Chapter 4 #2
“Not even close. Even though you—” she glares at me “—won’t help me figure this out, I still have investigating to do.”
“Well, good luck with that.” I let out a deep exhale and point my index finger toward the door. “I have to get in the shower, pronto. Ace is on his way to pick me up now.”
“Of course,” she whines. “Summer plans with the dude you literally spend all your dang time with are so much more important than the internet downfall of our father.”
“Evie, you’re being dramatic. I assure you. Nothing, and I mean nothing, on the internet will be the downfall of our father. He’s Mr. Do-Right. He’s not a PR nightmare. He’s the PR manager.”
“Something tells me you won’t be saying that when his face is plastered all over everything—”
“Girls, are you in here?” our mom calls, her footsteps just outside the bathroom door.
“Don’t you dare tell her about this,” I whisper and put a finger to my lips to shut my sister up and open the door. “Why, yes, we are. Apparently, we’re due for a family meeting, and everyone decided my shower time was the most convenient. Where’s Dad? Is he on his way?”
“Did someone say Dad?” my dad asks then, just a few footsteps behind my mom and turning my bathroom into a full-blown clown car.
I swear, if my grandparents show up, I’m calling the police.
I shove through Evie and over to the shower, shutting off the water and crossing my arms over my chest. “I guess the shower can wait.”
My dad laughs, slinging his arm around my mom’s shoulders. “It’s so tough living in these conditions.”
I roll my eyes as my mom purses her lips, expecting some big, dramatic reaction from me. But she’s not going to get it. There’s no point anyway.
I sigh. “So, what can I do for everyone?”
“Mom, Dad, how did you guys meet again?” Evie asks instead of giving them a chance to speak.
“Were you friends first?” Her eyebrows draw together as she hops up on my bathroom counter and continues.
“I know you worked together, but who made the first move? What was the power dynamic? Did HR get involved? Sexual harassment, perhaps?”
“What?” My mom’s shocked laugh is high-pitched and awkward. “What are you getting at, Evie? Where are all these questions coming from? And sexual harassment?!”
“It’s fine,” my dad says, his unshakable calm practically palpable in the bathroom full of fluctuating female hormones. “Yes, I was your mother’s boss, so I suppose there was a bit of a power dynamic, but there was no HR involvement and everything that happened between us was consensual.”
“TMI,” I mutter under my breath, making my mom blush and smack my dad in the chest while he laughs.
“I actually asked her out the first time so my mother wouldn’t set me up with someone else.”
“A last resort,” my mom says teasingly.
“And what else happened?” my sister pries. “You just started dating, and that was that? Or was there online sexting involved?”
Our parents share a look.
“What kinds of details are you after, Evie?” my dad asks. “Because I’m pretty sure you don’t want to know all of it, but I’ll be happy to share the play-by-play if you want. But I should warn you, there’s a lot of NSFW material in it.”
My dad saying NSFW makes me groan. “Please, no. Let’s not go there,” I say and turn to my clearly insane sister with gritted teeth. “Evie. We don’t need to know the details.”
“I’m just trying to piece it together,” she retorts, and when I widen my eyes at her, she softens her voice and her interrogation direction. “To, you know, get an idea of what you were like when you were young, I mean.”
“As opposed to old and decaying like we are now?” my mom asks, a mock act of affront bringing her hand to her chest.
“Jules?” Ace calls from my bedroom, his eyes widening as he pushes open the bathroom door to a crowd. “Oh wow. Hey, everybody. We having a bathroom party or what?”
“Everyone was just leaving,” I say, taking command. “I still have to jump in the shower, Ace. Sorry. But I’ll be quick.”
“Hey, no rush,” he says breezily. He’s hard to ruffle, honestly, and I don’t know that he’s ever complained about having to wait for me before, but I could have been ready thirty minutes ago at this point.
“How’s it going, Ace?” my dad asks, immediately kicking into his reliable adult mode. “Everything okay at home with your parents out of town?”
Ace scoffs. “Great, except my brother came home unexpectedly on his own.”
“What?” my dad questions in surprise. “I just talked to Thatch this morning. He didn’t mention anything about Gunnar leaving.”
Ace just shrugs. “Yeah, well, he probably hasn’t realized it yet. Knowing Gunnar, he set up some elaborate ruse. But he’s very home, unless I was hallucinating last night.”
“Which is also very possible,” my salty sister mutters. “You are a Kelly. Crazy is in your DNA.”
Ace scoffs through a chuckle. “Thanks, Evie.”
She sticks out her tongue, and I’m officially tired of sharing my bathroom. “Okay, seriously. Can everyone get out of here so I can shower?”
“Fine. But Mom, Dad, you come to the kitchen with me,” Evie orders. “I have more questions.”
