Tally’s eyes flashed dangerously. I fought not to stare at her poison-tipped lips. Those things looked sweet but I knew better than anyone how savage they could be. The metaphor almost cracked me. Now that I’d kissed them it took on an entirely new meaning.
“First of all.” She propped her elbows on the table. “It’s a book. It’s notreal. So maybe the conversation parents need to have with their teenage daughters is about separating fiction from reality.” She smacked the table, making everyone giggle. “And do not get me started on alpha-holes. Edward is a proper gentleman compared to some of the guys I’ve met. He’s the one guardingherchastity. Not the other way around.” I gave a conciliatory nod at that. I did have to give it to Edward on that one point. “He’s protective. He’d take a bullet for Bella. What woman doesn’t want that for herself? Or her daughter? Youneed to get off Reddit and use your own brain.” Her words bit but her eyes were playful. “And second of all, toxic relationships aside,The Twilight Sagachanged the young adult genre for-ev-er. Blew it wide open. You cannot argue that.”
“Harry.” I coughed into my hand. “Potter.” Another cough.
“We’ll argue that another time.” She widened her eyes. “May I finish?”
I waved for her to resume.
She sighed as if this was a waste of her time. It was all a show. Tally lived for this as much as I did. The sparkle in her eyes told me that. “And lastly.” She picked a wilted piece of lettuce up from the edge of her plate. “The fight scene with the Volturi at the end of Breaking Dawn was straight up genius. So back off my girl Stephenie.” She flicked the lettuce at me. It landed on my left eyebrow.
Blue snickered and Anna hooted. Christy giggled and leaned her head on Holden’s shoulder looking utterly blissful.
I peeled off the offending Romaine and dropped it onto my napkin. My nostrils flared and I rolled my jaw, working out the smile that was trying to do me in. I should not be getting a kick out of any kind of interaction with Tally. Not after that kiss and herI made a horrible mistakemessage. But when she was getting snarky over books, I couldn’t help myself. It was so freaking sexy.
Her gaze narrowed. “And stop acting like you don’t love every one of those books. I’ve seen them at your apartment.”
I threw her a withering glance. “You have not.”
“Have.”
“Have not.”
“Have. And I have proof.” She reached down into her purse and pulled out her phone.
What was she doing?
“Uh oh.” Ford shook the table in excitement. “Ash-hole’sabout to go down.” He tapped the table with too much enthusiasm. “See, this is why we invited Tally in the first place. She livens things up.”
“Hear, hear.” Silas chuckled.
“Because the Duprees aren’t lively enough on their own.” Christy laughed.
“Stop encouraging her,” I said. “Traitors.”
Tally laid her phone down and gave it a gentle shove. It coasted to a stop in front of me. “Does that table look familiar?”
I looked down to see a picture of the entire Twilight series on a completely ordinary coffee table that anyone could easily pick up for $399 at Target. $275 if you waited for the Labor Day Sale. I knew because that’s when I’d gotten mine. And yes, that was a picture ofmytable. I could tell by the V-shaped scratch in the bottom left corner. But I wasn’t going to admit that.
I slouched down in my seat, feigning to be unimpressed. “This proves nothing.” I sent the phone gliding back. “You could’ve siphoned that picture off Pinterest.”
“Try again.” The phone came flying toward me so hard that this time it dropped into my lap.
I cocked a brow and picked it up. “What am I looking at?”
She patted a fake yawn against those freaking gorgeous lips. “The open laptop right next toNew Moon. Go on. We’ll wait.” She waved to everyone at the table as if this was a courtroom and I was on trial. “Zoom in if you need to, Gramps. Or did you remember to bring yourspectaclesfor once?” Okay, she got half a point for using an old-fashioned word in her ageist jab.
I sneered at her and did exactly that. And dang if the Word document didn't have my name right at the top of the screen. I squinted at the date and scoffed. “You’ve been keeping this in your back pocket for a year and a half? Who does that?”
The room erupted in laughter. But she only shrugged, looking pleased with herself. “I knew it would come in handy someday.”
My lips twitched and my nostrils flared. “You’re a psychopath. You know that, right?”
She let go then, belly laughing, as she shoved her fists in the air victoriously.
“I checked them out from the library, okay? I can’t be a professor of literature if I haven’t read the books my students are talking about.”
“Sure, sure.” She grinned, and the perfection that was Tally Hawkins’s smile did embarrassing things to my insides.
