Page 109 of More For Me

“Since when do we wait on Bodhi?” Everly asks.

“Since he made my baby smile like you just were,” Paige says. She pats my cheek one more time. “Soda? A beer?”

“A beer, but I’ll get it.” I turn to Everly. “You want one?”

“Yes, please. I think I might need alcohol more than you do,” she says drily.

“Anything for you, Paige?”

“Oh, Bodhi, you don’t have to—”

“I got it,” I assure her, already heading toward the cooler on the patio. It isn’t until I’m halfway there that I realize my mistake. Everly’s dad is on the patio.

I take a deep breath, straighten my shoulders, and walk over anyhow.

“Hey, Reed,” I say, hoping my voice sounds more casual than I feel. “How’s it going?”

He looks up from the grill, his eyes narrowing when he sees me. God, the man really is tall. He appraises me for second before grunting and turning back to his grill.

“Need a fresh beer?” I ask as I open the cooler.

“I’m fine.”

Okay, then. Probably could have been worse. Rose’s uncles wanted to run Leo out of the neighborhood the first time he came over.

I grab three beers and scan the backyard for Everly. It’s a pretty typical Sunday afternoon at the Ransome’s. Some kids are playing basketball. Silas, Lyric, and Nix are playing cards at one of the picnic tables. A few of the teen girls are lounging on blankets in the grass while Violet and CeCe play with baby Poppy nearby on the old swing set.

I feel myself relax. I always felt like I fit in here. I’m self-aware enough to know it probably has something to do with my own family. There’s none of the tension here that I usually feel simmering under the surface at my parents’. None of the heavy dread hiding in every corner, the weight of all the things we don’t talk about hanging over us.

“Bodhi!” Rose calls, waving at me from a table by the pool. “Over here.”

I head over and join Rose, Leo, River, Jas, Fox, Alex, and Everly at the table there. I hand Everly her beer. “Where’d your mom go?” I ask, holding up the other bottle.

“Sucking up already,” Leo mutters.

“Fuck off,” I say cheerily.

“Mom decided she wanted mimosas instead. She’s inside making them.”

River snatches the beer from my hand. “I’ll just take that then.”

They wait until I’m sitting before they turn on us. “Okay, we need details,” Rose says, leaning across the table. “I heard you went on a date last night?”

“We did,” Everly says. “It was lovely.”

There’s a silence as their eyes dart between the two of us like spectators at a tennis match.

“That’s all we get?” River asks, sounding outraged.

“Not sure what else you’re expecting.”

“Um, details?” he asks. “Where’d you go? What’d you do?”

Fox grins. “And why didn’t you come home last night?”

“Dude,” I mutter, looking over my shoulder. “Can you not say shit like that within fifty feet of Reed Ransome, please? I’d like to keep my balls.”

“So youweredoing illicit things with our cousin last night,” Rose crows gleefully.