Page 194 of Wild Like Us

“My boys are all together.” She cups my face as I’m bent down. “Oh, don’t youse look so handsome.”

I’ve never seen eyes that smile as brightly as hers. None of us would’ve made it without her in our lives.

I stand up fully. “You look more beautiful than I look handsome, Grandma.”

She waves her hand like I’m full of shit. “Let’s dance. Youse hear that?”

Sinatra.“Andrea Bocelli?”

My mom snorts, coming up to us, “You go to Yellowstone and come back a smartass.”

“Hey, Ma,” I greet, and my grandma is still grinning as I spin her again. With my hand still in Grandma Carol’s, I kiss my mom’s cheek. “You look beautiful tonight.”

She doesn’t even glance down at her black sequined pantsuit. She’s just smiling at me like she knows I’ve been through the ringer and need all the love I can get. “Banksy. We missed you.” She reaches up and cups my cheek. “Don’t get into any more trouble. Not without your brother.”

Trouble.

I laugh. “I thought we were the good sons.”

“Still are. Always will be.” She kisses her fingers to reach up to place them on my cheek.

The women who raised me are my world.

I dance with my mom, with my grandma, and I look around for Sulli—but I can’t see her. Not even as my mom’s wife, Nicola, sneaks up behind her. They laugh and kiss, and my grandma asks me, “When’s your turn to find that special someone, Banks?”

“Yeah,” Nicola chimes in, “any lucky girls recently?”

Sulli.

Can’t say that. Can’t even say if it’ll last past tomorrow.

Before I find an answer, my mom adds with a smile, “Or any lucky guys.”

She’s trying to be inclusive,just in case.I try to crack another smile, but it flickers fast. “You three are trouble when you’re all together. You know that?”

They grin, and my grandma passes around her brandy as they dance.

Right when I turn my head, I finally spot Sulli.

She just now detaches from the chatty girl squad, and she’s heading to her parents.

50

SULLIVAN MEADOWS

Under the twinkling fairy lights,my mom and dad linger next to a chocolate fountain. Goldilocks sits cutely at my mom’s feet with a bow around her collar, tail wagging. With my mom and dad’s parental eyes on me, I’m pretty fucking positive they’ve been staring at me since I arrived.

They wanted to give me a moment with Jane, and my appreciation is second-chair to my urgency to see them. To talk to them. Especially since all the younger girls trapped me into rehashing the story ingravedetail.

I’m not a good fucking storyteller.

Kinney even said, “Blah,” at the end.

That was my review.

Blah.

My trip to Yellowstone wasnotblah. It was…it is…