Sammie would just have to cancel on Vivi. She wasn’t even sure she wanted to keep up whatever it was the two of them had going on anyway. Sure, they had fun together, but a spark was missing that Sammie had been hoping for since… well, it was just missing. And Vivi was a friend. Sammie thought maybe she would rather just keep her friend.
“You mean both of my grandchildren will be free at the same time?” Greta sighed dramatically, placing a hand over her heart. “Have I switched dimensions? Is this a prank?”
“Haha.” Sammie stuck her tongue out. “I’ll make sure Attie can find time for us normies in his bursting schedule.”
“You’re so good, Sammie.”
The wistfulness in her granny’s voice had a sudden lump swelling in Sammie’s throat. It was all suddenly so much. Nearly too much. The restaurant, the lines creasing Greta’s face, the secret Sammie didn’t know if she would ever be able to give voice to. The way she couldn’t remember the last time the three of them had sat down for a full meal together.
“I love you, Granny.” The words spilled out of her unbidden. “Attie, too.”
“I know you do.” Greta rose from the table, coming around to Sammie’s side and planting a kiss on the top of her head. “I’ll always love you, sweetheart. Come on, let’s get to bed.”
Sammie hid her face in her mug, sipping the last of her tea as she blinked back the sudden tears pricking her eyes.
CHAPTER SEVEN
“SMILE!”
Sammie groaned. She tugged her hair back, yanking the tie off her wrist. Kai only raised a brow, sitting across from her at the small table tucked into a corner of the brewery. Ivy was leaning in, holding her phone in the air, front-facing camera reflecting all their faces back.
“No, no!” Ivy smacked Sammie’s hands away from her hair. “Leave it down for the picture!”
“It’s hot.” Sammie stared as she continued to tie her hair back. “Just leave me out of it.”
“No.” Ivy frowned. “We’re day-drinking with a C-list celebrity, we must document and share it with the masses.”
Kai’s brows pinched together. “C-list?”
Ivy waved him off, holding her phone high once more and clicking a picture of the three of them.
It had become a habit, meeting up for drinks, just the three of them, once a month when Kai had therapy two blocks away from the brewery. A little friend unit that Sammie hadn’t anticipated, formed over the course of the season as they sat together on the sidelines close to where Ivy always posted up with her clipboard.
“You really are frowning.” Kai smirked as Ivy let them see the picture.
“It’s hot!” Sammie threw her hands up. She’d gotten in as early as she could that morning, along with Luz, and they’d beenable to finish their brew before the worst of the heat. Even still, the brewhouse was hot as fuck in the summer, and Sammie could still feel salt dried on her skin. Anyone would frown about that, right?
Kai ignored her, in much the same way he tended to brush past her brother’s outbursts. He looked at his own phone when it buzzed with a notification from Ivy tagging him in her post. Sammie could see why her brother had fallen head over heels the night he’d met Kai. The streamer was gorgeous, an ethereal air about him that constantly clashed with his bored, no-bullshit personality.
He shared Ivy’s post, but continued to look at something on his phone that was pinching his brows together once more.
“You good?” Sammie stared until his attention finally flicked up toward her.
“I’m fine.” A pause, made heavier by Ivy’s attention now locked on him too. “Atticus asked me to move in with him.”
Both women blinked.
“Wow.” Ivy leaned back in her seat, crossing her arms loosely. “That’s fast.”
Kai nodded, still staring at something on his phone. From where Sammie sat, it looked like a selfie, her brother and his she-demon of a kitten.
“Nobody loves harder than Attie does.” Sammie wouldn’t sway Kai one way or another, even if she knew what would make her brother happier than anything.
“I know.” Kai clicked his phone off, setting it down on the table. “He’s not the issue.”
Sammie felt a fist around her heart. She knew what it felt like to be the one standing in your own way. “He’ll wait. Long as you need him to.”
Kai took a drink of his seltzer—both of Sammie’s friends were, unfortunately, not beer drinkers—and gave her a small, soft smile. “I’ll give him an answer soon.”
