Chapter 7
EVERLEE – HIDE YOUR PHONE WHEN YOU GET DICK PICS
We pull down the long driveway, lined with large Spanish moss-covered trees, ending at a white low country cottage with a large wraparound front porch.
The trim around the door and windows is painted black, which contrasts with the white.
They moved several years ago to this house, but the manicured landscape and paint still look new.
At first, I was upset because they sold my childhood home, but this one is a little smaller and on the lake, which seems to fit them better.
“Are you ready?” Beckett asks, turning the car off and looking at me with an apprehensive gaze.
“I guess.” I sigh.
“Mom and Dad are going to be so thrilled you’re visiting.” He raises his voice again. “You know, she just doesn’t visit as much as she used to. Breaks my heart.”
“Stop. She doesn’t say that.”
His brows lift on his forehead with a smirk.
Smacking his arm playfully, I step out of the car and walk towards the house, focusing on the crunch of gravel under my feet. It’s the only thing I can do, my stomach twisting into knots as fear creeps in. It’s not like they can sense my sex habits and who I can’t get off my mind.
“Don’t worry, love. I’ll get your bags!” Beckett shouts in a purposefully high-pitched tone, opening the trunk.
“Thank you, dahhhling,” I say with an accent, throwing my hands in the air.
By the time I get up the three stairs, Mom is standing at the doorway with a smile plastered across her face.
“You made it!” she says with her deep southern drawl, holding out her arms. She’s dressed in a white skirt, a yellow gingham shirt, and has her light brown, wavy hair pinned just behind her ears.
It’s shorter than the last time I saw her, coming just above her shoulders now.
“I did.” I open the screen door and lean in for a hug. Dad is walking down the hall with the newspaper tucked under his arm, wearing a similar outfit to hers. Twinning? Is that what they’re doing now? “Hey Dad.”
“Hey Everlee. Pleasant flight?”
“Yes. Fairly easy. Are you and Mom dressing the same on purpose now?” I walk in, letting the door smack shut behind me.
“Nope, all good out here. I don’t need you to hold the door,” Beckett teases, walking up the stairs. If it wasn’t literally one duffel, I’d feel bad.
Dad chuckles. “I can see you and Becks have already started your ribbing.” He shakes his head in amusement. “There was an event at the church this afternoon to kick off the weekend. All the couples had to dress alike.”
Mom calls over her shoulder. “I hope you’re hungry. I’ve got dinner on the stove.”
“Yes. I didn’t have a big lunch.”
“I’ll take your bags to your room, sis.”
Sis? This can’t be good. That little fucker better not be snooping. “Thanks, bro,” I glare, causing him to throw his head back in a fit of laughter.
“So tell me. Have you met anyone?” Mom asks, pulling my attention.
Well, that didn’t last long. Two minutes. That could be a new record. “I’m not sure.”
“You aren’t sure if you’re dating someone?”
“It’s complicated.”
She chuckles. “Complicated?” Her southern accent is as strong as her condescension.
Beckett said he needed me to mess up this weekend, so dropping the bomb I’ve been fucking four men at the same time would definitely do it, but I just got here and don’t want to get kicked out yet. “Yes.” One word answer. Easy.
“Well, that’s great news!” she cheers.
“It is?” I know where this is going, but do her the favor of pretending like Beckett hadn’t already spilled the beans.
“I met this guy at our church. His name is Winston, and he’s a lawyer.
” Her voice gets an octave louder with each fact she states.
“He’s so excited to meet you.” Her hands clasp in front of her, and the giddy look on her face is the equivalent of a two-year-old stomping their feet in excitement for a new toy or candy.
My lips pinch into a hard line, and I catch my father’s gaze, who just shrugs before he goes back to his crossword puzzle. “You know you don’t have to set me up.”
Her tone drops as her hands press onto the counter. “Everlee Marie, you’re old enough to be married and have at least one grandchild for us. Your brother won’t be giving us one,” she huffs with a touch of disappointment.
Pew, pew, pew! Mom's coming in hot and I’ve just arrived. I need to shut this down so it doesn’t become a thing the entire weekend. “Mom. How do you expect me to go six weeks without sex after I give birth?”
“Everlee,” she reprimands, dropping a spoon on the ground.
“What? That’s a long time. Heck, I can hardly go six hours.”
“Everlee,” Dad chimes in, with that deep fatherly voice to shut it down.
One sure way to get her to drop stuff is to talk about sex. She hates it.
“What did I miss?” Beckett asks, galloping down the stairs.
“Mom’s already started with how I’m a disappointment because I’m old enough to be married with at least one child.”
“Eesh.” He checks his watch. “Ten minutes. That’s a record.”
“Oh, you two, stop it.” She bats the air.
