Page 65 of Smoky Mountain Dreams

“We need the orange sodas from the garage,” Brigid said. “Forthe sherbet floats.”

“You know where they are and you have arms. Go get themyourselves,” Jesse said, opening a kitchen drawer to pull out several ice creamscoops and a few big spoons. As Brigid surprisingly did what he asked, hereached into the cupboard and pulled down seven bowls and seven tall glasses,moving them all to the big kitchen table.

The origami cranes he’d made with Brigid earlier still saton the side of the table as the ice cream and sodas piled up. Christopherappeared in the doorway to the kitchen, his cheeks flushed and a shy smile onhis face.

He said to Will cheerfully, “What are we doing now, NoodleChamp?”

Will grinned at him. “Floats. Sit down. Make one with us.”

Brigid, Jesse noticed, shot her brother a dirty look.Apparently his explanation that Christopher was a man he was becoming very goodfriends with hadn’t been enough for her to forget the way they’d been almostembracing when she came into his studio earlier. Though, come to think of it,she’d been hostile to Christopher from almost the beginning.

Jesse asked, “Chris, do you like chocolate, cookies-n-cream,mint fudge, vanilla—”

“Boring!” Will interrupted

“Orange sherbet, rainbow sherbet, or…um, butter pecan?”

“That’s quite the selection,” Christopher said, his eyeswide and laughter tumbling from his mouth—God, his pretty, sweet, lovely mouththat had been so warm and wet and gentle—andstop,now was not the time.

“Floats are super serious,” Will said, throwing back the lidof the chocolate ice cream and digging in with a scoop. “You have to have allkinds of ice cream because you never know just what’s gonna float your boat.Get it? Float. Your boat.”

“Your brother is adorable,” Charity said.

Brigid rolled her eyes. “He’s embarrassing.”

“He’s sweeter than my little brother,” Meredith said,shoveling into the mint fudge.

“You can have him then.”

“Yeah, Meredith, you can have me,” Will said, batting hiseyes and then winking at her. “I’ll be your boyfriend.”

“Ugh,” Meredith said. “I take it back.”

“Told you.” Brigid shook her head.

Christopher sat between Will and Frankie-Jones, taking thechocolate when Will was done. He started to scoop it into the glass next tohim.

Will put his hand on Christopher’s wrist. “Whoa, dude. Holdon. Are you sure that’s what you want to do? You don’t want to, like, swirlsome together?” He indicated where he was now heaping some rainbow sherbet inwith his chocolate in the bowl, and started stirring them. “You mix ‘em up andthenput them in the glass, andthenput the Coke or whatever in.”

“Oh, um, I’ll just stick to the boring way,” Christophersaid. “If that’s okay.”

“Sure, dude, whatever you like best,” Frankie-Jones said,but it was clear by the look Will and FJ exchanged they were less thanimpressed with Christopher’s lack of adventure.

It cracked Jesse up and he opened another drawer for somehand towels and cloth napkins, tossing them onto the table.

“What about you?” Christopher asked Jesse. “Are you going tomake a float?”

“Yeah. I make the most boring kind of all. Vanilla and Coke.”

“Mom used to make mint fudge and Sprite,” Brigid said,narrowing her eyes at Christopher. “She was never boring.”

Shit.Jesse had to admit tohimself that Brigid suspected something. If things were going to continue withChristopher, he was going to have to be honest with her. Soon.

Then it happened.

Jesse wasn’t sure who did it. The chances were good that itwas Will or Frankie-Jones, but it could have been Charity. A cola bottle tippedand spilled all over the table, ruining the six origami cranes he and Brigidhad made earlier. It shouldn’t have been a big deal, but all of a sudden itwas.

“You did it on purpose!” Brigid yelled, her usually paleface flushed red and her eyes almost black with rage.