“Fine,” he huffed. From the corner of my eye I watched him walk over to the sleeping bags, nudge them with his shoe, and then untie them and actually rewrap the damn things. I was being facetious with him, but he didn’t always pick up on the subtleties. I had to keep from bursting out in laughter. Sometimes I didn’t know about that guy, but damned if it wasn’t what I loved about him.
The beeping of the horn sent me into a frenzy of activity. I shoved the last of the items in, grabbed the meat from the freezer, and packed it in the cooler. I heard Kyle at the door, and then voices flooded the living room. Excitement fluttered through me. We’d been looking forward to this trip for months. I rounded the corner to find Jake and Casey, both dressed for a frickin’ blizzard, side-stepping the boxes littering the living room.
“Sorry,” I said as I hugged Jake in his big, bulky jacket. “He moved in two months ago and I’m still trying to get Kyle to unpack his crap, but no one can delay like your brother.”
“Don’t I know.” He smiled at me, his eyes flickering in amusement. I had long ago gotten over the awe of being in the same room as a superstar. Over the past few months, he and Casey had become a part of my little world, and I’d grown to love them like family. Sometimes I marveled at my life now. Last year, I’d been bored and lonely, dreaming of adventure and hoping for a new start. When I sent that video of myself into the show, little did I know how much my life would change. I couldn’t remember ever feeling so happy and content.
“You know you love my messy ways,” Kyle said, grabbing me as I walked by and slapping my ass. He always enjoyed putting on a show for his brother.
“Oh, yeah? You want it? Let’s go then, Stud.” I teased, turning to the others. “You two don’t mind waiting, do you?”
“Yeah. I mean, I don’t mind waiting one minute thirty seconds. What about you, Casey?”
“You think it’ll take that long?” she replied.
“I hate you both.” Kyle grinned as he set me free.
“Hey, Kenzie. I say you give Kyle a timetable, and if he hasn’t unpacked by then, call Goodwill,” Casey offered helpfully, as she rummaged through one of the open boxes.
“Dammit, Jake,” Kyle blasted. “How many times do I have to ask you to control your fiancée? I’m getting tired of her trying to corrupt my girlfriend.”
Jake threw his hands up in the air, and we all laughed. He had no more chance of controlling Casey than Kyle did with me. They were both whipped, and they knew it.
“Hey sister,” Casey said, stepping over one of Kyle’s tattered video chairs to give me a hug. “This should be the first to go,” she whispered.
I nodded in agreement. “So what’s with the Eskimo outfits?”
“You said it was cold in Northern California.”
“Cold, not Arctic.”
“Oh, oops,” Casey giggled, and I joined in. She had been my first girlfriend after moving to Southern California. Because Kyle and Jake were so close, Casey and I ended up spending a lot of time together and found that we had many similar interests. It wasn’t unusual for the two of us to plan excursions together without the boys. And since Kyle had moved in with me, getting some quality girl time to bitch about his annoying habits was just what I needed.
Yes, he could be maddening at times, but I was head over heels for this guy and considered myself very lucky to have found my way back into his life. Even though Kyle and I hadn’t become a couple when I left him in December, my plans to move to Southern California never wavered. With some of my windfall, I found a little apartment off the main strip in Venice Beach and got a job at a party rental place. With my fifteen minutes of fame working in my favor, I even got paid to make appearances at Hollywood parties and dance clubs, and I collected occasional checks for social media endorsements as well. Those paychecks more than doubled when Kyle and I started showing up together.
After we separated back in December, I’d kept in touch with Kyle, and we talked regularly after Jake woke up. And when I moved into my apartment, he and his older brother Keith were there to help me carry in the furniture and unpack. They were also there to eat all the groceries I’d stocked in my fridge and drink the entire case of 36 beers I’d bought for the housewarming.
After getting settled in, Kyle began calling me to hang out. Since Jake wasn’t working much, neither was he, so Kyle had a lot of time on his hands. We kept it totally platonic at first, but soon he was dropping by unannounced, and it didn’t take long until we were having sex in all two rooms of my tiny apartment. From there our relationship progressed to the point where he would no longer leave, even when I asked him to. Things of his started appearing in my apartment. I’m not even sure how it happened, but three months after I moved in, Kyle had become a permanent fixture on my couch. It just seemed natural to take the next step and ask him to move in. Yet when I formally invited him, the doofus just stared back at me with a blank face and said, ‘Oh, I thought I already had.’
“So what are we bringing?” Jake questioned me. “Kyle and I can start packing the truck.”
“Oh, I’m glad you asked. So, seeeverythingin the apartment?” Kyle answered dramatically, sweeping his arms in giant circles. “Yeah, it’s all going.”
I rolled my eyes over Kyle in amusement, and then, ignoring his over dramatization of my organization skills, addressed Jake personally: “Just the containers and coolers on the kitchen floor and then all the stuff against the wall.”
“Just promise me you won’t forget the tiny pitchforks, Kenzie,” Kyle begged, hands pressed together in prayer.
“Don’t you worry. They’re all packed up. And I’ll be expecting an apology when you are stuffing your face with s’mores tonight.”
“Never,” he declared bravely.
I smiled knowingly. I’d be getting my apology, or he wouldn’t be getting what he was hoping for in the tent tonight.
* * *
Speaking of tents, on our way out of town, the boys needed to stop at their parents’ house to pick them up. As we pulled through the fence, I felt nerves fluttering in my stomach. Sometimes I still had to pinch myself that I was living this life: hot boyfriend, sun-kissed days on the beach, mansions of the rich and famous. If it weren’t for my job keeping me grounded, I’d think I was in another universe at times.
Casey and I had talked a lot about handling the pressures of being part of the McKallister family. There were dynamics in play that neither of us were privy to, and I suspected that this family had many surprises in store for us. Often I looked to Casey for my cues. Although she had come into this life only a few months before me, I wondered if Jake had been more open with her about his childhood than Kyle had been with me. I pondered if that was because he’d been conditioned to keep quiet to protect Jake’s privacy, and safeguarding his family from scrutiny had just become his way of life.
