“Of course not. He’s the angel child that tricked Mom and Dad into a two for one special.”
I nod. “Do twins run in the family?”
“Yeah, why?” Taylor asks.
I poke her nose; it’s pink from the alcohol. “If we decide we want children, we’re using my eggs.”
Lucy snorts her drink through her nose onto her food just as a tall blond man with matching green eyes and a beard comes up to our table.
“What fresh hell have I stumbled upon?” he asks in a rumbling voice. “Are you two terrorizing Taylor’s partner?” He looks around the table at the three of us. “Where is he?”
I stick my hand out. “Hi, Eloise Harper. Taylor’s partner.”
He blinks, looking down at my hand and slowly reaches for it. Taylor’s holding her breath as she watches him sit down, eyes wide at the two of us together. Her hand is still on my knee, stilled. “Oh.”
“It’s a recent development,” Lucy saysconspiratorially. “Mom and Dad don’t know, but Eloise is way better than Frank.”
“I imagine so,” he says, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Eloise.”
“Likewise.”
“Lucy didn’t tell me you were coming, I would have eased you into this, I swear,” Taylor says. “But like, surprise?”
“Certainly surprise. I take it that I’m going to be easing Mom and Dad into this?”
“Well, according to Lucy, they should already know because I thought Daphne was hot,” Taylor grumbles, crossing her arms. The removal of her hand from my leg is disappointing.
I’m still shaking James’s hand, and I don’t think he’s noticed. He’s staring Taylor down slack-jawed. Lucy does though and nudges him. “Let go of her. She’s going to think we’re freaks, and we can’t ruin this for Taylor. She’s so good at doing that on her own.”
“You’ve been sabotaging me left, right, and centre,” Taylor snaps. “You mentioned the Bear incident.”
James nods. “Right,” he turns to me, “Weren’t you the player who injured Taylor’s knee a few years ago?”
I nod sheepishly. “Unintentionally.”
“Threw me into the boards,” Taylor says sadly. “I wasn’t sure if I would ever recover.”
“You were in the way of the net,” I mutter. “We’vemoved past it. She’s tried to kill me at least five times since I joined the team.”
James looks like he’s about to die himself. “I need a drink,” he mutters. “I’m not ready for this conversation,” he stares at Taylor, “I think I like her, but I still have the taste of Frank in my mouth, and that’s not fair to Eloise.” He turns to me with a sympathetic smile.
“It’s not like I could help it,” Taylor pouts, crossing her arms. “Eloise is very persuasive, and my therapist had me thinking a lot of things.”
“Your therapist?” Lucy and James echo, and I shake my head.
“Didn’t Winnie tell you to—?” She cuts me off by quickly slapping a hand over my mouth. Lucy wiggles her eyebrows at us, and James is desperately trying to wave over the waitress.
“She said nothing!” Taylor shouts.
“No, you told me she told you to watch some porn, right?” Lucy says, feigning concern. “Didn’t it work? You kissed Eloise the next day.”
Taylor groans, removing her hands from my mouth and running them over her red cheeks. Laughing, I hold my hand out for her, to see if she wants to take it for some sympathy points, which she does.
“I’m too sober for this,” James mutters again. “Why didn’t you call Mel? She would’ve loved all the deets. She wouldn’t be traumatized by this.”
“To be fair, James, I didn’t invite you,” Taylor sayssnootily. “Lucy did, so you must’ve pissed her off.”
The waitress finally comes around and gives him his drink, and he orders tequila shots for all of us. We decline them while Lucy takes us up on our two shots, so the two of them down the drinks. I lean towards Taylor to whisper into her ear, “The girls were right. You guys are fucking insane.”
