CHAPTER 23 KAYLEE
“I’ll start dinner,” Ben announces later that afternoon as everyone’s relaxing out on the back deck overlooking the forest.
“Need any help?” I ask as rehearsed, and he nods.
We both head inside and sneak a little kiss once we’re in, and we really do get started on the meal. Ben hums to the tune of “My Girl” as he cooks, well, “My Pork,” and I giggle as he moves easily around the kitchen.
He instructs me what to do, and eventually everyone starts filing in from the deck. “Smells amazing in here,” Luke says, the last in line as he peeks into the kitchen for a preview of what we’re having.
“That’s because I’m teaching this one everything I know about cooking,” Ben says, and he grabs my hand and twirls me until I land against his chest. He leans down and presses a soft kiss to my lips, and a collective gasp fills the room.
Ben steps back, and both of us bug our eyes out as we stare at each other.
“Oh,” I say, pressing my fingers to my mouth. “Are we doing that now?”
Ben shrugs. “Sure. Why the hell not?” And then he grabs me into his arms and really plants one on me.
Maybe I should be embarrassed that this guy is kissing me in front of my mother and his father and everyone important in my life, but it feels right.
It feels like we’re lifting the weight that’s been dragging us down for weeks. Months, even.
Besides, two of the women in this room are pregnant. We’re all adults here—except for the babies, who are oblivious to what’s happening. It’s not like we don’t know what goes on behind closed doors.
I giggle as I push him off me and gauge my family’s reaction.
“I knew it!” Ellie says, her tone one of victory.
“You knew?” Kate demands. “Why am I always the last to know?”
“I discovered them this morning,” Jack announces.
“What, exactly, were they doing when you discovered them?” Luke asks, his tone so suggestive that my cheeks turn pink again.
“N—Nothing,” I stammer, and Ben laughs.
Questions are fired at us: “How long?” “Is it serious?” “Are you for real?”
Ben looks down and me and presses another soft kiss to my lips. “We’re for real. It’s serious. Our wedding on Saturday isn’t just some show for the media.” He glances up at his dad, who seems to be giving the two of us a look of approval.
I look over at my mom, who looks skeptical. I don’t blame her. She’s seen him smash a beer can on his forehead, and it might be a bit of a challenge to get her on board with the party animal who’s a decade older than me.
And then my sweet brother Jack swoops in to save the day with words that leave me somewhere between shocked and grateful.
“There may be a decade between them, but there’s eight years between Kate and me, and I’ve never been happier.
I’ve seen a huge change in Ben, and it’s not just for the media.
It’s for him, and it’s because of her. I couldn’t be happier for the two of you. ”
My mom’s skepticism seems to soften a bit at his words. It’s not gone completely, but that’s just her nature.
I sigh in relief.
It’s out there now.
We don’t have to pretend anymore.
My mom glances over at Ben’s dad.
Jeb gives a short nod as if giving her the green light for something.
Oh God. It’s going to get really awkward now, isn’t it?
“Well, we have some news, too,” my mom says.
Ben’s fingers dig into my shoulder where his arm is still tossed around me as we all wait expectantly for her announcement.
“Jeb and I are seeing each other,” my mom blurts.
“You’re together?” Luke asks.
“Like together-together?” I ask.
Jeb chuckles. “Yes. Together-together.”
“Like Kaylee and me together-together?” Ben asks.
Oh my God. Don’t answer that. Don’t answer that. Don’t answer that.
“Well, I don’t know I’d say that, exactly,” Jeb says.
“We’re seeing each other,” my mom says again in some attempt at clarification that really does nothing at all.
So sweet old Jeb is banging my mom. That’s just great news.
My fiancé’s dad is dating my mother. Isn’t that, like, incest or something?
“We were together first,” I grumble, and that’s met with resounding laughter all around the room.
“It’s fine, honey,” my mom says. “You can marry Ben, and I can date his father. There’s nothing weird about it. I promise.”