“Oh jeez,” our mom remarks teasingly. “I sure hope I pass the test.”
“You always pass my test,” my dad flirts, pushing his chest against her back as he guides her out of the bathroom with his hands at her hips.
Their affection is bold and unabashed, and for as disgusting as it is for me, their eldest daughter, to watch, I have to say I appreciate and respect it.
After all the Scottie and Finn family drama I had to witness last year, I can’t imagine how it must feel to come from a broken home.
The shit her mom did to her and the horrible things his father has done…
Well, it’s the exact opposite of what I’ve had growing up.
I’ve never experienced anything but love and support in my home. And I know, more than all the money we have, that’s what makes us truly wealthy.
Ace lingers a little as I turn the water back on, leaning a hip into the counter and smiling at me. “What?” I ask, rolling my eyes at the scrutiny of his stare.
“I’m just marveling at how good you look when you wake up. I had a mohawk and a six-inch trail of drool crusted on my chin.”
I shake my head. “Oh, come on.”
“Seriously, Lia, I don’t even know why you’re worried about showering. You’re gorgeous.”
“Uh…thanks, weirdo, but I smell.”
“You smell good.”
“Excuse me?”
“I said you smell good, Jules.”
“I heard you,” I say on a confused laugh. “But I’m still wondering why you’re acting so…”
“So…?”
“I don’t know…different.”
“Different?” he questions and shifts on his feet. “I’m not different. I’m…chill. I’m cool. I’m Ace motherfucking Kelly. I’m your best friend who hasn’t changed or had realizations or anything. I’m—”
“Leaving the bathroom so I can take a shower?” I cut him off with a smile.
“Yeah.” He runs his hand through his dark hair, grinning as he does. “That.”
“Perfect.” I squeeze his shoulder and spin him around, patting his butt lightly to send him toward my bedroom. “Don’t worry, buddy. I won’t be long. Just a quick rinse-off and I’ll be done. I won’t even wash my hair.”
“Ace!” my dad’s voice booms from downstairs. “Why don’t you come to the kitchen and eat some lunch with us while Julia gets ready?”
It’s my father’s obvious attempt at keeping things PG between Ace and me. Even though I’m in college and Ace and I have been best friends our whole lives, Kline Brooks doesn’t take any chances when it comes to his daughters.
Ace just grins. “Looks like I’m being summoned.”
“Yep. And while you enjoy chatting it up with the Brookses, I’m going to attempt to take the shower I’ve been trying to take for the last thirty minutes.”
He hovers near my bathroom door for a long moment. He searches my eyes, and he opens his mouth like he wants to say something.
“What now?” I ask, raising an eyebrow. “Did you forget how to use stairs?”
“Nah.” He grins, but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “Just making sure you didn’t forget this is supposed to be a quick shower and not one of those long-ass hour-long showers you take when you have to shave your legs and shit.”
“Rude,” I say, already laughing. “This is a precision operation. And it’s not my fault I’ve been interrupted like three times. Or that you’re still standing here.”
“Fine, fine.” He backs away, hands raised. “But if you’re not downstairs in twenty, I’m sending Evie in here with a bullhorn.”
“Trust me, Evie has already done enough damage today.”
He winks. “You say that, but no matter what Evie tries to throw at you, I’m certain you’ve survived worse.”
The trauma of the dick pics flashes behind my eyes, and I shake my head. “Ace, you don’t even want to know what Evie just tried to throw my way.”
“It can’t compare to that time you gave yourself bangs with kindergarten scissors and blamed it on me.”
“Hey now!” I point an index finger in his direction. “I was five, and you dared me to.”
“And I thought you looked cute when it was all said and done.”
“All said and done?” I question on a laugh. “My mom lost her mind when she saw that my hair looked like a mushroom.”
“But you were a cute mushroom.”
“Out,” I say, giving him a playful shove toward my bedroom, and he starts to head on his merry way.
“I’m going to check on Luna 2.0 real quick. And…” He turns back one last time. “Don’t forget to sing loud enough for me to hear you downstairs. You sound like dying sea life, and it calms me.”
“Leave, Ace.”
“Going, going.” He shoots finger guns at me. “But if brunch turns into a Kline Brooks’ interrogation, I’m throwing you under the bus.”
“Wouldn’t expect anything less.”
As I shut the bathroom door, I hear him mutter through the wood, “You’re lucky I like you so much, Lia.”
I smirk, turning the shower handle all the way hot. “You’re lucky I haven’t murdered you with my loofah!”
His laugh fades as he walks away, and for the first time all morning, the house feels quiet.
But not in a bad way.
In an Ace-is-here kind of way. And somehow, that’s always been enough.