Page 19 of Let It Breathe (The Can’t Have Hearts Club #1)

While Leon munched, she scratched his ears. As soon as he stopped chewing, he burrowed his face in her cleavage and nuzzled hard.

“Slut,” she muttered, massaging his long, fuzzy neck.

“First you get him stoned, then you call him a slut?”

Reese looked up to see Clay approaching from the side of the house. Her stomach did a loopy somersault and her skin began to tingle. She glanced at her watch, then back up at him. “You’re early.”

He stopped just a few inches from her, so close she could feel the heat radiating from his bare forearms. Her skin prickled with desire, and she resisted the urge to take a step back.

Clay cleared his throat. “I wanted a chance to talk to you for a sec before everyone showed up. I just didn’t want this to be weird.”

“Weird? What could possibly be weird about having dinner with a stoned alpaca, my ex-husband, my over-amorous parents, my nymphomaniac cousin, and a recovering alcoholic?”

“Larissa’s coming?”

“How many nymphomaniac cousins do you think I have?”

“Right.” Clay dragged a hand through his hair. “Look, I just wanted to make sure you’re okay with everything. I know this is a little weird for you and all, and then there was that kiss the other night?—”

“It’s fine,” Reese interrupted, not wanting to dwell on it. Spotting a paper bag under his arm, she nodded at it. “You brought your own drink?”

“It’s seltzer.”

“There’s going to be wine at dinner. I’m sure you’ve been around that before, but I figured I should warn you.”

“I’m okay. That’s why I brought my own drink.”

She bit her lip. “Clay, if this is too hard on you at this stage?—”

“If what’s too hard on me?”

Reese watched his eyes, waiting for the hard-on joke. There wasn’t one, except in her mind. She bit her lip. “Look, I’ve been wanting to ask you about something.”

“Yes?”

She closed her eyes for a second. She took one deep breath, then another. Sooner or later, they had to talk about this. It had been fifteen years. Might as well get it out in the open now. “Clay, do you remember?—”

“Hey, kids—what’s shakin’?”

Reese opened her eyes to see Larissa shimmying up the walkway with a board game under one arm, a bag of salad clasped in one hand, and a bottle of white wine in the other. “It’s a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc,” she said, lifting the bottle. “You said shrimp, right?”

“Right,” Reese said, casting a look at Clay before reaching out to take the bottle from Larissa. “Thank you for thinking of it. Eric’s got a Pinot Gris, so we’re all set.”

“My pleasure,” she said, pausing to kiss Leon on the lips before sashaying through the front door.

Reese looked at Clay. “We’ll talk later.”

“Sure,” Clay agreed, giving her a wary look. “Everything okay?”

“Absolutely,” Reese said. “Never better.”

Clay was surprised to discover six people could fit comfortably in Reese’s tiny dining room.

Space-wise, anyway. The meal wasn’t exactly comfortable.

The dining surface was glass, which meant every time he reached for the breadbasket, he was treated to a view of June caressing Jed’s knee under the table.

Not that there was anything inappropriate about it, but he could tell it was making Reese uncomfortable.

Among other things.

Reaching for the bread, Clay grazed Reese’s arm with his and watched her bolt right out of her chair.

“More scampi, anyone?” she asked in a shout.

Clay drew his arm back, not sure if it was the kiss the other night or something else making things so tense between them. He settled for smiling and holding out his plate.

“Sure, I’ll take more—unless anyone else wants it?”

“There’s plenty,” Reese said. “Stop being so polite.”

Larissa snorted. “Bet that’s not something you ever thought you’d say to Clay.”

Clay forced his smile to stay steady and tried to keep his eyes on his food. The sound of ice sloshing drew his attention to the chill bucket at the center of the table, where Reese was replacing the empty Pinot Gris bottle with the Sauvignon Blanc Larissa had brought.

“More wine, anyone?” she asked.

Eric hoisted his glass, putting it right at eye level for Clay. Clay looked at it and swallowed hard as the pale liquid sloshed onto the table. He stared at the droplets for a second, then forked a shrimp into his mouth.

“How’s Leon holding up?” he asked Reese.

“Good,” she said. “I just checked on him. He seems pretty much like his normal self.”

Jed nodded and wiped his mouth with a napkin. “Went right for my nuts when I came up the walk. I blocked him with the cobbler.”

Clay grimaced and made a mental note to avoid the cobbler.

“I’m glad Leon is okay,” June said. “I don’t know what we’re going to do with your grandfather.”

“Um, how about dismantling his medical marijuana operation?” Reese suggested.

“He insists it’s legal. There’s no arguing with him. As long as it doesn’t get out of hand?—”

“Out of hand?” Reese asked. “Have you ever known anything with Axl not to get out of hand?”

