Page 39 of The Spite Date (Small Town Sisterhood #1)

NEVER TRUST A TEENAGER

Bea

The food is almost a success.

Hudson and Ryker are moaning over the risotto, as usual, though they’re putting more of a show into it like they’re trying to make Simon uncomfortable.

Daphne eats almost as much as I’d expect one of Simon’s boys to eat, claiming it was a long day and she didn’t have enough food for lunch.

She splits her time at work between checking in with the outdoor crews and making phone calls to raise more money for the nonprofit, and today was an outside-all-day kind of day.

Those always make her hungrier.

Simon’s offering praise between every bite and making me blush.

He’s as far as he can get from me at the table. I’m the last seat on one end, he’s the last seat at the other end, with Tank at the head by him and Pinky across from me.

Daphne and my brothers conspired on the seating arrangement, even if they’re claiming innocence.

And Simon’s children—both of them—have hardly touched their plates.

Midway through dinner, Daphne and I excuse ourselves to the kitchen under the guise of getting seconds. “Are the kids sick?” I murmur to her as we huddle in the kitchen beside the screen door, secretly spying on the men to see what they’ll say while we’re gone.

“You’re asking the wrong person. I know nothing about kids.”

“Hudson was only a little older when you moved in with us.”

“Yeah, and we hung out. I didn’t do the parenting.”

“You drove him to guitar lessons and took him to the pool in the summer when you were off.”

“Bea. You had to teach me to drive before I could take him places.”

“You knew how to drive. You just didn’t know how to do it without getting speeding tickets.”

She ignores me. “I didn’t parent. I helped to express my gratitude for your patience with the extra hot mess you took in to raise too.”

I roll my eyes.

She rolls her eyes back.

Her eye roll is decidedly more pointed.

Not the first time we’ve had this conversation, and it likely won’t be the last. “You know you saved my sanity?” I say to her.

“You saved my whole fucking life.”

I give her a shoulder-squeeze hug.

The men are discussing the farm. The minute anyone stops grilling Simon, he asks a question of his own about how Ryker runs things out here.

They’ve covered the goats, the chickens, the honeybees, the greenhouse, the barn, how the CSA operates, how old the farmhouse is, and a few other things I can’t specifically remember now.

“I’m done doing parenting,” I murmur as I glance at Simon’s boys again.

Charlie’s in a hoodie despite the temperatures, though he doesn’t have the hood up, and Eddie keeps looking at his plate like he wants to eat, but won’t.

“I’d do it,” Daphne says. “Maybe. One day. With my own. If I get enough therapy to overcome my own childhood.”

“You don’t think they’re refusing to eat to make some kind of statement about me and Simon dating-not-dating, do you?” I ask her.

“Psh. You’re not looking for long-term. He can tell his kids that.”

“You know that. I know that. Simon knows that. But still—his kids aren’t eating. And they usually eat everything.”

“Ooh, you’re nervous. Like you like him nervous.”

“Am not.”

Okay, I am. But what he did to me in my bus—of course I like him.

Wouldn’t mind a little more of that.

Yep.

It’s all physical.

Nothing at all to do with how much watching him smile now makes me want to smile too.

“It’s okay to be nervous around a guy you like, Bea,” Daph says. “He’s hot, he’s funny, and I think he really is that happy all of the time. That’s good for you.”

“So you’re Team Simon now?”

“Maybe. He got you arrested, so that’s still a mark against him.

Is he going to dump you in another sink full of dirty dishes tonight, or do you think he’ll actually treat you like a lady and rail you against a wall instead when he sneaks upstairs with you under the guise of getting a house tour from you? ”

“ His kids are here .”

“Yeah, and there are two security dudes who can keep them occupied.”

“And my brothers are here. Pretty sure you know for yourself how excellent they are at cock-blocking.” They already made him so uncomfortable at one point by pestering him about the new show he’s apparently writing this summer that I thought he was going to bolt.

They backed off though and changed the subject when they realized he didn’t want to talk about it.

And I can understand it, even if I’ve never considered myself creative.

I’ve had my big dreams stolen from me. I can imagine Simon feels a protectiveness over his projects too.

“I can make a goat emergency happen in thirty seconds flat,” Daphne says. “They’ll be chasing Gustav and Rainbow and Merrick all over the farm.”

“You know Ryker hates it when people name his goats.”

She grins. “I’m willing to face his wrath if it means you finally get properly laid.”

“Just for fun,” I add.

“Well, duh, just for fun. You don’t want forever. You’ve made that pretty clear.”

I cringe. “Daph…”

She pins me with a look that has me glancing at the door to make sure we’re still alone. “What?” she says flatly.

