“We’re here. Race you to the dip,” I hollered, hopping out before Cade shut the engine off. I sniffed and followed my nose to the coffee table. After taking a seat next to Rose on Violet’s purple sofa, I grabbed a tortilla chip and dipped into the dip.
Rose nodded at me. Her mouth was too full to say hi. I nodded back and we preceded to stuff our faces.
“Where’s Cade? Didn’t you come together?” Violet asked.
I looked up.Wow.There were a lot of people here. I waved to the room. I felt a little embarrassed by my race to the dip, but decided it was worth it and let it go.
“He’s parking the car.” I didn’t feel bad for ditching him.I’d been gone a long time. I had years of buffalo chicken dip to make up for.
He stormed through the door and pointed at me. I waved, then stuffed some more dip in my mouth.Gah!So worth it. He sat next to me and loaded up a chip.
“Good, you’re here, Cade. Now we can start.” Violet turned to me. “We’re going to discussBeautiful Bastard.”
“You saidStorm of Swordswas this week,” Cade interjected, mouth full.
Violet raised her eyebrows. Uh oh. “Pretty sure I didn’t, Cade. We’ve been readingBeautiful Bastardall week.”
Cade stood up. “Nope. No way. I’ve been waiting to talk aboutStorm of Swords.I am not about to discuss the merits of hate-fucking one’s way to a successful relationship with my mother and my sisters. Hell no. Fuck this, I’m out of here.” He strode angrily to the door. “Lily, I’m heading to Holloway’s. Text me when you’re finished here, and I’ll pick you up.”
I was not surprised that Cade had readBeautiful Bastard. He was not a sexist reader. He’d read anything, including romance novels. I nodded and waved goodbye. More dip for me.
Mom perked up at this. “Cade, if you’re going over there, then get behind the bar and help Oliver out so you can send Delphine over here.”
Oh, I hadn’t seen Aunt Delphine yet. Yay!
Chapter 11
Luke
Iwas glad to see Cade behind the bar when I walked into Holloway’s. I’d had a terrible day. I was worried about Liam, and I hadn’t seen Lily in over a week. I had wanted to give her space, but not this much of it. “Hey, Cade.” I took a seat at the bar and he slid me a beer. Holloway’s looked like an old Irish pub: small black-and-white tiles covered the floor and dark wood paneling lined the walls. The walls were peppered with framed family pictures and neon beer signs hung here and there. A long, shiny, maple wood bar dominated the space, but there were several sets of tables and chairs and a few booths along the perimeter. They served great food, and I was about to partake.
“How’s it going, Luke?”
I took a huge swallow of beer and shook my head. “Shit day, man. Liam’s grandmother had a heart attack this morning. I went with him to the hospital. He was beside himself. She raised him since he was twelve. She’s all the family he has left. The doctor says she’ll be fine though. How is Lily? I didn’t get to see her today. I haven’t seen her all week. Work has been brutal.”
“She’s at Violet’s. I got suckered into helping here so Delphine could go to book club. I think they all planned it.”
I chuckled. I’d spent about ten minutes at one of those things, and I would never do it again.
“Did you eat yet? Oliver is in back making burgers. Want one?” Oliver was Lily’s cousin. He was our age and a good friend. I nodded because hell yeah, I wanted one. That’s why I’d come here. “Savannah is headed over to relieve me. You can join me if you want.”
I nodded. Savannah was another one of Lily’s cousins. There were so many that Lily and I had always joked about not being able to remember exactly how many cousins she had on this side of the family.
Cade turned to the kitchen entrance behind him at the bar. “Yo, Oliver! Throw another burger on. Luke’s here!” He popped the cap off a beer for another customer and handed it over.
“Will do! Hey, Luke!” Oliver shouted back. Lily’s family was huge and they were all close. I used to be close to all of them too. When I first got back, they’d all welcomed me unreservedly. Each one of them had come to visit me when I was laid up at Jed’s. It meant a lot that they all forgave me. If I could get Lily to talk to me, hopefully she would too. Savannah arrived with smiles for the both of us and took over behind the bar. Cade grabbed a beer for himself, then we headed for a booth in the back.
“I’m pretty sure I already know the answer to this, but I’ll ask anyway. Has Lily heard you out yet? And what are you doing about it?” Cade had always been like a big brother to me, but whenever the subject of Lily came up, he stopped being my brother and was all about her. I respected that. I respectedhim, and valued his opinion immensely.
“I can barely get her to even look at me.”
Cade laughed. “You know her, lost in her own world.” Hestopped laughing. “You left that world. Got to find a way back in.”
“Yeah, but how?”
Cade thought for a minute. “I would never, ever give this kind of advice to anyone about any of my sisters.” His eyes bored into mine. “But you’re different. You two...” He sighed and took a sip of his beer. “If you don’t get back together, it’ll be a tragedy. I trust you. I get where you were coming from, so I’m going to help you.”
“I’m all ears, Cade.”
