15. High Speed Data Transfer
FIFTEEN
HIGH SPEED DATA TRANSFER
Vance
If you’d told me yesterday that Flynn and I would be laughing over a beer and prime steaks, I’d have thought you were crazy.
But here we are.
That’s happened often since Rose has come into my life.
And while Flynn and I stand at the outdoor kitchen set under a pergola, Jackie and Rose sunbathe. Well, Rose is. Jackie’s skin has a near grayish cast to it from the amount of sunscreen she’s applied, and she’s settled herself under a very large umbrella.
Rose, wearing a bright pink string bikini, is basking in the sunlight.
It’s not cold, but it sure isn’t warm. Which is made apparent by Rose’s nipples trying to poke their way through her top.
I remind myself not to stare. I don’t want to shatter the newfound friendship I seem to have forged with Flynn by perving on his little sister in front of him.
“So, Vance.”
I jerk my gaze away from Rose, having just done what I told myself not to. “Uh, yeah?”
“Now that you’ve been officially initiated into the club, how you feeling?”
“Club?”
“The ‘I survived Rose West’s drama’ club.” He turns the meat on the grill, perfectly crisscrossing the grill lines. “I love my sister, but she gets herself into some crazy situations. I’ve seen…”
As Flynn tells story after story, my fingers tighten around my beer bottle. I know he’s saying what I was thinking just an hour ago in the security office, but hearing Rose’s brother, someone who’s always supposed to have her back say it, well, it really pisses me off.
I cut off his Rose antics monologue. “Sounds to me like Rose is a great friend.”
Flynn’s tongs pause mid steak rotation. “What do you mean?” Rather than being annoyed at me for cutting him off, his tone sounds amused.
“Every story I’ve heard, whether it’s a bar fight, getting arrested or bribery, has all been done for her friends and family.
” I take a breath, trying to calm down. Nothing good will come of fighting with Rose’s brother, I’m sure.
“Rose doesn’t get in trouble just to get in trouble.
There’s always a reason, and those reasons are the people she loves. ”
Flynn grins like I just told him he won the lottery. “Is that so?”
“ Yes .” My anger only increases by his sudden flippant attitude.
He gives the grill his attention again. “So what you’re saying is that today’s Black Friday drama had a reason.”
“Of course. You should know Rose always leaves out the stuff that puts her in a good light.” I laugh at the absurdity of it. “I bet she didn’t tell you that she went on a high-speed chase just to bribe a butcher for a turkey for my family’s Thanksgiving dinner.”
He nods. “You’re right.”
I freeze, my previous anger shocked out of my system. “What?”
“Rose does always go overboard for the people she loves.” He points his tongs at me. “Today’s drama is another example, I’m sure.”
“The headphones were for my nephews.” My voice lacks conviction, and Flynn knows it.
“Yes.” He rotates the foiled potatoes. “ Your nephews.”
I want to say that we are just friends with benefits. That we have a time limit.
But I don’t. Because how do you tell someone that their little sister explicitly said she didn’t want a boyfriend? That she’s into stranger danger and keeping things casual? You don’t tell them. Because that is awkward and mean.
And because I don’t want to get junk punched twice in one day.
“Now”—Flynn transfers thick asparagus spears onto the grill, a mean feat with tongs—"the question is, what are you going to do now that you’ve made it into my sister’s inner circle?” He flashes me a penetrating look. “Which, I may add, is a very hard thing to do. My sister doesn’t trust easily.”
I swallow. “Why’s that?” Glancing at the girls, I see Rose has turned over on her lounge chair. The words KISS IT are on the cheeks of her swimsuit.
Flynn turns his head away from the grill and stares at his sister for a beat.
“Rose likes to tell Holt and me that the two of us did the best we could after our parents, then our grandparents, died.” He shakes his head as if in disgust. “But that’s a lie she tells us to make us feel better. We could’ve and should’ve done more.”
“What do you mean?”