Beckett and I continue to riff off one another. Beckett adds, “I’m sure Mom said it’s your job since I can’t. I mean I would, but being a gay doesn’t allow that.”
“A gay,” I cringe. “Shame. You can have my baby card since yours was taken when you came out. But I can’t imagine why Mom would want you to have a child, anyway. You’re almost thirty and still live at home.”
“Hey, I resemble that.”
I laugh. “Yes, yes, you do resemble that.”
“Are you two done now?” Mom crosses her arms.
“I don’t know.” I pucker my lips and stare at her.
She sighs. “Fine. I’m just concerned about you both.”
“We know.” Beckett walks into the kitchen and grabs some plates out of the cabinet. “You tell us all the time how we should be conforming to the norms of society.”
“Not the norms,” she defends. “I don’t care that you’re gay.”
“Well, when you say it like that,” Beckett chuckles.
Mom’s face falls. She and Dad have worked hard to get where they are now after Beckett came out to them.
They never stopped loving him, but they didn’t know how to process everything.
It helped when they had several meetings with their pastor, and he was very accepting.
I can’t help but wonder how many meetings they’ll need to have with him if they find out about my latest predicament with my guys.
“Is this how y’all are going to be all weekend?”
“Not all weekend.” I walk over and wrap my arms around her shoulders from behind, giving her a hug.
“I’ve missed you.” She grabs my arms and gives them a light squeeze.
“Thank goodness.” I walk over to the fridge to fill the glasses with sweet tea. I add more ice to mine, trying to dilute the tea-flavored sugar water. Since moving to the north, it has gotten more difficult to drink it when I came home, but I don’t want to hear about how much I’ve changed.
My phone dings from the other room, and I look at my watch.
Callum.
My heart flutters and my cheeks flush.
“Who was that?” Beckett whispers beside me.
“No one.”
“Not no one. You got all,” he bristles his shoulders to finish his sentence.
“No one,” I say more firmly, ending the conversation.
He chuckles, “Now I know it’s someone you don’t want us to know about.” He looks over his shoulder. “Hey Mom,” he whines in a child’s tattletale voice, eyes still focused on me.
“You shut your fucking mouth,” I seethe, punching him in the shoulder.
“Who is it?” he whispers.
“Did you need something, Becks?”
He looks at me. “No, he was just teasing me,” I answer for him.
“Okay, well, it’s almost time to eat.”
Beckett keeps his eyes on me as we continue our stare-off.
I sigh. “Fine. It’s a guy I’ve been talking to.”
He shifts closer, butting his shoulder up against mine. “Like talking talking?” His brows pump up and down, then he backhands my arm. “Oh my God. Is he the one you boinked recently?”
I glare at him.
“It is.” His eyes grow wide with excitement.
I smile. “Please don’t say anything.”
He zips his lips and throws away the imaginary key. “But we’re not done talking about him.”
I bobble my head from side to side.
“What did he want?”
“He was just saying he missed me.”
“How sweet. When do we get to meet him?”
“Never.” I laugh. He thinks I’m kidding. Unfortunately, I’m not. That’s one of the biggest reasons that makes the idea of any future relationship so hard. There would be no family picnics or vacations. No weddings, no grandchildren.
My phone chimes again.
“Now what’s he saying?” Beckett tries to lean over my shoulder and read.
“He says I need to tell my brother to stop business-minding.”
Beckett shrugs and walks over to the stove and steals a bite of food from the pot.
My wrist vibrates again. I glance down at my watch and see an image pop up and about choke, pressing the button on the side to click off the message, before nosy rosy sees a dick pic.
Even hundreds of miles away, he makes my stomach clench.
After dinner, I walk upstairs to put my phone on the charger. I needed a reason to text him back in private and to hide my phone from prying eyes. Beckett is almost worse than Lizzy, but at least she knows about my guys.
Everlee: You can’t keep texting me messages like these.
Callum: Because it’s turning you on?
Everlee: Yes, but also because I’m at my parent’s house.
Callum: Your parents?
Callum: I just wanted to say hi and let you know I was thinking about you.
Everlee: Yes. And my brother is all too curious.
Everlee: Also, hi and I’ve been thinking about you all too.
I don’t know why I admitted that to him. Probably not the best idea, but nothing about this could be considered the best idea.
Callum: What are you wearing?
Everlee: Callum!
Callum: Later then. When you’re ready for bed. Also, the guys say hi.
He sends a winky-face emoji.
I can’t help but chuckle and roll my eyes, staring at my phone for a few more seconds, wishing time would just freeze so I could stay up here and talk to him—to them—without losing time with my family.
Dominoes crash on the dining room table, and I know we’re going to be in for a long night of trains.