“Could you pass the bread, Clay?” Eric said.

Clay nodded and handed it over. He studied his old pal for a moment, curious why he seemed so quiet.

“You okay?” Clay asked.

“Sure, why?”

“You’re not talking much.”

Eric shrugged. “It’s nothing. Just got into it with Sheila on the phone earlier, no big deal.”

Reese frowned. “Everything’s okay, right?”

“Of course,” Eric grumbled. “She’s just been nagging about moving back to New York to be closer to her family. She got a job offer from some big nursing outfit there. Says she has a lead on a job for me.”

Everyone stopped talking at once.

“What?” Larissa snapped. “You might be moving?”

“Of course not,” Eric said around a mouthful of bread. “It’s just this wild hair Sheila had. She’ll get over it.”

June dabbed the corner of her mouth with a napkin and pushed her plate aside. “Even so, honey, make sure you give us plenty of notice if you’re considering it at all. Without you as our winemaker, I don’t know what we’d do.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Eric said. “Really, there’s no chance of it. It’s just Sheila being—well, Sheila. Who’s ready for huckleberry cobbler?”

Clay set his fork down and stood up. “Let me help clear some of these plates.”

“I can get it, Clay,” Reese said. “Let me.”

“No, sit down. Really. You’ve hardly touched your food, you’ve been so busy serving everyone else.”

Reese frowned at him but sat down and forked up the last of her salad. Clay began gathering plates, and Larissa stood to help.

“Hey!” she said as she grabbed Reese’s salad plate out from under her. “Anyone want to play a game over dessert?”

“What sort of game?” Eric asked.

“I brought a board game,” she suggested.

Eric grunted. “ Bored being the operative word?”

Larissa rolled her eyes. “Fine, something else, then. Something fun.” She trudged to the kitchen sink looking more wobbly than normal on her high heels, and Clay made a mental note to keep an eye on her.

The line between social drinking and a genuine problem could be squiggly and blurred, which he knew damn well from experience.

Clay set the plates beside the sink and turned back to the table to gather another batch while Larissa got to work running the sink full of soapy water.

“I think we’re out for the games,” June said as she stood up and piled her plate on top of Jed’s, smiling as she grazed her husband’s hand. “There’s a meteor shower tonight, so we’re taking a blanket out to the north pasture to see if we can spot any shooting stars.”

“Should be a great night for it,” Jed said.

June grabbed another plate and nodded. “I call dibs on picking the spot this time.”

“Deal,” Jed said. “I call dibs on making the cocoa.”

Clay watched the private smile that flashed between Reese’s parents, marveling at the intimacy simmering in that small exchange. He slid his gaze to Reese, wondering if she noticed it, too, but Reese had already glanced away.

“Let us help with the dishes before we go,” June said, brushing her daughter’s shoulder as she moved past her into the kitchen. “That way you kids can get started on your game.”

“Don’t worry about it, Mom. I’ve got it.”

“You sure?”

“Positive.” Reese swallowed her last bite of scampi and reached for her water glass. “Don’t you want dessert before you go?”

June slid her arm around Jed’s waist as the two turned toward the door. “I have all the sweet stuff I need right here.”

Jed beamed and pulled his wife closer, and Clay wondered if they’d be able to fit through the doorway linked like Siamese twins. Something like longing flickered in Reese’s eyes, but it was gone so quickly, Clay decided he’d imagined it.

“Goodnight, sweetie,” Jed called. “Thanks for dinner.”

As the door shut behind them, Larissa pulled her hands out of a sinkful of soapy water and rinsed them beneath the tap. “Okay, then,” she said. “Screw the board games. Let’s play something fun like ‘I Never.’”

“What’s ‘I Never’?” Clay asked.

“A drinking game,” Eric muttered.

“A sexy drinking game,” Larissa amended.

Clay shrugged. “Can’t say I remember it. Of course, I was probably too blitzed to play.”

“Don’t worry,” Larissa assured him. “It’s more about sharing secrets than getting drunk. You can have water.”

Reese stood up and started gathering her dishes with a clatter. “We don’t have any secrets. We’ve all known each other forever. Let’s play something else.”

“Come on, you guys!” Larissa pleaded. “We haven’t done anything fun together since Clay came back. It’ll be like old times.”

Eric grunted and glanced at Clay. “Aren’t we all supposed to be doing supportive shit so we avoid things being like ‘old times’? Doesn’t seem like a drinking game would be the best idea.”

Clay felt a sharp pang in the center of his gut. He knew Eric was aiming for helpful, not accusatory, but the words still stung. “Actually, admitting past failures is part of the recovery process,” Clay said. “I haven’t played ‘I Never,’ but it sounds like the same idea.”