Chapter 16 – Liam
“Y ou look terrible. Are you hungover?” Ethan asks as he opens the door to Dean and Tabitha’s penthouse.
“How many birds are nesting in that beard?” He grins, unbothered by my snark, and wraps me up in a bear hug. No, there aren’t any birds in his beard. He is brawnier than he was in his white collar days, but it suits my big brother. “Still loving life on the lake?”
He shrugs. “It can be kind of lonely out there, but it’s peaceful. I look forward to showing it to you and Ivy. How are you, kid?”
“Hungover.” He rolls his eyes, indicating that was obvious. “And, don’t call me kid.” His smirk tells me that’s a lost cause.
“Are you actually going to let him in, Ethan, or are you demonstrating your skills as a future bouncer for his club?” Ivy asks from the sofa.
We give each other a look and start humming ‘Here Comes the Bride’ at the same time as if we planned it. We don’t see each other all the time but we do share the same brain cells occasionally. “Assholes,” our sister mutters as Dean hurries from the kitchen with hamburger buns in hand to join us.
“That’s enough!” Tabitha shouts, right behind Dean.
“Leave her be. I’m sure the three of you have made your share of mistakes.
In fact, I’ve witnessed some from each of you.
” Dean calls his red-headed wife spitfire, and it suits her.
She’s barely met our sister, but she’s ready to tear us a new one in her defense of Ivy’s oopsie-marriage to a mystery man. That’s why we love her to bits.
The three of us zip our lips since she’s carrying a plate full of burgers.
There are better things to do with our mouths at the moment.
“The black bean burgers smell really good, Ivy,” Tabitha says, setting the platter on the table.
Apparently, Europe wasn’t successful in converting my sister into a carnivore. “I think I’ll try one, too.”
“Yes, but you can take the rest of those with you later, Ivy. We’ll take care of the nasty beef ones for you,” Dean announces, magnanimously.
Tabitha tells me to smack him for her. I’m honor bound to do as the lady commands.
The five of us settle around the dining table with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background.
Jules has said before how much she loves the view from Dean’s place.
Dammit, I told myself I was going to take a night off from obsessing over her.
I’ve got to figure out how to sway her from that one-night-only thing, but I know Jules.
It will require patience and delicacy. I aggressively squirt ketchup onto my bun.
“Alright there, Liam?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?” Four sets of eyes are locked on me now. Great. “I meant… this ketchup is nearly empty.”
Before long, everyone is preoccupied by burgers and beer.
Conversation is sparse between bites but congenial.
Even Ivy who’s been away for so long seems at ease.
It’s relaxed family time, something us Culver kids only experienced when Mom and Dad weren’t around.
For a good hour, we reminisce and tease each other.
Our bond is always there, but it’s stronger when we’re together.
I hadn’t realized how much I’d been missing that or how much the three of us have been missing our sister.
Quiet but with that razor sharp tongue at the ready, she’s got a talent for keeping us on our toes.
After Ethan agreed he was coming down for this dinner, he invited me and Ivy up to his place on the lake for a couple of days.
Dad will be nosy about where I’m going but I don’t give a fuck.
A couple of days out of town might help me figure out how to handle things with Juliana.
She enjoyed the sex, but she’s not interested in anything more.
She’s very clearly stated she won’t fall in love again, so how can I… damn. I’m back to obsessing again.
“How is Mom?” Ivy asks, finally addressing one of the elephants in the room.
My brothers look at me, of course. “She’s well. Busy planning their anniversary party. She wants you guys to come.” No one bats an eye. “One of you could at least come with me for moral support, couldn’t you?”
“Take a date, leave early and leave us out of it,” Ivy says with a shrug. “I’m sure Mom will be busy with her friends.”
“Yes, the country club clique will want to discuss the latest fashion trends with their guru and whatever the trending gossip is,” Ethan adds.
“She cares about us being there,” I argue.
“She cares about her baby boy being there,” Dean says, sourly. I glare at him.
“She acts like she cares, but I don’t know how you deal with them, Liam. Especially Dad. When we were kids, we had no choice. Wouldn’t it be easier to just let it be?” Ivy asks, resigned.
