either,” Matt said.
Maura smiled. “Not a one.”
“Maura and Anne are twins. I was born next, Lizzie eleven months after me, and then Rachel last.”
“We surrounded him,” Anne said.
Kate had no doubt that they had… and still did to this day.
“Where are Todd and Jack?” Matt asked.
“Outside,” Lizzie said. “Hiding, I think.” She focused on Kate. “Todd and Jack are Maura and Anne’s husbands, respectively. They have coming to Spaghetti Tuesday but never really making it into the house down to an art.? san MauD;
Kate sat in the open chair in front of her.
“If you want to go hang outside with the guys, that’s fine,” she said to Matt.
“No way. I don’t trust anyone at this table not to fill you with lies about my youth.”
Rachel leaned forward, smiling conspiratorily at Kate. “Lies? Why would we have to bother with that when the truth is so entertaining?”
Matt smiled. “See what I mean? I’m going to go grab a beer.” He shot Rachel a mock stern look. “Try not to do too much damage while I’m gone.”
“So,” Anne said as soon as Matt had moved off. “Word at the market is that you and Matt went away for the weekend.”
Kate wondered if she was going to have to post a notice on the market bulletin board disclosing the truth of her nonrelationship with Matt.
“We were up in Traverse City for a day, but it was just business,” she said.
“Business?” Maura asked. “What business does Matt have in Traverse City?”
Yikes! She’d screwed up already. But in her defense, she never would have thought that his family didn’t know what he was doing.
“Well, sort of business. There were a couple of brewpubs he wanted to check out… a little comparison shopping, you know? Anyway, he asked me to go along. It was just a day trip.”
“I don’t know,” Rachel said. “It sounds like a date to me.”
Kate shook her head. “Trust me, it wasn’t. I’m not dating right now, anyway.”
“Why?” Maura asked.
“Maura! It’s none of our business,” Anne said. “But don’t let that stop you if you feel like answering, Kate.”
Kate laughed. She liked these women. In just minutes, she’d grown more comfortable with them than she was with her own sister, Bunny. Of course, Kate wasn’t in the position of constantly being held up for comparison to the Culhane sisters, as she was to Bunny. And despite the goofy name her sister chose to go by in lieu of Barbara, Bunny was one fierce competitor: top of her class, rainmaker in her law firm, and very strategically married. Kate had never measured up especially well.
And Mary Culhane’s story of Kate’s periwinkle-stationery-loving mother dancing on a tabletop had been a mindblower. Her family had been all about proper manners and proper clothing and proper country clubs and schools back in Grosse Pointe. The idea of Barb Appleton table dancing was as improbable as Kate becoming an astronaut.
Right now, Kate might as well have been on Mars. No, not Mars. This place was warmer and a whole lot more hospitable, but still just as foreign.
“I got divorced about a year ago. After that, I decided until I get the rest of my life in order, dating can wait. Plus, I tend to make some pretty atrocious decisions when it comes to men. I’ve got a whole lot of stupid to figure out.”
“Matt’s not an atrocious decision,” Lizzie said.
Kate gave a little involuntary smile. Lizzie was right. “Well, anyway, my life definitely isn’t in order.”
Matt returned from the kitchen with his beer and a tall glass of cola for Kate, then rounded the table to take the open chair at its head. “That’s my motto: Matt Culhane-he’s not atrocious.”
Lizzie laughed. “So just how much of our conversation did you catch?”
“Enough.” He took a swallow of his beer. “And to save Kate further embarrassment-and you guys a whole lot of extra snooping around-I do have a few business things going on in Traverse City. Remember that Tropicana Motor Inn that Mom and Dad would take us to?”
“Yes,” all the sisters chimed.
“I just wrapped up a purchase and renovation deal on it.”
Anne raised her eyebrows in amazement. “You bought the motel with the hokey flamingos painted on it? Now,
Maura scowled. “I like those flamingos!”
“So do I,” Matt said. “The place was sitting vacant, so I picked it up. And I’m just sharing this with you so you’ll get off Kate’s case about the two of us dating. And no more commentary about my flamingos or my dating choices, or I’ll start dredging up your old dates.”
Everyone was silent. No one wanted to discuss their dating history. It was Lizzie who changed the subject.
“Hey, isn’t that annual beer festival thing in Royal Oak coming up in a couple of weeks? You should take Kate along.”
Kate’s somewhat homesick heart jumped. “Royal Oak? Really? I used to live there.”
Matt nodded. “I remember you mentioning that.”
He turned to Lizzie. “I’m going, but I have my usual road crew coming along.”
“The groupies?” Lizzie asked.
“They’re not groupies,” Matt said, then gazed at his beer’s label. Kate supposed he was just admiring his dog’s smiling likeness.
“They follow you from event to event on their own money for the privilege of pouring your beer and hanging your banner. If that doesn’t make them groupies, I don’t know what does.”
“There is the sexual connotation,” Rachel said. “I don’t think that applies.” She paused, then added, “My university is teaching a class on the Grateful Dead as part of its cultural anthropology curriculum. Groupies would be an interesting topic, too.”
“Rachel is working on her master’s degree,” Anne said to Kate.
Matt looked just a little annoyed. “All the same, they’re not groupies. The thought of Harley and Junior as groupies could mess up a perfectly normal guy for life.”
“I could pour your beer and hang your banner,” Kate said.
“Actually, you can’t pour his beer off-site since you work for him,” Lizzie said before Matt could speak. “It’s against state law for microbrewers.”
Rachel pointed her finger at Lizzie. “Exactly. Which is why Matt has the groupies. Or sometimes one of us goes along, but with Maura due any second now, we’re not up for a road trip.”
“Other than Harley and Junior, who are your roadies, if I’m not allowed to call them groupies?” Lizzie asked.
“Mayor Mortensen and a couple of others have mentioned they’ll be there, though they plan to catch a Pistons game, too, so I’m not sure how much actual pouring help they’ll be.”
“I could at least hang your banner,” Kate said.
Anne smiled. “That definitely sounded suggestive.”
“Okay, here’s another thought,” Kate said. “I could sell Depot Brewing merchandise.”
“I don’t bring merchandise,” Matt said.
“You should,” Kate told him. “If you sold hats and tees downstate, you could really get your name out there.”
He nodded. “I’m betting you’re right.”
“Where in Royal Oak is the event?” she asked.
“In the Farmers’ Market building, downtown.”
“I used to work a few blocks east of there, on Washington Avenue.”
“One street away from most of the restaurants and bars, right?” Matt asked.
