Page 35 of Rootbound

Henry’s glance meets mine, the corners of his mouth not tipping up, exactly, but relaxing. There’s heat in that gaze, unabashed. I lick my lips, suddenly in need of a drink despite the constant sipping I’ve been doing.

“So?” Grady prompts.

“What?”

“So, Tait, you said you’d go first. Top three embarrassing story?”

Oh, shit. “Oh! Okay. Ummm. Well…” I sift through an admittedly lengthy mental catalogue before I decide. “Well, this one involves my sister, but she’s not here anyway, so screw it. When she found out she was pregnant, she had an ultrasound early on in her pregnancy that I went to with her, since her husband had to work. In the early weeks they do transvaginal ultrasounds, which means that there’s a wand that has to go up your hoo-ha, not the kind that just roll around the outside of the belly.

“Nothing medical embarrasses me, or grosses me out,really. It’s why I originally went to school for nursing. I can deal with that sort of thing. Ava, on the other hand, cannot. She is horrified to be naked in front of a medical professional in any capacity, even as an adult. So, I am sure you can imagine her excitement, then, when her sonographer walks in, and it’s her ex-boyfriend.” Henry and Grady start to laugh, and damn, I love how Henry splays his hands like that, this time interlocking his fingers across his abs as if the laugh is trying to burst from him, as if he wants to hold it and keep it close.

“So, they catch up. Ava is sitting there with her bits out, a paper sheet between them. This guy was still so completely hung up on her, even with another man’s child inside of her. He just kept chatting away, completely oblivious to her discomfort. I was dying in the corner, trying to keep in tears as her face just got more and more frustrated. And then she snapped, and she screamed at him. ‘Are you going to stick that thing up me or what, Anthony?!’” I die laughing all over again, remembering, and fight to get the rest of the words out. “He just looked at her with the wand held out, already lubed, and said, ‘Actually, you insert the wand yourself. I thought you knew that and just needed to stall, or to be distracted.’ Her face wasstricken.Death by mortification. So, I couldn’t resist, and needed to put this idiot back in his place on her behalf. I piped up and said, ‘Oh,Anthony,that’s right. You just like to watch, huh?’ Ava picked up on it immediately, stuck the wand up her crotch and said, ‘Different Anthony.’ When I tell you that this man’s face was so miffed. Ah! It was glorious, you guys.”

Grady swipes at the tears of laughter leaking from his eyes. “Okay, that oneisn’t actually embarrassing, it only makes me love you more, but it’s better than either of ours so, next.”

I avert my eyes away from that comment, because how is it possible that I already love him, too? Is there really some scientific, DNA-related thing that inexplicably binds us? No, I know that’s not the case, more than most.

I draw a card. Another ‘This or 135hat.’

“Oooh. Can I do more than two items?” I ask Grady since he, obviously, acts as the judge and jury here.

“Sure.” He burps.

“’Kay—Henry. Breakfast, lunch, or dinner?”

“Can’t answer that one.” He laughs and drinks.

“Seriously? That’s not even a hard one!”

Grady hiccups and then laughs. “I know whyyyy.” I feel myself roll my eyes. Do we really need to take these questionsthisseriously?

“You forgot the best meal! Dessert,” Henry explains as he takes a sip of his drink.

“That’s not arealmeal.” It comes out higher and whinier than I intended. I’m drunk.

“Dessert is absolutely the most important meal. I don’t go a day without it.”

“You’re a liar. You don’t look like that and eat dessert every day.”

“Look like what?” He smirks and folds his biceps on the table.

I roll my eyes again at his feigned ignorance. “You know what.”

“I think you need to expand on that for me.Deliverancehere doesn’t pick up on innuendos.”

“I think your ego is expanded enough and doesn’t need any stroking from me. How aboutthatinnuendo?”

“I think you both need a room,” Grady says, head tipped back, eyes closing slowly. He hasn’t developed a tolerance like the big kids, apparently. “Go again, Tait,” slurs out of him.

“But I drank!” Henry says, and now who’s the whiner?

I stick my tongue out at him and draw a card. My stomach drops. ‘Vote’ is scribbled in big red letters. I read the card. “Skinny dip in the pond.” I look up as Grady’s head snaps back to attention. “VOTE!” I yell, “Three, two, one.” Grady and I both point at Henry, sitting wide-eyed, no vote cast.

“No,” he says flatly.

“Then drink, bitch!” Grady replies. “Sorry, I’m just kidding, love you.”

I look down at all three of our fresh cocktails with a wince. There’s been a lot of consumption in a short amount of time.