Dirty Little Secret

“You always get the chicken.” And I do mean always. For as long as they’ve been eating here, he’s ordered the Springer Mountain Farms chicken, with grits and green beans.

“Well, there you go.” He smiles indulgently. “I’ll get the chicken.”

Ignoring his absolute weirdness, I ask, “Where’s Orion?”

“Right here.” My brother flicks the back of my head as he walks by. “Now the party can begin.”

“You loser.”

“Takes one to know one.”

“Whatever.”

“Both of y’all stop,” Samson says, grinning. “Tonight’s about celebrating Mrs. C.”

I swear to God, my mom swoons. “Such a good boy.”

“He’s not a dog, Mom.”

“It’s fine, Luna.” He knocks his elbow into mine. “Everyone loves a good scratch behind the ears every now and then.”

“You’re so weird.”

He winks before focusing his attention on my brother. “How you been, man?”

Orion narrows his eyes at Samson, his gaze darting between the two of us. “Good. Where’s your car, Stella?”

“Oh!” Mom exclaims. “You didn’t drive here with your ankle, did you?”

“Um.” I snatch my glass from the table and gulp it down, buying myself time to formulate a response. “Well—”

“How’s the house coming?” Dad asks, cutting me off.

“Pretty much done now,” Orion says, forgetting all about me and my missing car. “All that’s left is to finish the hall bath and the master closet.”

“Has Ben proposed yet?” Samson asks.

“Any day now.”

“Where will you live when they get married?” I ask, content for us all to keep grilling him, so long as it keeps the spotlight off of me.

“Oh, you can move back into your room at home!” Mom says, clearly already imagining having one of her kids back under her roof.

I grab my glass again, hiding my laughter with a well-timed sip.

“Now, Lizzie,” Dad says. “Let’s not be too hasty. I’m sure Orion has other places he’d rather lay his head than his childhood bedroom.”

Mom bristles, but doesn’t remark.

“I could always crash at your place, right, man?” He levels Samson with a glare.

To his credit, Samson doesn’t even flinch. “Things are getting pretty serious with… my girl, but a night or two would be fine, man.”

“Is everyone ready?” our server asks, unknowingly saving us all.

Once we’ve all placed our orders, my dad proposes a toast. “To my darling Lizzie—may your love for teaching continue to change lives.”

We all raise our glasses, clinking them together.

“And to my sweet Stella,” Mom says, dabbing at her tears with one hand and raising her glass with the other. “For following in my footsteps. I know you’re going to do amazing things.”

“Mom!” I duck my head even as I raise my glass, embarrassed for the spotlight to be on me.

“I mean it. I can feel it right here.” She presses her hand over her heart.

“Thanks, Mom,” Orion says, his tone laced with sarcasm.

“Oh, hush, you. I am every bit as proud of you as I am your sister. You two are my babies. Well, you three—you may as well be a second son, Samson.”

As she looks to the man at my side with such tenderness in her eyes, I can’t help but wonder how she’ll react when she learns that Samson’s feelings toward me aren’t very brotherly.

Despite the rest of the evening passing without any hiccups or drama, I’m exhausted and more than ready to go home—I mean, back to Samson’s place—put on my jammies and snuggle up in his king-size bed.

“Are you okay to get home?” Mom asks as we all head toward the door.

I’m tempted to look toward Samson, but force myself to keep my eyes ahead of me. “I am. Promise.”

“Okay, but Dad and I don’t mind you coming home with us.”

“I’m good, Mom.” I pause beside her in the doorway and press a kiss to her cheek.

“And you’ll come next weekend, right?”

“I wouldn’t miss y’all’s anniversary dinner for the world. Love you, Mom.” I step out onto the sidewalk. “Love you too, Dad.”

I linger off to the side while Samson and Orion talk, watching my parents cross the street to their car.

I’m about to head to Samson’s truck on my own when I hear him say, “I’ll get up with you later, man.” I glance over my shoulder in time to see them slap their palms together. “Drive safe.”

“Yeah,” Orion says, staring hard at me. “Y’all too.”

Oh, crap… he knows. He totally freaking knows.

“You ready, Luna?” Samson asks once it’s just the two of us.

“He knows.”

“Who knows?” He presses his hand to the small of my back, positioning himself between me and the busy street.

“Orion. He totally knows about us.”

“No way.” He steps around me to open my door. “Why do you think that?”

“He literally just y’all too when you said to drive safe.”

Samson stares at me like I’ve grown an extra head. “Because he wants us both to be safe.”

“Wrong!” I let Samson help me into the passenger seat and then wait for him to climb behind the wheel. “He said it because he knew we were leaving together.”