“Well, I didn’t know which brand or size you—”
“This conversation is over! Canceled! I am officially canceling this conversation,” he states with finality.
My hands are still over my mouth, trapping the giggles just begging to escape. He storms out of the kitchen and into the living room so we can see him for the first time. He looks like he can’t decide whether to be extremely grossed out or super-annoyed and angry.
“Monkeys!” he exclaims, and the twins run and jump on him, tackling him to the ground. They fall to the floor in a laughing heap.
Judy walks into the room a few seconds later. “Oh, it’s so nice to see you, Aiden. I didn’t hear you come in.”
She’s a tiny woman. She must be a whole foot shorter than Noah. She has the same smiling, pale-green eyes as him, and the same bright, white smile. Her straight brown hair is cut just above her shoulders, and I’m struck that this is the woman Noah always describes. She doesn’t look scary in the least.
After Aiden says hi to her I introduce myself and we talk for a bit. She’s honestly one of the nicest women I’ve ever met, and it’s clear that Noah gets at least some of his sense of humor from her. When the doorbell rings again, I’m the one who goes to answer it. Julian, Mason, and Annalisa walk in, and before I can say anything, Annalisa hits me with the back of her hand.
“What the hell?!” she exclaims, narrowing her eyes at me.
“Ow!” I flinch away from her, even though the hit wasn’t hard.
“You and Aiden have been swapping spit this whole time and no one felt the need to tell me?!”
My face heats up. “It wasn’t this whole time, Anna.”
“If it makes you feel better, they didn’t tell anyone,” Noah offers, and I shoot him a look. Not helping, Noah.
After I promise that I’ll tell her everything once we get to the beach house, we say good-bye to Judy and head out the door, ready to embark on a five-hour drive to a place that will be our escape from all the drama.
Last night, Annalisa, Julian, Mason, and Charlotte went shopping for the trip, so most of the supplies are already loaded in the back of Julian’s pickup truck. We decided we’d all get the food together once we got there. Julian, Noah, and Aiden are the volunteer drivers, so everyone divides up into the three cars, and I end up riding shotgun in Aiden’s car, with the twins in the back.
About an hour and a half into our drive, Aiden shuts off the radio when another one of those annoying political ads runs. We play some road-trip games for a bit, but after a while the twins drift off. Aiden assures me it’s better they sleep for the five-hour drive than ask us if we’re there yet every five minutes.
We’re almost at the two hour mark when I realize I’ve screwed up.
“What’s wrong?” Aiden asks when he sees me frantically turning my purse inside out.
I look at him, prepared to lie, but then I remember I don’t have to. “I forgot my sleeping pills.” I sigh and throw my stuff back into my purse.
His gray eyes shift from the road to me. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure. I took one last night then put the bottle on my nightstand so that I’d remember to pack it when I woke up this morning.” I sigh again, annoyed at my own dumbness. “Guess I’m not sleeping for two weeks.”
Aiden’s head tilts slightly, and I can tell that beautiful brain of his is trying to work out a solution. “Can you get them there? Or somewhere along the way?”
I lay my head back against the headrest in defeat. “Not the ones I like. I need a prescription, and I don’t have one.”
“Okay.”
Very ca
lmly, he signals to the right and pulls onto the gravel shoulder of the deserted country road, the two cars behind us following suit.
“What are you doing?” I ask as he takes off his seat belt and turns around to wake his brothers up.
“Fixing it.”
“What do you—”
“Are we finally there?!” I’m interrupted by Jason, who’s just woken up.
“Not yet, buddy,” Aiden tells him, getting out of the car and moving his seat up so Jason and Jackson can get out of the back. “Get your stuff and your brother, you guys are going to ride in Noah’s car the rest of the way.”