Arnie was basically a slightly smaller version of Fisher, but with tattoos, wilder hair, and a piercing through his nose. Fisher would have looked better in tattoos because he had more defined muscles, but Arnie had a boyish grin and his own level of sexy, bad-boy appeal.
“My brother’s been holding out on me,” Arnie said while easing into the chair next to me.
“Stop it.” Shayla rolled her eyes. “I’m fairly certain Fisher didn’t bring Reese here for you to hit on her.”
“What?” He smirked. “I’m not hitting on you, Reese.”
I laughed a little.
“Unless you want me to hit on you, then I’m totally hitting on you.”
“Arnie …” Laurie eyed him with a motherly warning.
“Kidding.” He winked at me (just like Fisher) before taking a long pull of his beer.
“Are you in the construction business too?” I asked.
Arnie shook his head while rubbing his wet lips together. “No. I’m in a band.”
“A band?” I couldn’t hide my surprise. “Seriously?”
“Fisher never mentioned his brother is a famous rock star?” Arnie acted offended.
“You’re not famous.” Shayla had to give her verbal jab.
“Fisher and that hot doctor came to a concert last week. That’s how proud he is of me.”
Teagan. He took Teagan to see his brother perform. Yet he hadn’t mentioned anything to me about it being his brother’s band.
“Food’s ready,” Pat called.
Arnie stood. “Ladies first.”
I couldn’t hide my smile as he held out his hand to me. So I took it and stood.
“I perform again tomorrow night. You should come. I know the lead singer.” He gave me the most confident grin. “Front row seating.”
“Rory’s not going to be okay with you hitting on her daughter.”
I glanced back, not noticing that Fisher had gotten in the food line behind us.
“Rory loves me. She’ll be thrilled to know that I’m inviting her daughter to one of my concerts. I’ll text her just to make sure.” Arnie pulled his phone out of his pocket.
“Put your phone away, dickhead.” Fisher playfully grabbed the back of Arnie’s neck and squeezed it.
Arnie wriggled out of his hold. “You and that doctor should come and bring Reese with you. We can grab food and drinks after. A double date with my big bro.”
“Now that actually sounds like a good idea.” Teena butted in on the conversation while wrangling her toddler on the way up the deck stairs.
I didn’t look at anyone, just my feet because they couldn’t tell how uncomfortable I was caught in the middle.
“Teagan and I aren’t dating anymore.”
“Dude, that was short-lived. She was effin’ amazing. What did you do?”
“What makes you think I did anything?”
“Just a hunch.” Arnie continued to prod Fisher.
“Angie’s in town for the summer. You have to call her, Fisher.” Shayla took a seat with her plate of food as I smiled at Pat when he handed me a plate and nodded to the choices of meat next to a dozen different salads and bags of chips.
“Angie’s here?” Arnie and Laurie said at the same time.
“Fisher, call that woman, right now. You know I’ve imagined you two getting married ever since you were six years old.” Laurie accidentally stomped all over my heart.
“Angie’s in town. It’s a sign, Bro.” Arnie filled his plate behind me. “Bring Angie and Reese tomorrow night. Don’t even try to make up some excuse. It’s Angie. You’re totally in, right Reese?”
Feeling zero hunger by then, I returned a tight smile to Arnie and nodded slowly. What else was I supposed to do?
“It’s official … almost.” Arnie set his plate on the railing and plucked Fisher’s phone from his pocket.
“What the f—” Fisher held his tongue with the kids around. Then, he stomped down the deck stairs after Arnie.
“Ha! I knew it. Same predictable code and …” He ran from Fisher. “You still have her number!” A few seconds later, Arnie slowed and held out one hand, signaling Fisher to stop as he used his other hand to hold the phone to his ear.
I couldn’t hear him, but I could see him talking while Fisher rested one hand on his hip and hung his head.
“It’s on!” Arnie tossed Fisher’s phone to him and strutted back toward the house.
If I read Fisher’s lips correctly, he called Arnie a “stupid fucker.”
“You’ll love Angie,” Shayla said as I sat next to her. “The love of Fisher’s life since grade school. He’s been too stupid to just marry her, so she’s now living in California. She comes back here a lot because her mom is disabled and her dad passed away several years ago.”
Just great …
Eighteen-year-old me, with no real-life goals, had known Fisher for just over three weeks, and I was supposed to compete with “the love of his life?”
“Why did she move to California?” I asked despite my better judgment.
“Aside from Fisher not proposing?” Teena sat in the chair across from me after Ryan took the squirming toddler. “She’s a biologist. Wicked smart.”