Page 50 of Kiss Me Forever

And I needed to get him off my mind, because I swore my mother could read my thoughts, and she kept giving me curious looks. My family had liked Duke well enough and were ready to welcome him to the family. They had been just as lost as I was when Duke had died. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to say when it came to my relationship—or lack thereof—with Reece.

After the others came into the house, Uncle Wes and Aunt Jillian followed with both Addy and Riley. I squealed, and held them close, loving my cousins. While I was friendly and friends and practically sisters with the majority of the female cousins in my family, Riley and Addy and I were the closest.

As our fathers were twins, we always joked that we were closer in genetics than anyone else.

With the group of us, we were loud, most likely annoying, and yet another reason that the Franklins were selling.

“Where is Cody?” my mom asked.

Aunt Jillian hugged my mom tightly and just smiled.

“Cody’s out on a date but he sends his love. We sort of surprised you with this family dinner and we’re crashing yours. Sorry about that.”

“We’re here to annoy all of you, so that’s all that matters,” Riley said with a wink.

Riley had to be the most bubbly of all of my cousins. She ran the art gallery—and therefore saw Reece every time that he dropped off Bella. And it had been Riley that I had spoken to in order to get Bella back into the camp. She had numerous questions, and had been very careful about them so far, but from the way she was looking at me, I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold her off for long.

Addy was slightly quieter, and traveled often, and I was so grateful that she was here.

I loved the girls, and having grown up with two older brothers, it was nice to have them in my life. It’s like I had sisters, rather than just the annoying stinky brothers I knew.

“Okay, everyone into the living room and open dining room, I have cheese,” my mom said.

“There’s a reason why he married you.” Uncle Wes kissed my mom smartly on the mouth and then ducked my dad’s fist.

They all joked and moved into the living room, and I rolled my eyes.

“And to think, Uncle Storm dated our mom first,” Riley teased.

I shuddered. “Why do you always bring that up? I don’t need to know what my dad and Aunt Jillian did.”

“I’m just saying, it’s all in the family,” Riley teased.

I shoved at her shoulder playfully, and they rolled their eyes before we moved into the living room.

“By the way, I invited Reece and his daughter to dinner,” my mom began, and I froze. “I know that things are a little tumultuous, and he has an amazing family, but I met Bella when I went to help at art camp, and she was the sweetest. But they couldn’t come today. He did say he would come next time though.” My mother gave me a pointed look, and I tried to stare anywhere but at her.

Reece had been invited? He hadn’t told me.

My stomach ached, and I tried to look like I wasn’t going to throw up.

“Okay, we’re going to talk about this soon,” Riley whispered against my ear.

I ignored her and listened in as Uncle Wes told the story of how he finally got the Franklins to sell.

Apparently all it took was back taxes and forgetting to pay mortgage payments.

“Seriously? They kept calling us low lives, and they weren’t paying their bills?” my dad asked.

“Are they okay?” The worry in my mom’s tone just reminded me how amazing that woman was.

“Oh, they’re fine. They had plenty of money in the bank, they just didn’t want to pay the man.” Uncle Wes rolled his eyes.

“Typical,” Nate muttered as he looked down at his phone.

“Well, what are you going to do with the property then?” Mom asked.

“Well, I figured I can get one of the construction crews to clean it up, and we can make sure a Montgomery family in need takes it.”