* * *
We sit and eat and chat, but for the first time ever, the tension is thick in the air. Normally we’re loud and silly. Normally we joke and make fun of each other. A well-timed insult is our way of sayingI love youwithout being mushy and weird about it.
But there’s none of that today.
There’s just a heavy storm cloud pushing us down and forcing us to be cool because no one wants to offend anyone else.
Kit and Tink mindlessly chat about the wedding, but Tink’s not really into it. She spends her time watching Jon when he’s not watching her. And when he’s not watching her, he’s watching the pizza box as though it had boobs and was giving him bedroom eyes.
Jack is chattering at Jim about the Fernando fight, but Jim’s not into it. Our loudmouth joker makes no jokes. Jack gets no reaction from the teaser when he burns his tongue on the pizza, nor does he get a reaction when he mentions who he thinks will win the fight tonight.
Jimmy simply spends his time watching the front window, edgy and distracted, his silent phone clutched in his hand.
Aiden’s oblivious to the tension – like he always is. He doesn’t have time for that sort of stuff. He’s always above it, always thinking about work rather than feelings and emotions. He just checks his phone for whatever to-the-minute fight updates the TV doesn’t have, and when Jack tries to get Jimmy’s reaction on Fernando, Aiden pipes in with his thoughts.
It’s not until halfway through dinner that I realize Iz hasn’t arrived yet. “Babe?” I quietly slide my hand down Kit’s leg to get her attention. She looks down at me with a sweet smile on her face. Tension or not, most of her favorite people are in one room.
This is Kit’s heaven.
She leans down and presses a soft kiss to my lips. Just like a salve. “Mmm?”
“Where’s Iz?”
Her brows furrow and her eyes go back to scan the room. She leans across to the kitchen counter and snags her phone, swipes open her screen, and reads a text message. Throwing the phone back on the counter a moment later and curling into my lap, her lips rest just by my ear. “She’s on the way… running late… said she’s sorry.”
Steeling myself, I prepare to meet Ben, thehandsomeman who intends to take my baby sister somewherefancytomorrow night. The man who thinks he’ll benefit from the hooker heels sitting in my guest bedroom.
The man who has no clue he’s not good enough to even stand in the same room as my sister.
We’ll set him straight.