Page 22 of From That Moment
When we were younger, the Brady brothers had eaten everything in sight. I had no idea how my parents were able to keep a roof over our heads given how much food we consumed. Arden hadn’t eaten as much, and not only because she was a girl, because she had been sick—and we hadn’t figured it out until it was almost too late.
And that was enough of that train of thought.
“Yes, only I haven’t finished making them yet,” I said, my hands on my hips as I stared at the vast array of food I had set out on the counter. “As in, I boiled the eggs, but that’s about it.”
“At least we have a plan,” Nate said, and then I was stuffing things back into the fridge while Nate took other things out, and we continued cooking.
“I’m glad that you decided to have us over today instead of us waiting for Arden and Liam to get back into the country.”
“They’re on a book tour, and Arden likes to be the one to organize these things. I don’t mind stepping up, though.”
“You’re right. And then Cross is the one who does after. We don’t contribute much, do we?” Nate asked, winking.
I rolled my eyes. “I’ve been working hard over a stove for hours, don’t even.”
“So when are the rest of them getting here?” Nate asked, his focus on filling the eggs.
“Soonish. I know Hazel invited the rest of the girls. And Dakota will probably bring her son.”
I hadn’t seen Paris since whatever had happened to her that night outside the Mediterranean place. After I got her home, I’d made sure that she had water as she sat on her couch. Then, she’d pretty much forced me out. I’d called Hazel, and she’d said that she and the girls would take care of it. I didn’t know what any of that meant, though.
All I knew was that Paris had been hurting. She’d looked as if she had been shocked, leveled a blow that she hadn’t been expecting.
And it wasn’t any of my business.
I hated to see her in pain like that, but there was nothing I could do.
She was going to be at my house soon, so I would have to think about exactly how to deal with the fact that something was wrong, and I couldn’t fix it.
“Is Allison coming, too?” Nate asked, his voice deceptively casual.
I raised a brow. “Yes, she should be on her way soon. Is that a problem?” I asked.
“No, not at all. She just doesn’t hang out with us much. Or like…ever. And I don’t even think she’s met all the girls.”
“You need to stop calling themthe girls,” I said.
“True. They call us the boys though, because calling us the Brady brothers got a little weird after a while,” Nate said.
“True.” I paused. “I don’t even want to call them the ladies. And saying ‘Hazel’s friends’ sounds rude because they’re our friends, too. And I don’t want to say pact sisters because that sounds really weird.”
“We’ll just ask them what they want to be called. And you kind of sidestepped the rest of that statement.”
I shook my head. “Allison’s met Paris.”
“She has?”
“You know, at the bar.”
Nate raised his brows. “Oh, right. I remember. And Allison got all pissy about it.”
I sighed. “We talked about it. We’re fine. Don’t freak out. Okay?”
“I’m not freaking out. I only want you to be careful. You and Allison seem to have a good thing going, even though it’s taking you guys forever to make any headway into being serious.”
“You should look in the mirror.”
“What? Just because I don’t want a serious relationship doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have one. And you’ve been with her for what, six months now? I assumed you guys had already been talking about marriage.”