“Three-and-a-half hours is almost twice as long.”
Bree leaned close to Jase. “Are they always like this?” she asked under her breath.
He put his mouth close to her ear. “Pretty much. I don’t know what they’d do if they didn’t have something to argue about.”
His voice sent shivers down her spine. Was immediately after blowing out the candles too soon for them to leave?
She watched his parents argue, but it was easy to tell there was no heat or anger behind the words. “At least I know you came by your bossiness naturally.”
He smirked. “Yup. Got it from Mom.”
She looked at him like he was crazy. “So not was I was thinking.”
Denise rejoined them and handed Bree a glass of wine. “Ms. Mary is shagging.”
“What?” Jase asked.
Bree blinked twice, then laughed. “Did someone tell you to tell on her?”
Denise stared at her blankly. “No. Ms. Mary told me to tell you, she’s shagging.”
“Why is old people having sex interesting?” Jase asked.
His mom and Denise laughed. “What? No…” Bree shook her head. “Not…” She faked a shudder. “I need to go bleach my brain, now.”
“Shag dancing,” Bill said. “Lots of shaggin’ on the Carolina coast.” He winked at Bree.
“Bree!” Her name rang out across the room, and she glanced over her shoulder at the small wood dance floor. Ms. Mary waved her arm. “Come shag with me.”
A wide grin spread across Jase’s face. “My mind isn’t wired to think of that as anything other than an invite to—”
Bree slapped a hand over his mouth. “Quit talking. I’m going to go dance and make sure she doesn’t throw out a hip.” She removed her hand and planted a kiss on his mouth.
“Oh, yeah. I like her,” she heard Melissa say as she walked away. Her smile was instantaneous. Yeah, she liked them too.
Ms. Mary decided to lead. They danced for two songs before the DJ switched to sixties music, and people wanting to shake their tail feathers and twist overran the dance floor. Maneuvering through the crush of bodies, Bree approached the bar and asked for a glass of water. She scanned the room until she found Jase sitting with Gran.
They were in an intense conversation. Jase leaned forward with his elbows resting on his knees. His look was serious, fierce even.
Her heart pounded in her chest and the blood rushed in her ears. Not again. “Fuck.” She set her glass on the bar and almost missed the edge. “Fuck. Fuck. Fuckity-fuck.” She made a beeline for Denise, grabbed her wrist, and dragged her into the far corner of the room, dropping f-bombs the entire way.
“Holy shit, woman. What is wrong?”
Bree felt light-headed. “Jase is talking to Gran.”
Denise’s nose scrunched and she frowned. “Okay?”
“Look at them.” She paced back and forth in the corner.
“What am I looking at?”
“I’m having flashbacks to last year. I can’t do it again.” She put her hand over her chest. “Fuck. What am I going to do?”
“Stop.” Denise grabbed her shoulders. “He knows how it went down, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Alright. One, he’s not an asshat, so he’s not going to do the same thing. Two, if I’m wrong and he is an asshat, then I’ll grab you and we’ll run out of here. Okay?”
