Aric smirked. “I’ve always had a way with the ladies.”
Zoe shot him a look, although there was little bite to the expression. “Keep in mind, we’ve done the math since, and I was pregnant when he made the offer.”
“Even though they weren’t married,” Sami offered. “Dad says I can’t even look at a boy until I’m forty but he knocked up Mom before they were married. Heck, they weren’t even engaged.”
Aric jabbed a finger at her. “That’s neither here nor there.”
“We were kind of engaged,” Zoe countered. “I knew he had a ring. He just wouldn’t give it to me.”
“Oh, don’t say it like that,” Aric complained. “It makes me look bad. You got an outstanding proposal.”
“Which is not the point of the story,” Zoe noted when she glanced at Cormack and took in his frown. “The point is, he was willing to take me away from Aric even though I had no idea Sami was on the way. He was willing to take her from her father so he would never know what happened, or the true scope of what he’d lost.”
“I don’t want to make excuses for him, but he doesn’t understand human emotions,” I argued. “He wasn’t trying to be cruel. He’s just pragmatic to a fault.”
“He is,” Zoe agreed. “The second time he showed up we were fighting for our lives. He gave us a cryptic warning. Then, the next day, I was shot by an old roommate.”
Aric’s expression twisted. “I don’t like this story,” he groused.
Zoe ignored him. “I was dying on the pavement and he did insert himself into the situation, but just enough to give Sami a nudge. He’s not a bad guy — I’m not saying that. He’s also not going to think out the best solution for everyone involved. We need to do that ourselves.”
Cormack cocked his head, considering. “What do you suggest?”
“I don’t know. I need to think. It’s obvious we need to go to that party. That’s where the answers are going to be. They’re expecting us, which means it’s going to be a trap. We have to upend their trap and set one of our own.”
“That means we’re all going to have to work together,” Cormack noted. “That means you need to work as part of a team instead of acting as if you’re the queen of the world.”
Zoe offered him a rueful smile. “I’m well aware. I won’t let what happened earlier happen again. You’ve got my word.”
“That’s all I ask.”
The table drifted into silence as everybody started grabbing taco fixings and burritos. Sami was the one who broke it.
“If you ever tell that diarrhea story again, I’m going to throw piranha in your hot tub when you’re not looking,” she warned her parents.
They shot her twin smiles of adoration.
“That’s the best threat you’ve come up with in weeks,” Zoe said. “Good job.”
“I’m being serious.”
“That’s what makes it such a good threat. Now, eat your dinner. I might want to pick that demented brain of yours later.”
Sami brightened. “I am good at torturing people.”
“You have a unique ability,” Zoe agreed. “Dinner first, though.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. One day, just you watch, I’m going to eat ice cream for dinner and there’s nothing you’re going to be able to say about it because I’ll be an adult.”
“Won’t that be a fun day?”
“You have no idea.”
Twenty-Four
Everyone moved to the game room after dinner. The Grimlock boys immediately launched a pool tournament — Aidan and Cillian versus Braden and Redmond — and the trash-talking was out of control. Griffin planted himself with Aisling and Jerry on the round couch in the middle of the room and helped Aisling pick songs for the jukebox on her phone, and Zoe and Aric played darts.
That left Cormack, Sami, and me to talk at the bar, with Cormack doling out drinks and serving as entertainment for the teenager.
“What will it be, little lady?” he asked Sami with the tip of an invisible hat.
She giggled, amused, and then glanced around. “What can I have?”
“Juice,” Aric called out from the board as he collected the darts, swooping in to give Zoe a kiss as they whispered and giggled. They were apparently feeling romantic because there was a lot of hair stroking and small touches. Seeing them so in love with one another so deep in their marriage made me happy. They had the sort of relationship that most people could only dream about.
“They’re so gross,” Sami said darkly when she realized I was watching her parents. “Do you know they dance in the backyard when they think I’m asleep? Aunt Paris calls it foreplay. I think it’s disgusting.”
Cormack chuckled as he filled a glass with ice and added 7-Up. He topped it off with three splashes of grenadine and several maraschino cherries before pushing the drink to her. “You’re going to learn to relish what they’ve taught you at a certain point.”
“And what’s that?” Sami sipped from her straw and then grinned. “Um ... yum. Can I get drunk off this?”
“Just a sugar high.”
“That’s the same thing. I’ve seen my mom drunk and she acts the same way she does after she’s eaten an entire pint of Phish Food ice cream. My dad thinks she’s funny.”
“They love each other,” Cormack noted. “Why doesn’t that make you happy?”
“Because they’re gross. Everyone in my class makes fun of them. Two summers ago they were watching me at summer camp — there was this zombie thing that was happening — and they totally did it in the car.”
Cormack didn’t bother to hide his chuckle. “Did what?”
Her expression turned cloudy. “You know.”
“How do you know I know?”
“Because you’ve got a million kids running around this house that look just like you. You definitely know.”
“Ah.” He laughed harder. “How do you know what they were doing?”
“Because all my friends turned into zombies and attacked and they had to rush in to save me
