“What exactly did you say?” Callie wants to know.
“He was talking about Viagra,” Grady replies for me and I fight the urge to cringe. I do not need to be talking boner pills with my bed buddy’s mom. Or my best friend’s aunt. And she’s both.
“That will do it." Callie sighs and kisses her daughter's cheek. "My precious flower."
“I can talk penis pills Mom,” Olivia blurts out a little too loudly and a couple of nearby guests glance over. She flushes but keeps going. “He was talking about themandDad though, and even you have to admit that is not something a daughter needs to hear.”
“Devin takes Viagra?” Tenley asks innocently, and way too loudly, as she stumbles into the conversation.
“No Ten, he does not. The man needs no help. He’s still as… capable as he was the day I married him,” Callie explains to everyone.
“Oh God, how did we get here?” Grady scrubs his face, which is turning as pink as Olivia’s already is.
“Howdidwe get here?” Tenley repeats and her body quakes in over-exaggerated shudders. “And how do we get somewhere else?”
“I made a joke about endorsement deals for the retired players and it’s somehow spiraled.” I take a step away. “I should go find my mom and brother before I say something else that lands us all on TMZ Sports.”
“Don’t kid. That shitty site almost ruined me,” Mallory adds as she walks over with Mae. “Crew have you met Mae? Callie and Devin’s youngest.”
“Mayhem Garrison,” I say holding out my hand to shake hers. “The next big thing to happen to hockey.”
"Shut up," Mae covers her face with her hands for a moment and then sighs looks up at me sheepishly, and shakes my hand. "You read the article?"
“It was inSports IllustratedMae, not the Boston College school newspaper," I say. "Of course, I read it. Also, Tate mailed everyone on the team copies this summer when it came out."
Mae Garrison was given a two-page article about being a female goalie on the men's hockey team at Boston College where, last year, she crushed the record for most shut-outs in a season. Rumor is they wanted to photograph her in a bathing suit and sandwich the article into the Swimsuit Issue but she refused, which makes her even more badass in my opinion.
My eye leaves Mae, and I see my dad walking in with Jordan and Devin. He’s making his way to my mom who is by the candy bar, no doubt popping Sour Patch Kids into her mouth since they’re her favorite. “I should get going. Good seeing all of you again.”
My eyes linger on Olivia and she smiles just a little bit. Just enough to give me a chub in my dress pants. I turn but Tenley grabs my arm. “Wait! I wanted to say Shelby says hi.”
“What?” I turn back to face her and Tenley does a little excited jump grabbing my attention. Her big blue eyes are wide and she claps. “Right! How did I almost forget? Shelby, my cousin that you were interested in, she’s single. She never got the chance to make that clear the night you introduced yourself to her. Anyway, she’s coming back to town in a couple of weeks for a visit.”
Every single set of Garrison eyeballs is burning into me right now. But the two pairs I feel like hot pokers on my skin are Olivia's and Grady's. He clears his throat but his voice comes out in a low rumble. "I'm sorry do we mean Shelby,mysister?”
I wouldn’t exactly call his tone menacing, but I wouldn’t not call it menacing either. I can't look him in the eye. I can't look Olivia in the eye either so I stare at Tenley. "I didn't… I never said I was interested. I was meeting her, yeah, I mean I haven't met all the Garrisons. Every time I think I have, you guys multiply or something. I don’t know. Anyway, I… I’m glad she’s coming back to town. I hope you guys have fun. She seems like a great girl.”
“She’s the best,” Mallory says.
“A sweetheart,” Tenley chirps and nudges Olivia. “Livvy tell him something awesome about Shelby.”
"Shelby is great." Liv's voice is small and unconvincing. "I need a glass of water."
She leaves.
“She’s mysister,” Grady repeats.
“Oh don’t go being all protective older brother." Tenley waves her hand in front of Grady's face like she's trying to swat a fly. "Shelby can handle herself just fine and you and Crew are friends. I will never understand dudes who don't want the people they love with the people they love. I mean, hello that's a no-brainer."
“Ten has a point,” Mallory adds. “I mean, I would love my brother Emmett to settle down with one of my friends. I’m sure Crew would love for Nash to date someone he is friends with.”
“Crew wouldn’t dare inflict Nash and his wet noodle personality on a friend,” Tenley mutters lowly but I catch it.
“It’s because they don’t want to think about their friends naked with their siblings,” Callie tells Tenley. “Trust me I used to want to puke when I would think of Big Bird naked on top of my sweet, kind, gentle older sister.”
“And now we’re back to talking about sex and our parents,” Grady groans, then turns and walks away.
“Mom! No one needs to picture other people having sex. Just don’t do that, for anyone, especially Uncle Jordan. Gross," Mae barks out. I guess Callie calls Uncle Jordan Big Bird.
