27. Sloan #2
Sloan exhaled slowly, letting their banter relax her, along with the noise of the bar around them—the clink of glasses, the low hum of conversation, the music threading through it all.
But there was a sadness to it, too.
Is this what it’s like to have family?
She couldn’t remember the last teasing conversation she’d had with her own sister. Yet so many years earlier, it hadn’t just been Liddy and Elle taking up space in that role. Penny had been close with Sloan, and they’d talked about more than the weather and her job.
She sometimes hung out with Sloan and the Winnicks, even though she was a year younger than Elle.
This is fine.
She could do this.
Sit here and talk. Be normal around two women who probably didn’t like her very much, even if they were doing a great job putting up a front.
Ignore the fact that Kyle was three feet away with another woman practically in his lap.
Ignore the way he hadn’t really looked at her since they’d sat down.
Forget it. Forget what he said last night about thinking things through and trying to be good.
At least she now had her answer about whether Kyle and Anna were actually dating. Kyle would never cheat, especially with Sloan, knowing her experience. But Anna is obviously into him.
The server returned, and Sloan ordered an IPA she’d never heard of, then felt a shoe bump her shin.
“Hey.”
Her gaze flicked up and met Kyle’s.
“You good?” he asked, low enough that it didn’t carry over Elle’s, who was ordering.
Her breath caught.
“Yeah,” she said, steadying her voice. “I’m good.”
His eyes held hers for a beat longer, then he ordered—surprisingly, a glass of white wine, not an old-fashioned—and excused himself from the table.
Anna frowned.
Liddy tracked his departure, her lips pressing to a line for a moment, before she looked at Sloan and smiled. “So how are your dad and Penny doing?”
“They’re good. Happy in the Bay Area. They both work a lot, so I don’t see them often.” She didn’t realize how short and choppy her answers sounded. Like she was giving them by rote, until she finished and saw both Elle’s eyes dart to Liddy’s.
Sloan looked down, her words softer now. “They’re both really busy.”
“Finding a balance between work and life is one of the hardest parts of being an adult,” Liddy said sympathetically. “It can get in the way of family time a lot.”
“Well, in my case, I think it was my mom holding three very different people together.” Sloan tried to say it like it still didn’t hurt. “Or me to them, I guess. Dad and Penny are pretty similar.”
“Oh, Penny, I remember her,” Jeremy said, jumping into the conversation as the server left the table. “Your whole family moved away a while ago, didn’t they?”
Great. Now the whole conversation was centered on her. “Yeah, to San Francisco.”
“So, what brought you back to Tennessee?” Anna tucked her shoulder-length blond hair behind one ear. “Most people I know who go to California stay there.”
“I . . .” Sloan saw Kyle approaching the table, another guy following him. She met Anna’s gaze and held it. “This is home. California is beautiful, but I spent a lot of time traveling the last decade and, honestly, I’ve come to realize that roots mean more to me than location.”
“I can concur,” Kyle said, reaching over and dragging another chair from a nearby table. He placed it between Sloan and Liddy, then sat. “This is Brandon, by the way. Brandon, my sisters, Liddy, Elle, and this is my roommate, Sloan, and Jeremy’s friend, Anna.”
Jeremy’s friend. Interesting.
Brandon greeted the women, then slid behind Anna and sat in the seat Kyle had been occupying.
Even though Kyle didn’t say anything to her, Sloan felt herself relax at his proximity and bit back a smile. Kyle was a lot of things she didn’t always understand—like his need to act indestructible—but his loyalty and consistency had always been one of the things she liked most about him.
And it hadn’t gone unnoticed, either, Sloan was sure of that.
“Sloan . . .” Brandon eyed her, brows furrowing together. “Wait. You’re not the Sloan—”
“Did you hear Brooks Kent is coming to play at Nissan Stadium in August?” Jeremy asked, his voice loud. “My brother’s trying to offload studio box tickets he picked up before he realized he had a work trip. Who’s in?”
Sloan could have hugged Jeremy.
Elle grimaced. “I don’t think I’ll be going to any concerts for the next couple of months, not that you were asking me.” She winked.
“You’re one of my favorite Winnicks.” Jeremy smiled. “Of course I was asking you.”
“Oh yeah?” Liddy nudged him with her elbow. “Just how many favorite Winnicks do you have?”
“Three.”
“You were saying about commitment?” Kyle raised a brow at Jeremy, looking at him over Liddy’s head.
Even though Jeremy had helped save Sloan from Brandon’s questions, Sloan felt both Brandon and Anna staring at her now.
The strum of a guitar was as welcome as water in the desert. Sloan checked over her shoulder to a small stage by the windows, and the pressure in her chest eased. Thank God for Nashville and live music.
As the guitarist introduced herself, the server returned with their drinks, and the attention at the table shifted.
For the first time since they’d sat down, no one was looking at Sloan.
She reached for her drink, took a sip, and immediately regretted it.
God. That was awful.
Beside her, Kyle tipped his wineglass toward hers. “Trade?”
She glanced at him. “You want this?”
“No.” He chuckled. “But you definitely don’t.”
A corner of her mouth lifted despite herself. “Wow. Chivalry is alive and well.”
“Don’t get used to it.”
Too late. She couldn’t help expecting it from him. Even when she shouldn’t.
He nudged his wine closer anyway, and after a second, she slid her glass toward him in exchange. He leaned closer, his breath warm on her ear as he whispered, “I don’t really drink white wine, anyway.”
He took a sip from her drink, grimaced. “Yeah. That’s worse than I expected.”
She laughed more heartily this time, then tilted her head toward him.
Even with his sisters flanking them, she couldn’t help but feel the familiar pull of gravity, the happiness that his attention brought her.
She felt like a spoiled brat, really. He’d always given her his attention willingly, and she’d been fool enough to reject it so many years earlier.
No wonder his sisters were more wary now. What kind of foolish woman would reject someone like Kyle?
“So, why were you being weird?” she asked under her breath, before she could overthink it.
Kyle stilled slightly, then glanced at her. “I wasn’t being weird.”
“You were.”
“How?”
“Like you didn’t know how to exist in public. Getting all red around the collar. Not looking at me.” She sipped the wine. Thank God. She wouldn’t have been able to finish that beer.
He looked away first, jaw tightening for a second before he exhaled and leaned toward her. “I didn’t know she was coming.”
Sloan followed his gaze—just briefly—toward Anna, then back.
“Okay.” So there is something there. “Ex?” she mouthed.
“No.” His lips curved for a moment. “We can talk about it later tonight.”