Chapter 4 #2
“Can’t promise anything,” I say lightly, refusing to be ruffled by him. Because that’s what he wants, to get a reaction.
Ava slides her arm through mine. “Stop upsetting my friends,” she chides him. Then she turns to me. “Let’s go.”
And as we walk out of her beautiful, stupidly large house, and away from her stupidly handsome brother-in-law the tension in my body melts away.
Now I just need to get through tomorrow without killing him.
“Three glasses of champagne please,” Lauren says when the waitress offers us drinks. “In fact, just bring the whole bottle.”
“I’m not drinking,” Ava reminds her.
“And I’m driving,” I say to Lauren. “Sorry.”
She shakes her head. “It’s okay. I wasn’t ordering for you. The drinks are for me.” She drops her head into her hands. “I’ve had the morning from hell. Who breeds these bridezillas anyway? I swear I almost killed today’s one.”
Lauren owns a bakery in the historical district. She’s known as the best cake designer in town. My dad’s a mere beginner compared to her amazing creations, but this time of year is always the worst for her.
She only takes on two or three cakes per week. And she tells us the hardest work isn’t in baking or decorating, it’s in appeasing the bride and groom who can never agree on a thing.
In short, she has the patience of a saint.
While we eat a light meal, she regales us with the tales of today’s wedding, in a beautiful pagoda overlooking the Kanawha River. We listen, rapt, because Lauren’s descriptions of these events is like watching a reality TV show but better, because these people live in our city.
The three of us have been best friends since our college days. We were roommates freshman year, and from the moment we met it was pretty much a love match. After college we all ended up working here in Charleston, where Ava and I grew up, and I don’t know what I’d do without them.
After eating we change and head into the steam room, sitting on the wooden slatted benches with towels wrapped around our bodies. Ava lets out a sigh and Lauren and I exchange a glance because she looks so tired.
“How’s it going with Myles’ brothers at your place?” Lauren asks her.
Ava sighs again. “I love them to death but they’re so noisy,” Ava tells her. “As soon as they arrived they woke Charlie up. It’s nice to see them all, but they just work better outside, you know? When they’re inside it’s a lot to take on.”
I know exactly what she means. Like me, Ava’s an only child. She grew up with just her mom whereas I had both parents, but we’re used to silence. To sitting and reading without being disturbed. Being surrounded by the Salinger family is like turning up the volume of life about ten decibels.
“And is Liam looking as good as ever?” Lauren asks, sneaking a sly glance at me. She was there for our vacation and thought it was amusing how much Liam and I antagonized each other.
She doesn’t know why we’re so awkward though. Nor does Ava. I can’t tell them. It’s too embarrassing.
“He’s actually being very sweet,” Ava says. “He keeps offering to look after Charlie, and today he made a huge pot of meat sauce for everybody.”
I blink. “Liam can cook?”
Ava’s smile is soft. “He’s a good guy underneath it all.”
I snort. Which is a bit mean, but I can’t help it.
“He is,” she protests. “I know you two don’t get along, but he isn’t a bad guy.”
“I still don’t get why you don’t like him,” Lauren says.
“I don’t know,” I tell her, trying to work out how to change the subject. “We just clash I guess.”
“You don’t clash. You have UST,” Lauren says.
I roll my eyes. “We do not.”
Ava says nothing, just watching us talk.
“Yes you do,” Lauren continues. “When we were on vacation he couldn’t take his eyes off you. Remember how annoyed he got when he saw you talking to that other guy?”
“He wasn’t annoyed,” I tell her. “He laughed when he found out the guy was married.” My cheeks heat up and it’s got nothing to do with the steam room. It’s just that the whole situation was embarrassing.
“Yeah, he was annoyed,” Ava says softly. “You were at the bar so you didn’t see.”
I blink. He was? That’s… strange.
“You two would make such a cute couple,” Lauren says and this time I really do laugh.
“What?” Lauren asks. “Don’t you think so?”
“Liam doesn’t do relationships,” I tell her, feeling on firmer ground
“He doesn’t?” She looks at Ava. “He must have had girlfriends in the past.”
Ava shrugs. “I think so. I don’t know. He says he doesn’t have time for relationships now.”
“Sounds like somebody else I know,” Lauren says pointedly, looking at me.
“If I did have time it definitely wouldn’t be with him,” I say. “He never sleeps with the same woman twice.”
“What?” Ava frowns. “He said that to you? When?”
Oh shit. I’m skating dangerously close to that night. “Um, I don’t know. It was a conversation in passing. It doesn’t matter anyway.” Because I wouldn’t touch him with a ten foot pole.
“Poor Liam,” Ava says, because she always looks for the best in people. “That’s sad.”
“I don’t think he’s sad about it,” I say. “He seemed pretty impressed with himself.”
“He didn’t really have the best role models in life,” Ava tells us, still looking thoughtful. “With their dad changing wives every few years and their mom still thinking the sun shines out of his ass, they all got affected by it.”
“Myles isn’t going around sleeping with a pile of different women,” Lauren points out, beating me to it.
“No, but Myles swore off love until we got together,” Ava says. “They’re all a little messed up by their childhood, they just don’t realize it.”
The buzzer goes off, reminding us we’ve been sitting in the hot steam for too long.
And I breathe – or at least try to – a sigh of relief.
I don’t want to talk about Liam anymore.
I’ll deal with him tomorrow at the christening and then he’ll go home to New York and I probably won’t see him again until Charlie’s first birthday and that’s not until next year.
He can go back to his playboy ways and I can go back to normalcy.
That’s just how I like it.