Chapter 25
“If they’re not loud and obnoxious, are they really family?” ~ Maya
Maya
I tug on Caleb’s hand until he stops walking up the driveway to Sophia’s mom’s house. “Are you sure about this?”
He motions to the window where my friends are watching us from behind the curtains. Nosy but not very stealthy. “A bit late for backing out now.”
“No, it isn’t. You’re under no obligation to attend drunk poker.”
My friends and I play drunk poker once a month at Sophia’s parents’ house. Lily, Sophia’s mom, tried to get everyone to come over for Sunday dinner once a month but people would bail on her. No one bails on drunk poker.
“You want to go home? We’re out of here in a flash.”
“A flash? Do you have an outfit for the Flash as well?”
My cheeks warm. I may have shown him my Little Red Riding Hood costume last night. It was not a child’s costume.
“You’ll never find out if you continue to tease me. ”
“Oh, Bunny, I will tease you and you’re going to love it.”
I shiver as heat shoots from my belly straight to my core where my panties dampen.
Caleb’s blue eyes sparkle. “Maybe I want to go home now and tease you.”
The door to the house flies open and Sophia steps outside. “Get your butts in here.”
Chloe elbows her. “No fair. I bet they wouldn’t come inside.”
I glance up at Caleb. “Are you sure you want to spend an evening with my friends?”
“Of course, I do. They’re your family.”
My family? I study my girlfriends who are now all waiting on the porch. Is Caleb correct? Are Paisley, Nova, Chloe, and Sophia my family?
“I’d run if I were you,” Weston says as he comes up behind us with his girlfriend, Scarlett, on his arm.
Scarlett slaps him. “Don’t listen to him.” She addresses Caleb. “He bet you wouldn’t stay.”
“I’m done with this.” I stomp to the front door. “None of you will make bets about whether Caleb stays anymore. Do you hear me?”
My friends stare at me with their eyes wide.
“I said. Do you hear me?”
“Thank the smugglers, Maya found her voice,” Sophia mutters.
“She always had a voice. She just doesn’t choose to use it often,” Paisley adds .
My nostrils flare and my heart pounds. They aren’t listening to me. They don’t understand. Caleb has a hard enough time coming out in public and being in crowds. They’re jerks for making bets about it.
Caleb wraps an arm around my shoulders. “It’s okay, Maya. There’s no need to be angry.”
I whirl around to face him. “Yes, there is! Someone needs to protect you and I’ve accepted the position.”
He chuckles as he brushes the hair off of my forehead to kiss me. “Thanks, but I’m good.”
I study his face. He’s not sweating, there are no tremors, and he’s breathing normally.
“Okay.” I nod. “But if anything changes, let me know.”
“You got it, Flash.”
Lily makes her way to the front of the group. “What’s going on? Why is everyone standing outside?”
Weston motions to Sophia. “My sister is blocking the way.”
“I’m not blocking the way. Unless you’re too scared to go past me.”
Lily sighs. “Children. Can we not fight today?”
Sophia points at Weston. “He started it.”
Lily slashes her hand in the air. “I don’t care who started it. It ends now. This is a family gathering and we have a new family member. Let’s be on our best behavior.”
Chloe barks out a laugh. “Caleb knows us. We went to high school with him. ”
Caleb groans. “Don’t remind me. I still haven’t recovered from the time the five of you decided to streak across the gym at a pep rally while the cheerleaders were doing their routine.”
Nova scowls. “They shouldn’t have tried to ban us from cheerleading for life.”
“They didn’t ban me,” Paisley declares. “They banned you after the incident.”
Nova rolls her eyes. “The ‘incident’. You make it sound as if people died.”
“There were broken bones,” Paisley says.
Nova glares at her. “Don’t be mean just because Eli has your panties in a twist.”
Paisley growls. “My panties are not in a twist over some jerk from high school.”
Lily throws her hands in the air. “I give up. You’re all heathens. I tried my best.” She shackles my wrist. “Come help me in the kitchen.”
I allow her to lead me into the house but glance over my shoulder at Caleb. You okay?
He lifts his chin in response.
“Holy smugglers,” I mutter when we reach the kitchen and I notice the amount of food on the counters. “How many people are you expecting?”
“With all of my girls falling in love, I have more men to feed.”
Her girls? Lily only has one daughter – Sophia. “Your girls?”
She rolls her eyes. “Sophia, Chloe, Nova, and now you.”
Oh .
“You do realize I consider you one of my own, don’t you?”
“Sure,” I lie.
She sighs but doesn’t call me on my lie. “How are you doing after the grocery store incident?”
I groan. “Does everyone know what happened?”
“It’s Smuggler’s Hideaway.”
In other words, yes, everyone knows.
“I’ve waited years for you to come talk to me about your parents.”
My nose wrinkles. “You have?”