“Sure, easier. Easier for you to kite off to Europe and avoid responsibility. Easier for Ethan to run away to Oregon and bury his head in his tacklebox. Easier for Dean to tell everyone to fuck off if it suits him the way he always has. Maybe someone has to actually try, dammit. Maybe someone doesn’t want our family’s business to go down the shitter either.
Maybe I still hang around because nobody else bothers,” I snarl, feeling fucking irate now.
I expect them to blow up like I just did. They do nothing of the sort. “We know it can’t be easy, Liam,” Ethan says, carefully. “We all appreciate that you think it’s not a lost cause, but there’s things…”
“Things we can’t get past when it comes to them,” Dean cuts in, glancing at Tabitha. “We hope you understand that.”
“I do. I don’t want to fight,” I say, quietly. I hate fighting with people I care about. “It’s entirely up to you, Ivy, but I’m sure Mom would want to see you if- ”
“Yeah, maybe once I sort some things out.”
A shared glance and Dean and I give Ethan a nod. He’s the oldest after all, our junior parent practically since birth. “Ivy, we don’t want to pry, sweetheart, but we’ve been worried about you.”
She shifts in her seat, wrapping her honey blonde hair around her thumb.
The gesture is familiar, something I saw her do often when we were little and would overhear Dad screaming at Dean or Ethan.
My stomach still tightens at those memories.
All I ever wanted was for everyone to get along, to make my family a happy one. I was just a foolish little boy.
“Everyone had had enough of my party girl escapades - the wreck with the rockstar, the drunken interview that went viral, the topless photos that got leaked by a certain ex-friend.” She flushes over the last admittance and Dean and Ethan studiously examine the crumbs on their plates.
Fuck, that was right before she took off to Europe.
Mom acted like it was the end of the world and probably made Ivy feel that way, too.
“I shouldn’t have suggested Vegas,” I say, feeling guilty. Hudson, Santi, and I took her away for some fun to try to help her forget about it. “I should’ve protected you from all the bullshit better.”
“It was all my doing, Liam, and you’re not my keeper. I’m older than you.”
“Barely.”
She gives me that big sister grin, patting the top of my head like she used to do to piss me off back when she was still taller than me.
“Mom was ready to bundle me off to a convent to keep me out of the papers as it was, and Dad was holding my trust fund over my head. I figured a quickie Vegas wedding would be the last straw. So, I traveled through Europe. Once the money dried up, I studied fashion while working in cafes and bookshops to feed myself. I lived in hostels and tiny, cramped flats.”
“I would’ve sent you money,” Dean says.
“I don’t regret it, and I didn’t want you supporting me. It was something I needed to do for myself, learn to live free of their strings. Anyway, I stopped drinking and partying. I scribbled in my journal until I eventually found myself and decided I wanted to come home again.”
“We wish you hadn’t left for so long,” Dean says.
“I know,” Ivy says, fighting back the tears I know she hates to shed.
An awkward silence descends until Tabitha rescues us with talk of dessert.
“I made a Tres Leches cake. My abuela on the Garcia side had a terrific recipe. You’re vegetarian but not vegan, right, Ivy?
” With a grateful smile, Ivy offers to help her clear the table.
As they start to leave the room, Tabitha turns to Dean, flicking her eyes my way.
“You told him you invited Juliana, right?”
My freshly finished beer bottle lands on the table with a thunk as Dean cringes. “Shit, I forget. Sorry. I invited Juliana over. She said she could come over in time for dessert. Surprise.”
First, Santi and Hudson inviting her to the auction and now this? Waiting until I’m sure the women are out of earshot, I ask, “Why did you do that?”
“Because Tabitha and I were saying after Grant and Daisy’s wedding we’ve not spent enough time with the two of you, and I felt bad for what I said a few weeks ago about her divorce and you being the rebound guy and all.
” I had forgotten his words. After the way she bolted last night, they come back at me like a knife in the gut.
“Well, I’m glad he invited her since I’ve not seen Juliana since their wedding,” Ethan adds, meaning Dean and Tabitha’s.
