Rob laughed. “Or are you just worried that Matt’s so bad athis job of handling your finances that you have to be extra careful?”
“I’m great at my job,” I said and threw a pillow at him.
Rob caught it and stuck his tongue out at me.
“Actually, I have to admit it,” James said. “You are great atit, Matt. My portfolio is insane. And it’s insane that I just said thatsentence out loud. When did we get so old?”
“Speak for yourself,” Kennedy said. “Matt, Rob, and I arepractically still teenagers. Sorry, Tanner, I have no idea how old you are.”
“Older than I look,” he said.
“Hmm.” Kennedy scrunched her mouth to the side as she staredat him. “Let me guess…37?”
Tanner laughed.
“He’s just messing with you, Kennedy,” Rob said. “Tanner’syounger than all of us. He’s only 28. Which is why it’s extra annoying that hecalls me Young Robert.”
“Maybe if you acted a little more mature, Young Robert…”
Rob pelted the pillow at Tanner’s head.
Tanner caught it in his hand before it collided with hisface.
“Seriously,” Kennedy said. “Why don’t the two of you getalong? You have the same sense of humor…”
“As Robert?” Tanner asked. “We’ve been over this. Never.”
“Never,” Rob said.
Kennedy laughed. “You two literally just agreed on something.”
“Never,” Rob and Tanner both said at the same time and thenglared at each other.
“Well, I certainly won’t be using that word again,” Tannersaid.
“Just say nunca,” I said.
Kennedy smiled up at me.
“Anyone want another drink?” Tanner asked. “Kennedy, will youcome help me?” He wandered into the kitchen before she had a chance to respond.
“I feel like I’ve been summoned,” Kennedy whispered to me.
“Just ignore him.”
She smiled. “It’s important for your friends to like me.” Herface flushed again. “I mean, just so that we can all be friends. I’ll be rightback.” She followed Tanner into the kitchen.
What the hell was he going to say to her?
James and Rob’s phones started buzzing at the same time.
They looked at each other and sighed.
“Probably something with the kids,” James said. “I gotta takethis.”
“Me too,” Rob said.
They both answered their phones and wandered out of the room.
“So…” Mason said as he stared at me. “Does Kennedy haveanything to do with your good mood last night?”
“You heard her,” I said. “We’re just friends.”
“Huh.”
I laughed. “What?”
“Nothing.” He folded his arms in front of his chest. “It’s justthat the two of you were pretty close years ago. I always wondered if maybethere was something more there.”
There hadn’t been before. She was just the only person whounderstood what I was going through. But now? It was actually exactly like Tannerhad said. People changed. Circumstances changed. I was wondering if he had beentalking more to me than he was to Kennedy. “Can you keep a secret?” I asked.
“Probably not.”
I shook my head. It didn’t matter. I was pretty sure it was allover my face. And I’d already told my mom. I was surprised she hadn’t called Masonyet with the good news. “I think I’m falling for her.”
Mason didn’t say anything for a long moment. “Can you keep asecret?”
“Better than you can because Bee won’t be bugging me aboutit.”
He laughed. “I always thought you and Kennedy might gettogether. I was hoping you would, actually. She gets it.”
She did. I think there was a part of me that always realizedthat. And now that she was finally here? All I wanted was to be close to her.
“And she’s a cool girl,” Mason said. “I’ve always gottenalong well with her. I think Bee would like her too.”
“Yeah. I think she would.” I shook my head. “Wait, that’syour secret? That you’ve been secretly wanting me and Kennedy to get togetherall these years?”
“No. My secret is that you should fall a little faster. Becausemy kid’s going to want a best friend. And he’s going to be younger than allJames and Rob’s kids, so I need you to step up.”
“Bee’s pregnant?”
He laughed. “Not yet. But we’re going to start trying.”
“That’s awesome.” A few weeks ago, this would have been theworst news ever. But it didn’t feel like bad news tonight. Because I wasn’tstuck anymore. I knew what I wanted. I smiled as I heard Kennedy’s laughterfilter into the great room. I wanted her. “Wait, but you said ‘he’?”
“Yeah, I’m planning on having all boys.”
“I don’t think that’s something that you can just decide.”
“Just watch and learn. I’m much too masculine to have a girl.”He raised his beer bottle.
“That’s definitely not how it works.”
“We’ll see.”
Despite Mason’s flawed logic, I was going to be an uncle. Areal one. Not that Scarlett, Liam, Sophie, and RJ didn’t count. But this was a bigdeal. “That’s going to be you soon then,” I said and gestured over to James andRob who were most likely talking to their wives.
“What do you think is wrong?” he asked.
“I’m guessing someone has a tummy ache.”
“Hmm…maybe. But I’m thinking Liam pulled Sophie’s hairagain.”
I laughed. “The audacity of that little baby to pullpigtails.”
Mason shook his head. “Want to bet on it? Loser drinks allthose shots,” he said.
I looked over to see Kennedy and Tanner walking back into theroom. They were each carrying a few shots in their hands.
I had a feeling tonight was about to get significantly moreinteresting. “Deal,” I said to Mason.
Chapter 40
Friday
Kennedy’s eyes locked with mine as she put the shots down onthe coffee table. I was wondering what she and Tanner had been talking about inthe kitchen. But it couldn’t be bad, because she looked really happy. I found mygaze wandering to her lips.
She sat down next to me, closer than before. “What?” shewhispered.
“Nothing.”
She shook her head with a smile. “Anyone want another drink?”Kennedy asked. “Tanner tried to convince me to play spin the bottle, but I hadto explain the rules to him. Because he didn’t seem to realize that whenthere’s only one girl it’ll end up being some boy-on-boy action.”
Tanner laughed. “I’ve never played before.”
“It’s okay,” Kennedy said. “I never played before either. Iwas super lame in high school too.”
“Right,” agreed Tanner. “That’s exactly why I don’t know whatit was