She grasps my hands and squeezes. “Yes, darling girl. I wanted to be there for you, but I didn’t want to pressure you. I’m afraid I was wrong. I should have pressured you.”
I’m confused. Don’t get me wrong. Sophia’s mom has always been supportive. She was the mom of our friend group who always had cookies ready for us after school. And, when we got older, she let us hang out in the basement.
It was in her very basement where I tried moonshine for the very first time. She was also the one who held my hair while I threw moonshine up for the very first time. And she helped me when I had my first period. When I…
Mermaid’s bells. Lily has been there all along. When my mother wouldn’t talk to me about boys, Lily sat me down and gave me the sex talk. It was very detailed. And informative. And probably a bit too early since I decided sex was not for me afterwards.
When I had trouble with a teacher who thought I cheated on a test, it was Lily who went to the school and discussed the problem. When I cried because bullies were teasing me, it was Lily who held my hand and explained the best way to deal with them.
Tears well in my eyes and my bottom lip wobbles. “I-I-I didn’t realize.”
Lily folds me into her arms and hugs me up tight. “No need to cry, darling girl.”
The kitchen door bangs open and I’m wrenched from Lily’s arms. “What’s wrong?” Caleb growls. “You made my Maya cry.”
“Oh my. All of my girls found big, strapping men to love them.”
I giggle as I push away from Caleb. “It’s okay, soldier boy. Lily was asking me about my parents is all.”
He scowls. “They are not your parents. Geraldine is your egg donor. And Roger is your sperm donor. They biologically created you but they are not the people who raised you.”
Lily smiles. “You chose well, Maya. You chose well.”
“Yeah,” I say as I meet Caleb’s gaze. I probably have cartoon hearts in my eyes at the moment. “I did.”
She claps her hands. “Help me get this food onto the table before the masses riot.”
Caleb frowns at the trays of fried chicken, nachos, cheese and crackers, mini quiches, and veggies. “I thought we were playing poker.”
I elbow him. “We’re playing drunk poker.”
“What’s the difference?”
“You’ll see,” I sing .
We carry the plates of food into the dining room where the dining table has been transformed into a poker table. Lily follows us carrying a tray with shots of moonshine. She hands them out and holds up her glass.
“To the smugglers, bootleggers, rumrunners…”
“And mermaids who loved them!” We finish the toast before knocking back our shots.
Caleb winces. “I forgot how strong Smuggler’s Hideaway moonshine is. At least it’s tastier than the shit we distilled in our barracks in the desert.”
“I’m going to need to buy a new table,” Lily says as she sits across from us. “We don’t have room for Paisley’s man.”
Paisley scowls. “I don’t have a man.”
“What about Eli?” Sophia teases.
“Say Eli’s name one more time and you’ll find out just how good my chemistry skills are.”
Lily clears her throat. “I meant once you find your man.”
“Or harem of men,” Chloe mutters. “Remember the time Lily found her watching an orgy?”
Weston groans. “Stop. I don’t want to hear about my sisters having sex. It’s bad enough my best friend is engaged to my sister.”
“And now Nova is engaged to Hudson,” Paisley says.
I gasp. “What?”
Nova waves with her left hand, which is now sporting a diamond engagement ring.
I jump up to give her a hug. “I’m so happy for you. All your dreams are coming true.”
“So are yours,” she whispers back to me.
I hope so. I release her and return to my seat to give everyone else a chance to congratulate her.
“When did this happen?” I ask once everyone’s returned to their seats. “And why did Paisley know?”
“I know because I’m observant,” Paisley says.
“I noticed her ring but thought everyone already knew,” Weston says.
Sophia rolls her eyes at him. “Sure, you did.”
Weston steals a quiche from her plate and pops it in his mouth. She slaps him but he laughs before jumping up from the table and running away. Sophia chases after him.
I lean close to Caleb. “You okay?”
“Fine.”
“This group can get rowdy.”
“They’re your family. I expected rowdy.”
“I’m not rowdy.”
“Says the girl who highjacked the PA from the high school principal to announce her bullies all wet the bed until they were in junior high.”
I gasp. “No one was supposed to know it was me.”
“Bunny, I always knew where you were in high school.”
I sigh. “We missed so many years together.”
He kisses my nose. “But we’re not going to dwell on those lost years now. We’re going to enjoy our evening with your family.”
I glance around the room. Sophia is chasing Weston while Scarlett yells at him to stop running. Nova and Hudson are shouting at everyone to be quiet since the baby’s sleeping in Sophia’s childhood bedroom. Chloe’s telling anyone who will listen how they all owe her an apology since everyone assumed she was behind the PA stunt.
My gaze lands on Lily who winks at me.
Warmth fills me. This is my family. My parents aren’t my family. They haven’t been for a long time. I need to stop yearning for their love.
I’m going to try. Starting today.