“It’s just…I realized that my last three boyfriends happened when I was determined to just go have a fun time. So I’m starting to get worried that if we actually do this, I’ll think I’m in love with him.”

She grins broader. “Rocking chair test.”

“ Hey, kids, want to hear about the time I figured out my vagina always convinced me one good night of sex meant he was my soulmate only for me to get my heart ripped out of my chest time and time again when it ended because my vagina is a lying dirtbag? ”

“See? You identified a problem and learned from your mistakes! If I need to have a talk with your vagina about Simon not being your soulmate, I’m happy to.

But she’s not a lying dirtbag. She’s a hopeless romantic.

I’d rather have a hopelessly romantic vagina than a suspicious vagina, and I say that as someone who knows suspicious is a smarter choice. ”

“Sometimes I wonder how I love you as much as I do, and then you go and say things like that, and I realize life wouldn’t be the same without you, and I do mean that the complimentary way.”

“You’re welcome.”

I’m smiling as I glance at the door again. “We should get back out there before they come looking for us and catch us having conversations about my hopelessly romantic vagina.”

She snickers.

I grab another scoopful of risotto for myself and follow her out the door, back to the table where Simon has noticed his kids aren’t eating too.

“Are you sure you’re not ill?” he asks Eddie, who’s beside him.

Eddie stretches and fakes a yawn. “I’m tired. Must be getting ready to sleep and grow a few inches.”

Charlie stretches and fakes a yawn too. “Same.”

“Is this when we mention the strawberry shortcake for dessert?” Daphne settles into her seat. “Bea, do that thing where you tell your brothers they can’t have dessert if they don’t clear their plates.”

“We don’t do the clean plate club,” Hudson says. “We do the eat until you’re not hungry anymore club.”

“I do the only take as much as you’ll eat club,” Ryker says.

“I can always eat more risotto.”

“And that’s why you’re not staying at my house tonight.”

“Will he puke?” Charlie asks.

Hudson grins.

Ryker scowls at him.

“No,” I answer for them. “Sometime when we’re not eating, they can tell you about the great Christmas plumbing disaster. For now, are you sure you’re not hungry?”

“I might have some strawberry shortcake,” Charlie says. “Sample it. Like I sampled all of this.”

“We sample,” Eddie agrees.

“It’s good to sample when you’re getting ready to sleep for thirty-four hours so you can grow two inches.”

“I might grow three.”

“I have to grow five to start to catch up.”

The twins share a look, and they once again yawn in unison, both stretching their arms above their heads, both barely holding back grins.

Simon’s looking between them—one across from him, one beside him—like he can’t decide if he should ask to take some dinner home and bail or if he should see how this plays out.

Then he glances at me and catches me smiling broadly.

“You’re enjoying this,” he says.

It’s an affectionate statement that makes my belly warm and tingly in ways even the best barbecue chicken and butternut squash risotto can’t.

“Sometime later, I might tell you stories about things Griff and Hudson did after pretending to be tired, but you helped me out today, so I’m not going to give your kids any ideas.”

“We are tired,” Charlie insists.

“Exhausted,” Eddie agrees.

“I might fall asleep on this plate.”

“I should probably go lie down in the grass while you do boring adult stuff.”

“I won’t allow Bea to send food home for you if you don’t behave yourselves,” Simon says.

He’s so bad at this disciplinarian thing.

I don’t believe him.

I don’t think they do either.

The boys share another look.

“We don’t want food, Dad,” Charlie insists.

“Yeah. We’re not hungry,” Eddie agrees.

“He’s so fucked with something,” Daph whispers to me.

I sip my wine and smile.

Simon makes eye contact with Tank, who rises as soon as Charlie darts out of his seat.

Pinky rises as Eddie gets out of his seat too.

“This is better,” Charlie says.

“Yeah. You can talk about adult things while we sleep.”

“I love sleeping in the grass. It’s better than sleeping in the trees.”

“How has he not sweated to death in that hoodie?” Daphne whispers to me.

“It’s teenage boy magic,” I murmur back. “Griff did it too. For three summers. And then he wouldn’t wear a coat in the winter. But he survived. And now he claims it was training to help him play in any weather.”

“Boys are annoying. Why do we like them again?”

“Evolution and genetics hate us.”

“I can hear both of you,” Ryker says to us as the boys dart off the deck with both security agents following behind.

I smile at my brother. “Good. Don’t be a stupid boy.” I move to Charlie’s spot across from Simon.

Daphne moves to Eddie’s spot between Simon and Ryker.

Hudson gets up for thirds.