Page 204 of The Maxwell Brothers

CHAPTER 25

KENDRA

The next coupleof weeks moved at an insane pace. Tyler was gone more than he was here, and I was happy for him, but I also missed him a lot.

Luke’s contractor started working on my house. I was beyond grateful that he’d accepted to be paid in several installments, but I still needed the money from Jared to make it all work. I still hadn’t talked to Tyler about it, but I planned to do so tomorrow after he returned from New York. They’d played the New York Hellions today, and they won!

I was in a celebratory mood and couldn’t wait to go out with Reese, Lexi, and Kimberly, who was here for a week. They invited Emma too. It was going to be amazing. Truthfully, it was just an excuse to go out, but I’d been so busy lately that I’d take any excuse I could get.

Right before I left my apartment, I had taken a picture of myself in the mirror, sending it to Tyler, though I had no clue when he was going to see it.

I met the girls at a trendy bar in the West Loop, just a block away from Tyler’s condo. Emma came with me, and we were both dressed to impress. I was wearing a short red dress, sheer tights, and black heels with a strap, and Emma was in blackpants and a yellow top with a pink hat. Lexi had a tight dress that showed off her curves. Reese wore jeans and a black silk top with spaghetti straps and looked like a million bucks.

"Nice to meet you," Kimberly said, shaking my hand and then Emma's. Her hair was in curls. She was wearing a black skirt and a sweater hanging off one shoulder, kind of a carefree ensemble. She looked fabulous. "Okay, so the motto for tonight is ‘The girls are having fun.’"

The bar was in a stylish corner building painted green and black. We chose a round table that was strategically close to the counter.

"Tequila is on the house, ladies," the bartender said.

"Wait, did we just step into heaven?" Kimberly asked. "How is tequila on the house?"

"They just want to get us drunk to order more," Reese replied.

"That makes sense," I said.

We all raised our glasses.

"To everyone being together," Reese added before we clinked our drinks and downed them.

"Woohoo," I exclaimed. I was the first one to plunk down my glass, and Emma finished next.

Lexi came in third, and then she tapped her fingers against the table. "It feels good to be out with the girls."

"We should make it a thing," Reese declared. She glanced at Emma and me. "All of us. You two included."

My sister grinned. "Damn, all I have to do is show up and I'm already invited to all future events. I like this family."

I just smiled, feeling a bit shaky. As usual, I was emotional at being included so effortlessly. And also, as usual, my sister just accepted it all at face value.

"Okay. Let's order something," Kimberly said. "Look, they have a special page withhandcraftedcocktails."

"What the fuck is that? All cocktails are poured by hand." Reese snickered.

"I'm guessing it's just a fancy way to name them so they can charge more. But damn, they sound sexy," I said, perusing the menu. I ordered a strawberry daiquiri with a secret ingredient. Every cocktail was a well-known one but with a twist.

This would be fun. I was so relaxed with these girls, it was like I’d known them forever.

My sister nudged me. "You know what? We should include drinks in our spill-it sessions."

Kimberly straightened in her seat. "What's that?"

"Oh, my sister and I, we just have regular catch-up times. We call them our spill-it sessions."

"I like that," Kimberly said. "We should do the same." She looked at Reese and then at Lexi.

Lexi shrugged. "I'm up for it."

"So, how does it work?" Kimberly asked. I had the impression she might take out a notepad any second now and write down everything.