She hugs it to her body. “Thank you.” Her voice cracks slightly, and when she lifts her eyes back to mine, her face is pained with regret.
“Absolutely.” I pat her hand.
“Miss Evelyn!” Winnie screeches, and I look in time to see her launching herself at Finn’s mom.
“Miss Winnie!” Evelyn catches her and spins her in a circle. “How are you?”
“That has to be your niece,” Raven states. “She looks exactly like you.”
“Thank you. That’s the best compliment I’ve ever received. But, in actuality, she looks like my brother.”
“Well, she’s adorable.”
“Come on. I’ll introduce you.”
By the time we get to her, Winnie is happily perched in Robbie’s arms, telling him and Ember all about her new teacher. T
ripp and Finn both are scowling with their hands on their hips, while Robbie is grinning like a loon and listening to her with one-hundred percent interest. Ember leans against his shoulder with a goofy grin.
“Whitney, get away from that scrappy lug.” Tripp holds out his arms. She looks between them confused when Robbie shoots him an evil glare.
“Actually, Winnie, come here. I’d like you to meet our hostess.” I wave her over.
She hops over, clearly enjoying every bit of attention.
“This is Mrs. Raven. She’s the one who invited us today.”
Winnie reaches out and wraps her arms around Raven’s hips. “Thank you for inviting us today. I promise to behave.”
Raven lets out a loud yelp as if offended. “Behave? Who wants to behave? We have tons of mischief to cause. I’ve got Nerf guns, water balloons, sand bags, and all sorts of other fun. My husband, Declan, even got you a special treat.”
Alarms go off at her admission, and my head snaps up to Finn. He’s smiling coyly.
“But I must say, I’m confused what to call you. So far, I’ve heard both Winnie and Whitney. What do you prefer?” Raven questions Winnie, who gives me a quizzical glance.
“It’s up to you, baby. You decide.”
“You can call me either,” she tells Raven with a grin.
“Who’s this little runt?” An older man comes in, and I recognize him immediately as Declan’s dad. The resemblance is uncanny.
The room suddenly starts to fill with people—some I recognize and some I don’t. Declan comes straight to me, pulling me into a hug and kissing my forehead. Within two seconds, Finn is at my side, tucking me against him.
The two guys exchange a look, and Declan bursts into laughter, slapping him on the shoulder and greeting Reese. The next five minutes are a blur as we’re introduced to what seems like twenty new people. Tripp steps in to hand us all a cold beer and takes his place at Reese’s side.
I wasn’t kidding a few weeks ago when I told Finn that she thought Tripp was cute. The times we’ve all been together, I’ve noticed him eyeing her as well, but nothing has ever come out of it.
However, now I catch Nate and Cooper both ogling her from across the room with interest. Tripp obviously notices, because he jerks his chin and they give him shit eating grins.
“Okay, now that everyone has met, anyone want to swim?” Raven does a circle motion with her arm then points outside.
“I need to change Winnie. Can you point me to a bathroom?”
There’s a collective groan around the room, and Raven’s face turns red. She straightens her shoulders and crosses her arms defensively. “Watch it!” she warns no one in particular. She takes Winnie’s hand and signals to us. Reese and I follow her down a long hallway with several closed doors. We make a few turns, and I hope to God Reese can remember our way back.
“Those idiots take every chance they get to make fun of the size of the house. But no one complains when they dive in the pool or get to spend the night playing poker and video games in Declan’s man cave,” she explains as she leads us into a bedroom with an attached bathroom. “We do have a pool house, too, but there’s a special surprise outside that I want to show you when you’re ready to get wet.”
Winnie squeals and immediately strips out of her sundress and panties. She’s naked before I can get her suit out of the bag. Reese helps lather her in sunscreen as I pull her hair into a ponytail. She complains repeatedly, saying we’re taking too long as we both take turns getting into our own suits.