Lizzy kissed him on the cheek. “Ten weeks, sweetie.”
“Oh, we’re doing it in weeks?”
She grinned at him. “We’redoing itevery way we can.”
I gawked at them. “You kept this a secret?”
Brad jabbed a finger in my direction. “Hah! How doyoulike it?”
The four of us laughed and clinked our beers together in a toast.
“All joking aside,” Brad said, “are you okay with it? Me dating your best friend?”
“You don’t need my permission,” I said. “But of course I’m okay with it.” I turned to Lizzy. “Just don’t break his heart. Or take him out in the Mustang.”
“Oh, she’s taken me out on plenty ofrough rides,” Brad said.
I stuck my fingers in my ears. “LA-LA-LA I CAN’T HEAR YOU.”
Everyone laughed some more. When I made a dramatic show of chugging my beer to drown out the mental image of my brother and Lizzy, they laughed even harder. Then Hunter reached over to hug me, and I raised my lips to his.
But when his arms wrapped around me, it wasn’t just for a hug. I squealed as he lifted me off the ground, throwing me over his shoulder. He carried me across the patio, ignoring my kicks and screams and playful punches on his muscular back. He paused at the edge of the pool, just long enough to build up the suspense, before tossing me into it.
I surfaced and splashed him, and then he kicked off his shoes and did a cannonball next to me, sending a plume of water into the air. Brad and Lizzy put down their beers and ran across the patio, leaping into the water to join us.
We splashed and laughed and teased each other. At one point, Hunter swam down between my legs and raised me up on his shoulders. Brad did the same thing with Lizzy, and then we chicken-fought just like we had when we were kids. Lizzy won the first two times because she was taller and had longer arms, but the third time Hunter charged forward and knocked her and Brad into the water.
Hunter let me off his shoulders and wrapped me in his arms. “I love you so much,” he said, water trickling down the hard planes of his face.
“I love you too,” I said before we kissed.
We were older. We were wiser. We were more mature. But we were also happy and carefree because nothing was stopping us. We had each other, and we always would.
No matter what life threw at us, I knew some things would never change.