“We figured she’d want to meet Ivy, too. What’s the problem?”
Burying my face in my hands, I groan. “The problem is Juliana came to Sable last night.” I peer through my fingers expecting them to catch on quickly. They don’t. “Juliana was at the club last night and I… we…”
Their eyes widen and the low chuckling begins. “I thought you told me rather firmly that you were just friends.”
“We are. ”
“Friends with benefits now,” Ethan says, waggling his eyebrows.
“Shut up.”
“Did you have trouble getting it up or something? Why are you blushing?”
“Oh, I think he managed alright, Ethan,” Dean says, smugly.
“I do not blush.” They start cackling at my bullshit, the fuckers. “Look, it was fucking great, but she said it was one night only.”
“If you’re not okay with that, you’d better speak up now.” I know Dean speaks from experience.
“It’s complicated. We’ve agreed to do something together.”
“Yes, sex is something you do together.”
“Jesus, Ethan,” I bark, near the end of my patience.
This isn’t something I would ordinarily share with them without her permission, but I do need some advising.
Better my brothers than Hudson and Santi, I figure.
“Look, Juliana wants a baby. She wants one badly. She doesn’t plan to remarry and she doesn’t plan on finding Mr. Right to make that happen.
She wants it now, and she asked me to help her. ”
“Help her as in…”
“You are so immature,” I grumble in response to Dean’s obscene gesture. “We’re doing IVF. I’m her donor.”
“So, what was last night then? Just once in the sack for the sake of science?”
“It was the best night of my life,” I whine, dropping my head onto the table. “Now, I’m supposed to go back to pretending-”
The doorbell saves me from admitting more.
I glare at my brothers – a ‘don’t you dare tell I told you’ glare – before sprinting to answer it.
With my heart pounding, I’m greeted by those bright hazel eyes and that crooked grin I love.
All the air leaves my lungs just looking at her. I can’t speak for a good ten seconds.
The crooked grin falters and she rocks back a step, looking unsure. “Dean invited me but didn’t tell you, did he?”
I’m not about to let that spoil anyone’s evening. “It’s the best surprise I’ve had in a while,” I tell her, grasping her hand and pulling her inside. “Come meet my sister. Ivy, I want you to meet my best friend - Juliana.”
∞∞∞
We’ve decimated Tabitha’s cake and have gathered outside on the garden terrace of the penthouse.
Juliana declined having any wine with dessert, saying she’s been battling a hangover today.
Ethan was rolling his lips to hide his grin so I gave him a shove as I went to fetch two waters.
I’ve had more than enough to drink the past twenty-four hours, too.
The women are chatting together when I return, laughing over something.
Juliana’s an architect, Tabitha’s in tech and Ivy’s still ostensibly in the fashion business, but they seem to be clicking.
Despite my initial reservations about her joining us tonight, it makes me ludicrously happy to picture them becoming close.
“Be useful and start a fire for us, Mountain Man,” Dean tells Ethan as he pulls Tabitha into his lap on the outdoor loveseat.
With his long legs, he takes up all the space while cradling his wife in his arms. Lucky, smug prick.
If I think too much about holding Juliana in my lap last night, these jeans won’t hide the fact.
“You should know the townsfolk up there call me the lake hermit instead,” Ethan replies. He starts tinkering with the gas firepit all the same. Spring evenings in San Francisco can still turn quite cool.
There’s three wide chairs available. Ivy folds herself up in one while Juliana glances at me and then Ethan. Like hell is she getting cozy next to Ethan. Without a word, I pull her down into my lap, right where she belongs.
“You’ll be warmer this way… if it’s alright. Security blankets like to be useful,” I murmur in her ear. She shivers and nods. I’m going to get hard but it’s inevitable around her at this point.
Ethan takes his seat and shoots me a wink. “How about we play a game?”
“A game?” Juliana asks.
“Yeah. On the rare occasions we get together this way, my brothers and sister sometimes enjoy a little party game to pass the time.”
“What did you have in mind, Ethan?” Dean asks with a devious smirk.
“I was thinking it’s been a long time since we had a good round of Culver Family Truth or Dare.”
Oh shit.