Page 68 of The Fast Lane

“I… I, ah, well…”

“Okay. Got it.”

“What do you get?” I asked in confusion. “I don’t even get it.”

“You were kind of crazy about him in high school. Remember that Valentine’s Day with the?—”

I slapped a hand on his mouth. “We are never speaking of that again.”

I’d been fifteen that year and worked up the courage to ask his mom what Theo’s favorite dessert was. She’d given me a recipe for a chocolate cake with caramel syrup, whipped cream, and bits of a candy bar crumbled on top. Then I’d invited Theo over for dessert on Valentine’s Day. I might have made it sound like it was a family thing. He definitely did not expect to show up and find a table for two complete with cloth tablecloth and candles. His face when he realized what was happening…I’ll never forget it.

It only got worse when Frankie came home early from his date and discovered us. Never one to keep his mouth shut, he alerted the whole family. My brothers came to snicker. My father came out of concern. But it was my mother who sent me over the edge. She walked in, took one look at the cake, and exclaimed, “Oh, is this Becky’s Better Than Sex Cake?”

My teenage soul couldn’t take the embarrassment. So, while the family and Theo ate cake, I made up a lame excuse about homework I forgot about and hid in my room.

Abe’s laughter was muffled. He removed my hand and tweaked my nose. “You had it bad.”

I had been fifteen; I was twenty-seven now. And I still had it bad.

“And you all never let me forget.”

Abe shoulder-bumped me. “Hey, you were a kid.”

“Yeah. I remember. I also remember you sitting me down and telling me to get over it.”

“Well, yeah. You were in high school, and we were three years older. That was a big age difference then.” He smiled, his eyes curious. “Plus, you did make things weird.”

Couldn’t even deny that. I slumped against the counter. “I did make things weird.”

“Like I said, you were a kid. First crush and all that.” He tapped a finger on his chin. “You’re both adults now, you know?”

“And?”

His gaze moved from me to Theo and back again. “It’d be kind of cool to have Theo as a brother.”

“Are we done talking about this yet?”

With a grin that reminded me of teenage Abe, he leaned in and lowered his voice. “You know, he keeps looking over at you like he’s checking to make sure you haven’t disappeared.”

The dragons perked up. It took every fiber of my self-control to not whip my head around and see if what Abe said was true. I waved a hand. “He doesn’t think of me like that. I’m like his little sister.”

Abe snorted and pushed off from the counter. He sauntered past me. “He sure isn’t looking at you like you’re a little sister. Not even a little bit.”

TWENTY-EIGHT

Note to self:

Be braver.

That afternoon, Abe and Theo went out for “a drive.” My brothers and Theo had gone on many, many drives as teenagers. Mostly cruising along backroads to waste time. Every now and then, they’d take pity on me and let me tag along.

Cal had been the first to get his license, and Cal being Cal, he’d saved up every dollar he’d been given or made mowing lawns since the age of twelve and bought his first car, an old four-door sedan, for a thousand dollars.

When Abe and Theo, whose birthdays were only a couple of months apart, became licensed drivers, they were gone more than they were home. Football games, dates, the movies, and anything else they could get into. Abe told me those drives were sometimes an excuse. He went on to explain, “Sometimes guys need to talk about stuff, but they can’t do that unless they’re pretending to do something else.”

I hoped Theo would do a lot of the talking on this drive. Maybe he’d be able to sway Abe into coming. After a solid week of worry and doubt over seeing Abe, it now seemed imperative that he come to the wedding.

If he didn’t say yes, I might have to do something dramatic. Like take him hostage.