“Sure, if you like that sort of thing. Are you ready to meet the other adorable couple?” I asked looking in the direction of Grace and her blue-haired boyfriend. “This ought tobefun.”
“Be nice,” Caseywarned.
“Aren’t Ialways?”
“Um… might I remind you that you wanted to let Tony drown? So no, notalways.”
We joined Emma and Finn and walked to the porch. There was no need for either of them to get Indiana out of the back of their car as my dad had already extracted his favorite human from her car seat, and the two disappeared through thefrontdoor.
“I guess we’ll see Dad later.” I nodded my head in hisdirection.
“Oh, you’ll see him again,” Emma confirmed. “As soon as Indiana poops, throws up, or cries, he’s outtathere.”
After exchanging niceties with my mother, I grabbed my little sister and wrapped her in a protectiveembrace.
“Someone’s been holding out,” I whispered inherear.
“Someone hasn’t been home in months,” she fired back, before pulling her boyfriend closer and saying, “ThisisRory.”
He stepped up to Casey and me, looking terrified. Good. That’s just how Iwantedhim.
“Hi,” Rory said, his voicecracking.
Was he still going through puberty? Jesus, if that were the case, this kid was on track to be sevenfeettall.
“It’s really nice to meet you both. Congratulations on yourwedding.”
When I didn’t make an immediate move to take his outstretched hand, Casey stepped in and took it, but not before giving me a warning glare. “It’s nice to meet you too, Rory. If Grace had told me she had a boyfriend I would have added you to theguestlist.”
“Oh, well, we haven’t been dating long, so it would’ve felt weird to impose on a familyevent.”
At least he had that much sense. “So, Rory, is it?” I spoke up for the first time. “It’s weird that Grace has nevermentionedyou.”
“Yeah, well, she didn’t mention you to me either. At least not until a couple ofweeksago.”
Really? Huh. Now this was interesting information. Gracie stood between us looking about ready to die. How did this kid not know she was my sister? Everyone at her school knew. Unless… “Wait, you two don’t go the sameschool?”
Mom shifted uncomfortably, and Grace looked out over thehorizon.
“No,” Rory hesitated. “Wedon’t.”
What exactly was happening here? It was obvious there was something they weren’t telling me. In fact, there was something about this kid that didn’t make sense at all. He wasn’t the typical Southern California teen that filled Grace’s wealthy suburban high school. Where had she metthisguy?
Almost like he could read my thoughts, Rory tipped his head up, making eye contact with me for the first time, and what I saw in his gave me pause. The average person might miss it but I knew that look well. I saw it everyday in my own reflection in the mirror.Shame.
Taken aback, I averted my eyes and cleared my throat. “Well, it’s good meeting you, Rory,” I said, offering my hand to him. I no longer wanted to bust his balls, as I was certain someone else had already beaten me to thepunch.
* * *
Quinnand I spent the next two hours working on his songs. It didn’t take much to point him in the right direction and fix some of the issues he’d been having. I felt bad that it had taken me this long when it was so little effort on my part to help him out. Most surprisingly about the time I spent with him was that we worked so well together. There was no animosity between us at all. When it came to music, Quinn and I spoke the samelanguage.
The talent was there, yet Quinn had somehow stalled and was just spinning around in place. What was he waiting for? God, I hoped itwasn’tme.
“So, do you want to tell me what happened with that band? They seemedlegit.”
“They were.” Quinn nodded, studying his hands and looking conflicted. “But it wasn’t me they wanted. It was my… uh, how should I put this … myconnections.”
And by ‘connections,’ he meant me. I wasn’t sure what had gone down, but it was pretty clear he’d been used, and that was never a good feeling. “That’s shitty.Sorry.”
