcourseit wasn’t a good idea. Did Kevin really need to point out something so obvious? Ben rolled his shoulders and tried to focus on the task at hand.
“And not really appropriate,” Kevin added. “Why on earth are there fraternity party games at ababy shower?”
“Fratparty,” Ben said.Damn, he’d sounded mad. He forced a smile and said, “I don’t think anyone uses the whole ‘fraternity’ when they’re combining it with the word ‘party.’ Maybe college disciplinary committees. But nobody else.”
“I actually sat on my college disciplinary committee.”
Of course he had. Ben smiled again. “I’d like to hear more about that—it must have been really challenging, but rewarding at the sametime. But right now, I need to focus on the baby pong.”
“Beer baby,” Uncle Calvin said from somewhere far too close. “It doesn’t make sense to cut out the ‘beer’… we’re still going to drink beer. It’s the ‘pong’ that’s gone.”
Yes, the pongwasgone, because instead of tossing ping pong balls at the other team’s cups they were tossing little plastic babies. It was either the best baby showerBen had ever been to or the worst.
He rolled his shoulders again and put on his game face to glare down the long table at the opposition. Seth. Good aim but easily distracted. And Liam. What the hell had Calvin been thinking when he came up with these teams? Seth and Liam, Ben and Calvin himself. Kevin excluded, because—because Kevin wasn’t really part of this. This set of old friends. Old enemies.
Old.That was the part to remember. Calvin had set up a little trip down memory lane, but it was just a quick visit to the past. Ben was living in the present. WithKevin.
Who had drawn his lips up into a positively prissy little moue of disapproval.
Ben could fix that later.Afterhe and Calvin destroyed Liam and Seth at baby pong. Beer baby. Whatever.
“Visitors go first,” Calvin said, andhe tossed a baggie of plastic babies to the other end of the table.
Liam nodded seriously, pulled a plastic baby out, and bounced it on the table. “Totally erratic,” he told Seth after several bounces. “Unpredictable. We need to go for the direct throw.”
Seth had been tossing his own plastic baby from hand to hand, and now he nodded. “Roger. Direct throw.”
Yeah, beer baby wason.
Seth hadthe first toss. A direct hit, beer splashing up out of the plastic cup. Then Liam. Damn it, another hit.
“That means we go again!” Seth crowed, and he and Liam did a ridiculous little high-five dance. Well, wasn’t it nice to see them getting along so well? Wasn’t it justlovely?
Ben downed his beer and braced himself, but both Seth and Liam missed on their second chances. Now it was Ben’s turn.Oh, no, apparently it was Calvin’s, because the old guy was lining up, working out a sort of modified overhand toss—and, splash, right into a cup. Hell yeah.
“Pressure’s on now,” Liam said. He was watching Ben with—damn it, with a completely inappropriate level of intensity. Sure, it was just because of the game, but the eye contact, the slightly open mouth, the way he was leaning forward, anticipating,waiting for Ben to—to toss a damn plastic baby into a cup full of beer. That was all. He needed to keep his focus.
He threw and the stupid baby bounced an inch to the side of the target.
“It’s okay, partner,” Calvin said. “We’re still fine. We’re in this.”
Yeah, they were in it. They were in it towinit. To teach Liam that he couldn’t just swan back into town for no damn reason and think everyonewas justwaitingfor him, like the last fifteen years hadn’t happened, like thecheatinghadn’t happened, like everyone had been in a cryogenic holding chamber and had only been thawed out when he’d shown his face, like—
Plop. And then immediately after, anotherplop. No!
“Death cup!” Liam and Seth yelled triumphantly. Ben didn’t want to know which of them had thrown first and which of themhad the killer instinct to throw second, into exactly the same cup. He’d thought Uncle Calvin was his nemesis, but what if it was really Seth? Or Liam?
Well, actually, Liam made a lot of sense. Liam was almost certainly his nemesis.
“Now we drink that cup plus two more?” Calvin asked innocently, as if this were just a happy little game at a happy little—oh. Yeah. A baby shower. Ben needed todial it back a little. Possibly there was no need to have a nemesis in beer baby.
Ben lifted his cup and glanced over at Kevin, who was still looking decidedly unimpressed with the entire situation. A raise of the cup in salute, but Kevin just shook his head in response. Oh well. Chug, chug, chug. Encouraging cheers from the crowd—from Seth and Liam, even—but not from Kevin.
There was a thirdcup. Ben had drunk one, Calvin had drunk one, and there was a third. There was no reason for Ben to drink it. No reason for him to be part of this game at all. Sure, Calvin would be disappointed if he walked away. Seth wouldn’t think much of it. But they’d both forgive him. And Kevin would be impressed. Kevin would think Ben was mature, ready for a real relationship, ready for commitment, maybeeven for….
