Chapter 21
Sydney
A week later, I’m in the kitchen grabbing up napkins and the covered bowl of my favorite baby spinach salad tossed with a honey dijon vinaigrette.
I have crocks keeping roasted red potatoes and crunchy, fresh green beans, nice and hot, already out on the buffet table we set up at the back of the house.
Colin and Trystan are already manning the fryers with onion rings and some fried pickles for us gals.
Ava and Jane just sat down at the table, and Garrett is filling their glasses with some wine.
He raises a glass up toward me with the silent question of if I’d like some, and I nod yes.
He smiles and fills it, setting it down next to the spot by Ava.
He then strolls to the cooler and pulls out three bottles of Miller Lite, popping the tops before walking over to the guys.
I’m so glad they’re getting along. I might be on pins and needles waiting for Mark to show up though.
I stir the hamburger cheese dip in the crock Ava brought and turn it down to ‘warm’ so it doesn’t scorch.
I make sure the tortilla chips are present, then eye to make sure the brownies and other desserts Jane and Ava brought are covered. Everything looks good.
“When’s Holly coming in?” Ava asks, sipping on her wine while repeatedly eyeing the French doors. I can see the nerves written all over her face about having to spend more time in the presence of Mark. He’s running late, so maybe we can get her relaxed enough before he gets here.
“She flies in next Friday morning, right before the guys take off for their camping trip.”
“Yay! I’m so excited for girl’s weekend!” Jane squeals in response.
“What all do we wanna do, other than the obvious sleep over?” I ask while eyeing Colin and Garrett in a deep conversation.
Trystan is grinning from ear to ear and peers over at me before looking away quickly and mumbling something to Colin.
They all suspiciously do something different.
Colin checks the fryer, Trystan looks out at the water then leans forward to examine the oil bubbling, and Garrett clears his throat before taking a drink of his beer.
“Did you just notice that?” I ask Jane, who’s looking that way too.
“Yup, Garrett looks suspiciously guilty of hiding something. I’m on it,” she states, determination set on her face. She’ll have answers within the hour.
“I am finally here! Sorry I’m so late guys.
That project took longer than I thought,” Mark announces his arrival, causing Ava to choke a little on her wine and visibly bristle in her seat.
He came from around the side of the house instead of through the back door, which is what she was expecting.
I try to stifle my giggle to the best of my ability, but the look on her face is pretty priceless.
Mark opens the cooler, adding the “beer bitch” beer before grabbing one and popping the cap.
Colin isn’t letting up on that any time soon.
I giggle to myself as Mark walks by us with a raise of the bottle and a mumbled acknowledgement of “Ladies”.
We all say hi back except for Ava. She just flashes him a tight-lipped smile that really seems more like a “fuck you”, and he grimaces a smidge before joining the guys.
“What’d I miss?” I hear him ask as he slaps a hello against Colin’s shoulder. Trystan says something quietly to Mark, and his jaw drops as he looks over at Colin.
“Seriously?” he asks, and Colin’s shoulders stiffen a little.
It’s not crazy obvious, but since I know him so well now, I notice it.
He says something under his breath back to him that I can’t hear, and Mark glances my way quickly before going straight back to Colin.
I can’t read the situation, but I don’t like the thought of knowing somehow I’m a part of that conversation.
A slow smile spreads across his face, and he pats Colin’s back once more.
“What the actual fuck, guys? What do you think they’re talking about?”
“I don’t know, girl, but I have a sneaking suspicion that it involves you,” Jane says, and Ava nods with a mouthful of her wine. Good. She needs to keep drinking.
Jane gets up and makes her way over to Garrett, effectively silencing whatever they were in the middle of discussing.
“Hey, Garrett,” Colin says. “Will you grab the fish from the fridge for me? Oh, and grab an extra plate or something for this batch?”
“On it,” Garrett answers, and Jane sees her “in” to snoop for answers.
“I’ll help you since you don’t know your way around the kitchen,” Jane pipes back, following after her husband. They disappear into the house with a soft click of the door, so I can’t hear anything. I hope she has luck getting information out of him.
