What Happens Between Friends

Rose rounded her eyes. “It’s your birthday? Today? Why, that must’ve completely slipped my mind, which is strange as I’m usually good with dates and things. Oh...wait...” Frowning, she pressed her fingertips against her temples. “Is today the twenty-first? Because I’m getting this vague memory of being in labor on this date years ago for...let me see...”

“Twenty-nine and a half hours,” James, Eddie and Leo said in unison.

Rose’s hazel eyes gleamed, but her expression remained as serious as a heart attack. “Yes, that’s right. It’s all coming back to me now. Then again, it’s hard to forget twenty-nine—”

“And a half,” the brothers added.

“Twenty-nine and a half hours of excruciating pain. And that’s not even including pushing you—and your rather large head—out.”

Wincing, feeling more than a little sick to his stomach, James rubbed the back of his regular-size head. And conceded defeat. “I appreciate it. I think. Next year, I’m throwing you a party.”

“The flowers you send every year are more than enough, thanks.” She laid her hand on his arm. “Can’t you give Anne a chance? Just talk to her. Get to know her a bit. That’s all I’m asking.”

He sighed. He knew his mom wanted him settled. Married.

Hell, he wanted that, too. Wanted a family of his own, a wife in his bed, a couple of kids running around his house. He’d always figured it hadn’t happened yet because it wasn’t meant to, but that it would. Someday.

Since he had no control over when, exactly, that day would arrive, he didn’t bother worrying about it. It was useless, and a waste of energy, to fight the ebb and flow of life. Better to focus on keeping your head above water and just ride the waves out.

But maybe, this one time, he could try paddling and get where he was going faster.

Even if his mother was doing the steering.

“I’ll talk to her some more,” he said. What could it hurt? “But I’m not making any promises.”

“No promises. Got it.”

She hugged him. Looking over her head, James glanced at Leo who mouthed, “Sucker.”

James flipped him off.

“Leo,” Rose said as she broke the hug. “Please make another pot of coffee while Eddie and I take these trays out.”

“If you keep feeding people,” Eddie grumbled, “they’ll never leave.”

Rose handed him the coffee tray. “Your unsociable side is showing again.”

“Does he have any other side?” Leo asked.

“God, I hope so.” At the door, she looked back at James. “Don’t forget the wine.”

She swept out of the room, as regal as a queen, as formidable as a Navy SEAL.

“Yeah,” Leo said, rinsing the coffeepot. “And don’t forget the engagement ring.”

James stepped forward, ready to dunk his brother’s fat head under the running water, when his phone buzzed. He took it out, checked the caller ID. And, grinning, answered.

“Well, what do you know?” he said, crossing his ankles and leaning back against the counter. “It’s trouble come to call.”

Sadie Nixon laughed, the light, tinkling sound warm and as clear as if she was standing next to him. “I bet you say that to all the girls.”

“Only the ones who’ve earned it.”

“What’s life without a little trouble?”

“Peaceful.”

“I think the word you’re searching for is boring.”

“With you around? Never.”

“Flatterer. Now stop trying to charm me, I’m on a mission here. Guess where I’m at?”

“Jail?” he asked, earning him a curious glance from Leo.

“After that New Year’s Eve incident in D.C. you made me promise never to ask you to bail me out again, remember?”

“Hard to forget.” He’d left his date—a very friendly blonde—and driven the four and a half hours from Shady Grove, Pennsylvania, to D.C. in a blinding snowstorm. It had been worth it. Being with Sadie was always worth it. “Not jail, then.”

“You’ll never guess—”

“Then why did you ask me to?”

“—so I’ll just tell you....” He was surprised she didn’t tap out a drumroll during her drawn-out dramatic pause. “I’m in Shady Grove.”

“No kidding? You at your parents’ place?” Dr. and Mrs. Ellison had left the party less than an hour ago and they hadn’t said anything about Sadie coming home.

Then again, most of Sadie’s trips to Shady Grove were unexpected. She was like a summer storm—you never knew when she would strike or how long she would stick around. And when she took off on her next great adventure, it was as if you’d been swept up in a tornado, your head dizzy and aching, your thoughts and feelings twirling.

“No, I had a stop I wanted to make first. Say, when did your mom have that stone retaining wall put in out front?”

“Two years ago. Eddie, Leo and I did it for Mother’s—” He straightened. “Don’t move.”

He shut off the phone, stuffed it into his pocket and walked through the house toward the front door. If he happened to glance in the living room, just to see if Leo’s assessment of Anne’s legs was correct—it was—no one could fault him.

And while he had every intention of keeping his word to his mom, he kept walking. But he didn’t want Anne Forbes. No matter that his mother had deemed her future-wife material. What he wanted, what he’d always wanted, was outside right now waiting for him.

He wanted Sadie Nixon.

CHAPTER TWO

THE RAIN HAD stopped, and beyond the Montesanos’ two-story brick home, a crescent moon glowed brightly against the dark sky. In the driveway, parked behind a long line of cars—when Rose Montesano threw a party, she didn’t mess around—Sadie clicked off her phone.

“He’s coming,” she told Elvis, stroking his head, and his eyes squinted in pleasure. “I can’t wait for you to meet James. He’s the best.” The best friend a girl could ever have and the second greatest guy she’d ever known.

The number-one position was reserved for her father, the late, great Victor Nixon. Bigger than life and handsome as sin, he’d done more, seen more and had gotten more out of his thirty years than most people did who lived three times that long. Most importantly, he’d lived life on his own terms, thumbing his nose at his family’s wealth and rigid standards to forge his own path at the tender age of sixteen, following his dreams wherever they took him.

He’d taught her that each day was an adventure waiting to be experienced.