“This is Savannah, we’ve been trained to throw impromptu parties since we were in the womb,” Lee answered, smiling at me from across the room.?
Jordan and Doyle opened the door to the bar carrying plates of cheese, a few bottles of champagne, and two bouquets of flowers. I pulled two pitchers down from a shelf and filled them a quarter of the way up with water. Doyle reached over the bar and handed me the bouquets to put in the makeshift vases.?
“Which one’s Lee?” he leaned in and whispered, eyeing the table suspiciously.?
“The cute one,” Sutton laughed, flipping the pancakes.?
I rolled my eyes. “The one in the backwards baseball cap. Who keeps staring at me.”?
Jordan joined Doyle at the bar, and they both turned slowly, but not at all discreetly, toward Lee.?
“He’s way cuter than Dane,” Doyle offered, and Jordan whacked his arm. “But not cuter than my husband,” he added with a wince. Jordan giggled and took the pitcher of mimosas I’d made, bringing them to the table.?“But seriously, he’s super hot,” Doyle added when Jordan was out of earshot.?
I ignored him, turned on the overhead speakers, and cued up a light acoustic playlist, cradling my phone in the docking station. Sutton and I carried plates of food to the table and joined our friends. By the time we sat down, Doyle was now in full swing telling the tale of his sister, Tally, and her New York City antics.?
“So, how do y’all know each other?” Lee asked, pointing between the lot of us.?
“Jordan and Doyle own the wine shop next to my studio. They own the entire building, actually, and I rent from them,” my brother shared, passing his plate of biscuits down the table.?
“And we adopted them,” Sutton added. “Jordan’s from New York, and Doyle’s from Newnan, a few hours north of here.”?
“Jordan supplies the bar with wine, and we work together on the Historical Holiday Tour every year,” I noted, smiling at Jordan across the table.?
Lee watched us all with a faint, melancholic smile, and I couldn’t help but wonder how tough it must be for him to return to our lives and feel like an outsider. I sent him a sympathetic glance from my end of the table, and he responded with a casual shrug. It was another one of those unspoken exchanges we often shared.
Jordan, catching the silent interaction, broke the quiet. “So, where’s Dane Wilder, Esquire, this morning?”
Everyone shifted uncomfortably in their seats.?
“Probably sleeping it off,” Sutton huffed, giving me the side eye.?
“Everyone had a rough night last night, huh?” Doyle said, jutting his chin at Ryan, whose eyes began closing slowly now that he was in a food coma.?
“You gonna tell them? Or am I?” Sutton grumbled, nudging me under the table. I shook my head and fired her a warning-shot look. “Dane sent Magnolia a bunch of nasty texts last night and told her if she didn’t move in and marry him, he would break up with her.”?
I whacked Sutton on the arm and glanced around the table. Everyone had turned to stare at me, their mouths hanging open, Lee’s face burning with rage.
“He was drunk. He didn’t mean it.” I looked at my brother for some help, but he shook his head and turned his attention to the bacon in front of him.?
“What is it?” Lee said through gritted teeth, staring Charlie down.?
“Charlie, don’t,” I warned, but Charlie had an audience now.?
“That’s not the first time he’s said something shitty to her.”
I scooted my chair away from the table, and Sutton grabbed it, pushing me back in.?
“Is this an intervention?” I laughed nervously.?
“No, but…” my brother started, leaning across the table. “I think we can all agree that you don’t deserve to be talked to like you’re garbage. It gets worse when he’s drunk.” Charlie sat back in his chair, and Lee looked like he was going to pounce.
“That’s not true,” I whispered. But itwastrue, and almost everyone at the table knew it.?
The beginning of our relationship was wonderful, and Dane was always so doting, showering me with attention, affection, and praise. As time went on, though, he became hot and cold. I never knew what to expect.?
Right on cue, my phone buzzed from the charging dock where it rested.
“We’re all here, so that has to be him,” Sutton mused, as I pushed back from the table and reached over the bar for my phone.?I rushed toward my office and shut the door behind me before answering.?