Mark and Trystan walk over, and Trystan eyes our wine glasses before disappearing into the kitchen too.
“So, what’s new girls?” Mark asks before plopping into a chair next to Ava.
She visibly stiffens at the motion, and his jaw ticks just a little.
I’ll give him points for trying. We’ll see how this goes.
He’s either attempting to make good or is truly playing with fire if he’s just toying with her.
They will have to learn to at least be cordial since our groups won’t really avoid each other.
“Oh, not a whole lot. Holly’s coming in next Friday morning before you guys take off for your trip. She’s super excited to meet everyone,” I answer since I know Ava’s not about to jump in on the conversation, yet.
“Holly…” He lets her name roll off his tongue with a curious expression on his face. Damn, this man does not understand the first thing about how women think.
“She’s very much taken, so don’t even consider it,” I say flatly, and he chuckles under his breath. Ava tenses a little more and rolls her eyes in disgust just as Trystan appears with another bottle of wine, refilling her glass first.
“Trystan, you’re a lifesaver,” Ava retorts and takes a healthy sip.
Mark eyes her, annoyance creeping up the side of his neck, and I notice his wheels turning.
He’s biting his tongue. I narrow my eyes at him slightly in warning.
Bite it til it bleeds if you have any brains, Mark…
Trystan notices the exchange as well and chuckles to himself. Nothing gets by him.
Mark stands back up, vexed with where this is leading. With no easy way out, he stalks back over to Colin as Garrett reaches him with the fish.
“He’ll figure it out sooner or later,” Trystan says aloud, and Ava just shakes her head.
“He’s a bullheaded manslut.” Her eyes roll up to the sky and her jaw ticks with indignation. Yeah, she’s not ready to let it go yet, and with the whole curious-about- Holly act he just pulled, he dug himself into a deeper hole.
“You know they say, ‘There’s a fine line and all’…” Trystan trails off with a smirk as he grabs his beer to venture back to the fryer with another chuckle.
“Whatever…” Ava huffs as Jane reappears with a bowl of cheese dip and the bag of tortilla chips.
“Share, bitches.” She pushes the bowl to the center and we all giggle and grab chips, moaning at the gooey cheese when we take big ol’ bites.
???
Colin
Dang… That wasn’t suspicious or anything.
I glare up at Mark, and he just sheepishly shrugs his shoulders in a half-ass apology for making our quiet conversation glaringly obvious to Sydney and the other girls.
Unfortunately, we had to pull in Jane, but surely she’ll keep it quiet.
I enlisted Garrett and Jane’s help on snooping for Sydney’s ring size.
When I sent him in for the fish, it was the perfect moment for Garrett to explain the task to Jane, and for Jane to go in search of a ring.
The rest of us have eyes on Sydney. It’s a team effort.
Mark is the most skeptical of the group.
While the others were ecstatic to get in on the plan, it didn’t surprise me much that Mark just needed a few moments to get his head wrapped around the fact that I’m planning on getting a ring.
He doesn’t have anything against Sydney, I know that, he’s just one to overthink a lot of things.
Overly cautious, despite the way he rubs off on others.
Sometimes I love that about him; other times, like this, it makes me crazy.
He just worries about me. I still won’t change my mind. She’s mine now and will be for forever.
I take the first batch of fish out of the fryer and flip it into the paper towel lined pan that Jane brought out to me to soak up some of the extra grease before sticking the next batch in.
When I turn around to grab my beer, I notice Sydney’s eyes on me.
I see the wheels turning behind those pretty green eyes I love getting lost in.
I give her a wink and a reassuring tilt of my lips which seems to snap her out of her thoughts a smidge, and she smiles sweetly back.
I wonder how they’ll sparkle when I’m on my knee popping the question.
Grinning from my secret, hmm… make that semi-secret, I make my way over to the group at the table and lean to press a soft kiss against her cheek. She sighs softly, reaching for my hand and resting it on her shoulder.