Jackie says something, and without looking, Rose flips her the bird. Jackie laughs.
“Every year or so, Mom would pick up and leave. Sometimes for weeks, sometimes for months. Sometimes Dad would follow. Rose was right at the stage where she really needed her mom when they both died in that car accident. She had no one to guide her through the tough, embarrassing adolescent stage except two self-indulgent older brothers too focused on their own pain and interests.” Carefully, he spins the asparagus, ensuring it doesn’t fall through the grate.
“So we shipped her off to an all-girl boarding school, figuring the other girl students and female teachers would fill in the voids for her.”
Flynn closes the grill, his hand resting on the handle for a moment.
“She was lonely. Even surrounded by all her friends and continuous socialite parties, Rose was lonely. And I hate myself that it took me so long to realize it. And when I did, all I did was yell at her when things got too crazy because I didn’t know what else to do.”
Rose’s cackle echoes in the courtyard. Jackie’s blush can be seen from where Flynn and I are standing.
“She seems okay now.” I sound more hopeful then convincing.
Flynn smiles, looking at his sister and his wife. “Thankfully.” He leaves me there by the grill and walks over to where the girls are sitting. He picks up his wife, sits in her chair, and places her on his lap. Rose flips another bird.
The gesture reminds me of all the times Rose was left behind at a table, all her friends dancing with their dates. Rose, the odd one out.
Flynn might have twenty-twenty vision when it comes to the past, but he fails to see how him marrying Jackie, Holt getting with Jules, and now even Trish being engaged to Ian has put Rose back in the same situation as before. She’s feeling left behind again.
Memories of Thanksgiving and this morning replay in my head, now colored by this new information. I invited Rose to my family’s Thanksgiving because of exactly what Flynn just said. Rose seems lonely. But hearing her brother confirm it breaks my heart a little.
And it makes me determined to fix it. But Flynn’s suggestion about how Rose may feel about me puts a wrench in that idea.
I run a hand through my hair, thinking. Flynn has to be wrong. Rose told me she wasn’t after a forever guy.
We’re just keeping each other company.
Shaking off the heavy thoughts, I join the group, pulling a lounge chair closer to Rose’s.
Rose turns on her butt when I sit. “You boys have fun measuring dicks?”
Flynn rubs his tong-free hand down his face. “Jesus, Rose.”
She laughs, rubbing her hands up and down her arms.
“You cold?” I take off my sweater. “Here.” I hold it out to her, trying very very hard not to stare at her pointed nipples.
I almost succeed.
“Aw, your old man cardigan?” She takes it, putting her arms through the sleeves. “Aren’t you sweet.”
“Old man is right,” Flynn grumbles, like he’s forgotten our intimate little chat just minutes ago. “How old are you, anyway?”
“Your age. That’s how old.” Rose wraps the open front around her.
Flynn grumbles.
“And even if he wasn’t, you get no say if I want to cruise the senior center for dates.”
“What the?” I lean back, affronted. “I’m not even close to being a senior.”
“Well, actually.” Jackie wiggles in Flynn’s lap, trying to sit up straighter. “Seeing as you’re thirty-six, you have less years to reach senior status at sixty-five than you have lived.” She pushes up her glasses. “So it depends on your definition of close.”
Fuck. She’s right.
And by the look on Flynn’s face, the truth hit him hard as well.
“Now, now.” Rose scoots over until she’s on my lounge chair, lifting my arm and putting it around her shoulders. “Don’t make Vance feel bad about his age.” She winks at me. “That’s my job.”
“Har, har.” I am not amused. But like a moth to a flame, I can’t help but hold her close. And pretend not to notice how well she fits.
Whether in heels, glitter, or my T-shirt, Rose fits.
“Come on.” Rose snags her phone out from under the lounge chair and settles back against me. “I’ll show you that Pinterest video I was telling you about. The one with the glitter refinishing for the KitchenAid mixer.”
I ignore Flynn’s pointed look. “Sounds awesome.”