"Is Julie at your mom's too?" I ask. Julie is Pippa's stepdaughter, and about twelve years older than the twins. Pippa's husband was a widower when she met him.
Pippa shakes her head, sipping the cocktail she just received. "Nah, she's at home. Too busy warring with her father."
I grin. "Let me guess, Eric scared off another guy who asked her out?"
"Nope, but refused to let her out of the house for a date because she was wearing a very short skirt and didn't want to change. I think Julie's researching colleges in Canada right now, possibly even Europe. The farther the better."
Summer chuckles. "Eric is a tad overprotective."
"You can say that again. Anyway, I think most men are. I mean, look at Christopher."
We burst out laughing, and I nearly snort cocktail through my nose. Christopher's wife, Victoria, has a younger sister, Sienna, who is twenty and very much into dating. Christopher grills the guys so thoroughly when they show up to take her out that most don't ask for a second date.
"Sienna is a genius," Summer muses. "We really need to pick her brain whenever we need ideas to troll our brothers."
Just before Victoria's bachelorette party, Sienna decided it was time for revenge, so she teased Christopher, telling him the girls hired a stripper for Victoria. I wish Sienna had filmed Christopher because her impression of a jealous Bennett brother was beyond hilarious. Eventually Sienna told him it was a joke, but only because she legitimately feared he'd crash Victoria's party.
///
I sip my drink quietly, wondering how it must be to have an overprotective brother or father. I don't think I'd mind one bit to know someone has my back.
"So, Clara, what have you been up to that you don't want to tell us?" Summer asks. I choke on the mouthful I just sipped and am close to snorting it out through my nose. Luckily, I manage to swallow.
"How did you figure that out?" I ask. There's no point denying it. When the Bennett girls sniff you out, they sniff you out. They always sniff everyone out.
"You've been too quiet," Pippa explains. "You usually talk our ear off. How is living next to Blake?"
"He's a great neighbor."
"Unleashed his seductive skills on you already?" Summer bats her eyelashes at me, and I jerk my head back abruptly.
"He's been looking at you like he wants you for a long time," Pippa says coolly.
Now that they've straight up ambushed me, I have to 'fess up. I can't lie to them, and lying by omission is still lying.
"So, I went to this festival with him," I begin.
Summer claps her hands. "Was it a date?"
"No," I clarify quickly. "But that didn't stop him from backing me up to a tree and kissing me like nobody's business." I clamp my mouth around the straw to keep myself from volunteering more information, such as how my skin is still humming at the mere memory of the kiss, or the shower afterward. How I'm buzzing with awareness every night I go to bed because I know Blake is on the other side of the wall. The girls would read into it. Hell, I am reading into it.
"And?" Pippa urges.
"And nothing." There's no way I'd share details such as the dirty talk because even I know that would be oversharing.
"Wait, so you just kissed and then went home-together-and nothing?" Summer asks.
"Yep."
Summer cocks her head to Pippa. "I thought Blake was supposed to be good at this stuff. Do you think he's lost his game? Maybe he needs more help than we thought."
"No idea. So he hasn't tried anything?"
"Nope." As long as I stick to one-word answers, I'm golden.
Pippa leans back in her chair, drumming her fingers on the table. Just then, a waiter appears next to her, inquiring if we need more drinks.
"Of course," Summer says. We all order the same drink as before.
As we slurp our cocktails and then order a third round, the conversation turns to what the girls have been up to. I'm becoming more suspicious by the second. Finally, after we've finished the third cocktail, Pippa leans slightly over the table.
"So, tell us more about Blake."
"I knew it," I exclaim. "I felt like you'd let me off the hook too easy."
"We were just waiting for you to have more cocktails," Summer explains.
"Yeah, thought that would loosen your tongue. There's not much fun in one-word answers," Pippa chimes in.
They are good; I have to give it to them.
"You like our brother," Pippa says. "We've seen you around him."
"He's a hard man not to like," I offer. "He's funny, kind, charming, has mad kissing skills and a dirty mouth."
I press my lips together, aware I already overshared.
"Hell of a kiss, huh?" Pippa asks, then turns to Summer. "Our brother hasn't lost his touch. He must have a plan."
"Girls, I'm not looking for anything but friendship."
"And hot kisses," Pippa adds with a devilish smile. Damn Pippa for reminding me of that particular detail. I swear if I close my eyes, I can call to mind every single detail of those minutes. "I personally think you two are a great match."
"Hey, I called it first," Summer says. "Right? At Alice's engagement party."
Summer sighs, a dreamy expression on her face. And that's when I realize why I didn't want to tell them. Because of course, the girls would immediately think there would be an epic love story in the making. They are the most romantic people I know. I'm not romantic, but seeing them so excited gives me hope, and I don't want that. I'm an optimistic person, but I don't like to hope for impossible things, and least of all tie my hopes to one person. That has always, always led me to heartbreak.
In the first year at the group home, I put all my hopes on Aunt Judith, my only living relative. I'd hoped she'd let me stay with her. But Aunt Judith never even visited. I went to bed every night that first year clinging to that hope. Then when I had that brief stint with a foster family I loved, I hoped again. That they'd want to adopt me or at least keep me until I was eighteen and could be on my own. That went south too. It hadn't been their fault, but I still didn't have a family. The second foster family was the final straw.
///
They were not particularly affectionate, but they treated me right: gave me my own room, three healthy meals, and their house was very peaceful. I prepared breakfast every morning for both of them. I tended to their garden and helped with cleaning. I was supposed to only stay with them for two months, but I'd hoped they'd want me to stay longer. I thought I was doing so well. But when the two months were up, they returned me to the group home with a pink slip in my hand for our supervisor. I begged and begged them to let me stay, promising never to be difficult, telling them I could even move into the cupboard under the stairs if they needed the room (I'd done a recent reread of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and treated every word as gospel). They explained that they'd hosted me so they'd see if having children was for them and discovered it was not.
I stopped hoping afterward. It wasn't easy, but definitely less heartbreaking than waiting for someone to come and save me.
Summer's and Pippa's voices snap me out of my thoughts.
"Where did you just go?" Summer asks.
"I think someone is replaying a certain hot kiss in their mind," Pippa adds.
I smile mysteriously in return. Better they think that.
"By the way, before I forget, I talked to Sebastian today. He and Ava decided to celebrate Will's birthday at our old ranch," Pippa says. "It'll be an overnight trip. Is that okay for you? I know it's short notice, but they literally decided this morning."
"Of course it's okay. Can't wait to see the ranch."
It's where the Bennett kids grew up. They sold the ranch a long time ago to give Sebastian capital to start Bennett enterprises, but he bought it back for them a few years ago, and Mr. and Mrs. Bennett turned it into a B&B. They still live in their San Francisco home, because it's nearer to their kids, while the ranch is a few hours away.
I love that they invite me to all family events, and I make a point not to miss any unless I have an emergency. Wouldn't miss Will's third birthday for anything in the world. As I wonder what the odds are that someone else bought him the same present I did, I catch Pippa and Summer exchanging a glance.
Sweet baby Jesus, I know that look. It means they are plotting.
CHAPTER TEN
Clara
"I can't believe I've never been to the ranch," I exclaim one week later, on a bright Saturday morning, while I'm helping Summer unload the boxes from her trunk. I'm beginning to sweat from the effort of it, and judging by the color in Summer's cheeks, it's no picnic for her either. She filled her trunk and back seat to the brim with party supplies.