“There’s a lot weird about it, but whatever,” I mutter.
I do have to admit, though, that I’ve seen more smiles from my mother in the last twenty-four hours than I’ve seen in years.
She and my dad seemed happy for the most part to those on the outside, but there were times I wondered if they stayed together out of love or obligation.
It doesn’t matter the why—what matters is that they were married, they loved each other, and she was devastated when she lost him to a sudden brain aneurysm.
And now, it’s been a year and a half since he passed. Everyone has their own process, and I refuse to judge my mother’s. Whatever the case, I’m glad to see her happy.
We sit down to dinner once it’s ready, and I can’t help but stare at Jeb and my mother as I analyze every single interaction between them.
She asks him to pass the rice.
Is that code for something?
He asks her to pass the soy sauce. But what does he mean by that?
And when their fingers brush and they exchange a glance, what exactly is that I see in their eyes for each other? Is this love? Are they just messing around? Do they, like, make out? Do they kiss? Do they do more than that?
I force those particular thoughts away because nobody wants to think about what their parents do in their free time.
Still, though—the way I’m studying them is about the same way everyone else at the table is studying Ben and me, and while the food is delicious, the meal is awkward.
They’re thinking the same things about us. Do we make out? Do we kiss? How does Ben treat me? Do we bang?
Oh, yeah. We bang.
I blow out a breath.
I could go for one of those bangs right about now.
Except now that everyone knows…it feels even more awkward than when we were just keeping it a secret.
Ellie and Kate corner me on the deck a little later once the babies are tucked in.
My mother has gone to bed, and Jeb and the rest of the boys are playing poker.
I’m standing near the railing looking out into the dark forest, the only light from the moon as it bounces off the tops of some of the trees.
“So, tell us everything,” Ellie prods as she sidles up next to me.
I giggle.
“How did it start?” Kate asks from my other side.
I turn around and face the two of them rather than the woods. “To be honest, I wasn’t interested in him at all. He’s too old for me. He’s a football player. He can be a little, uh—”
“Caveman-ish?” Ellie supplies.
I giggle. “Well, yeah.”
“Who made the first move?” she asks.
“I’d say him. We started flirting at the family dinners, and it was innocent at first. But then he was really sweet when I came home from a bad date this one night, and he told me not all men would care that my brothers were both football stars.
It made me wonder if he was interested, and then the flirting kicked up a few notches and the rest is history. ”
Kate rolls her eyes. “That’s the worst explanation in the history of gossip sessions. Give us something, Kay.”
I laugh a little awkwardly. “What are you looking for?”
“Who made the first move?” Kate asks, repeating Ellie’s question from earlier but emphasizing a few key words.
“He finger banged me under your dining room table while the rest of you were occupied with trying to get JJ to say some vegetable,” I blurt.
Kate gasps and Ellie’s eyes widen.
I go for it. I tell them everything. These two have become my best friends, and these are the details you share with your best friends, right?
“It was hot and dirty, and he got me right there then he stopped and kept eating his taco. He just…left me on the edge. He met me up in my bedroom to finish the job in secret, and then we started talking more and more.”
“Whoa,” Kate murmurs.
“So hot,” Ellie agrees.
I glance between the two of them. “When you told us to fake date, we were already keeping our little secret.”
Ellie shakes her head. “Girl, I had my suspicions, but I had no idea you were so good at keeping secrets.”
I shrug. “I was scared of how Jack would react.”
“And I’d bet you were both nervous about the pressures that come with expectations from all of us,” Kate says, putting that old psychology degree to use.
“I love you guys dearly, but it was just so much simpler that way,” I say. “We would’ve kept it a secret even longer if Jack hadn’t found me in Ben’s room this morning.”
“But now you can have a wedding and you can kiss each other at the end knowing that your family supports this marriage,” Ellie says, slinging an arm around my shoulders.
“A real marriage, not just for show,” Kate adds.
“Yeah,” I murmur.
Why does the thought of all that suddenly make me really nervous?