One Last Time (Loveless Brothers 5)

“Oh!” exclaims Ava. “I love weddings! Which one is getting married? When’s the wedding? Where’s he having it? Has she picked out a dress yet? Are you a groomsman?”

Bless you, Ava, I think as Seth’s eyes slide away from mine and he puts on his casual, easy smile.

“My oldest brother, Levi,” he says. “It’s in about four months, it’s at a place called Treetop Lodge, which used to be an upscale hunting lodge in the 1920s, but now it’s mostly an event space. I don’t know about the dress, and yes.”

“Treetop Lodge,” she says, and turns to Thad, sitting next to her. “Babe, did we look at Treetop Lodge?”

“I don’t think so,” he says, though the man clearly has no idea.

“No,” Vera says, authoritatively.

“Wasn’t there some place we considered…”

And Ava’s off, talking about weddings, half trying to plan Levi’s, and Seth gives me another look.

I turn away, because I can’t do this here, now, in front of my entire family. They all seem to think that I should be worshipping the ground he walks on for even considering me a viable dating partner, given my ancient, haggard status.

I’m being slightly unfair to them, but good God they can be a lot, and I don’t trust them around him. I know we have long history that we’re pretending doesn’t exist, but we haven’t even been dating for a full month. We haven’t spent the night together yet, sort of. This time.

Olivia, who’s in full monster mode tonight, has already insinuated that my thirty-year-old ovaries are shriveling as we speak. I think Ava’s been dropping nonstop hints about ring shopping, and God only knows what my dad said to him in the wine cellar. They can’t even behave for a few hours. I’m not forcing him to be around them for a whole weekend.

“What about helicopter skiing?” Michael asks. “I tried it when I went to Whistler in January, and it was a stunning experience. Really amazing.”

“Babe, I don’t think Snowpeak has helicopter skiing,” Olivia says.

“They should,” he says. “Maybe I’ll talk to Evan about it, see if he’ll consider offering it for VIPs or something.”

Finally, I glance back over at Seth. This time, he avoids my eyes.Chapter Thirty-FourSeth“I didn’t think he’d ever stop talking about heli-skiing,” Delilah says, her breath puffing into the cold air. “What’s it like to be so insanely self-confident that you think people are invested in what you’re saying, even they’re practically falling asleep in front of you?”

I just keep walking and don’t respond right away. Not while we’re this close to the house, where any one of her sisters could be listening at a window, just waiting for something interesting to happen.

“And it can’t be good for the environment,” she says, pulling her keys from her pocket, pointing them at her car and unlocking it. “Besides, what happens if you get hurt somewhere only accessible by helicopter? I guess the helicopter has to get you back out, but that seems pretty dicey.”

Finally, next to her car, she stops. I shove one hand into my coat pocket, the other holding the now-clean pie dish.

“Were you going to tell me?” I ask, an edge sliding into my voice. “Or were you just going to disappear for the weekend?”

“I forgot,” she says, and her eyes dart away. “It’s this annual thing, and it’s been in my calendar but I didn’t realize it was that soon —"

“Don’t bullshit me.”

“I’m not —”

“Not a single person in that room believes that I have to help Levi pick out wedding chairs,” I say.

“That’s because you came up with the worst lie I’ve ever heard.”

“You made me lie!”

I’m loud, too loud, and we both look over at the house. Nothing moves. I shove a hand through my hair.

“I didn’t mean to,” she says, quiet but strained. “I didn’t want my fucking sister to go and invite you in the first place, but I didn’t want them thinking that we’re on the rocks or something.”

“And fuck what I think, right?”

“That’s not what I’m saying.”

“But you’ll keep secrets and then have me lie to cover for you.”

Delilah heaves a deep breath. Her cheeks are flaming, even in the dark, her eyes too shiny, her lips too red. Always an angry crier.

“We’ve been dating for a month and you’re mad that I’m not bringing you on my family vacation?” she says, stepping closer to me, her breath frosting in the air. “Tell me. In your blank slate, start over scheme, would you bring a brand new girlfriend who you’d never even slept with on a vacation with your entire family?”

“I’d at least tell her I was going,” I say. “If I brought her around my family, I’d at least give her some warning. And yeah, I might invite her if I thought she was worth keeping.”

Delilah’s eyes wobble, her whole face bright red, and all the muscles in her jaw twitch.