Can we talk? No, we cannot fucking talk. There’s nothing to talk about. All we’d be able to talk about is all the things we weren’t, and what the hell is the point in talking about something that never mattered and never will?
I should have known better. I shouldn’t have expected a call from him six years ago, I shouldn’t have expected anything but more bullshit from him from the moment I joined the band, and I shouldn’t have expected this to end in anything but disaster.
I’m sorry too. Sorry for everything.
“She used to have this little Mattel four-wheeler,” my dad says. “Used to raise hell on that thing.”
“Ass naked,” Ryan adds, bringing me back to the present.
My dad chuckles. “Just her in her little diaper.”
I look down at Mason. “Is this really happening?”
He grins at me before turning toward the guys. “Who wants to see pictures?”
I punch him in the arm, and he pushes me off the chair.
“Dad,” Bryce says as I force my ass onto the cushion with Mason, “you should’ve seen her last night. She was amazing.”
When my mom calls us out for dinner, the conversation continues as we migrate to the dining room, drawn by my mom’s dinner-bell voice and the smell of a fifteen-pound turkey. Wooden chairs scrape against the hardwood floor as everyone seats themselves at the table that my mother set for eleven—with Shawn hijacking the spot right next to me. I ignore him and look anywhere else.
My mom is the last to sit down at the immaculately set table, her smile bright as she grins at the mess of overgrown boys stuffed into her dining room. “I just want to thank you kids for coming tonight. And for being so good to Kit. Even though I really think all of you need to eat better while traveling—”
“Mom,” I interject, and a few snickers sound throughout the room. Joel and Adam grin at my mom like she’s the best thing since fried cheese.
My mom takes my cue and gets back to her point. She raises her water glass. “To good friends and good food.”
Everyone raises a glass in a toast, and before mine is even back on the table, all four of my brothers stand at once to grab the best parts of the turkey. I chuckle as I catch Adam, Joel, and Mike sharing looks from my dad’s end of the table, but they catch on quick. Within seconds, we’re all on our feet except my dad, who waits for my mom to make him a plate, since she’s always liked waiting on him and he’s never minded it.
I circle the table to get some space from Shawn, but my plate fills up quickly, leaving me no choice but to sit back down at his side.
“Oh my Goddd,” Joel groans as he chews on his first bite of my mom’s turkey. “This is the best turkey I’ve ever had.”
She beams, and I catch Mason grinning approvingly. But then he catches me catching him, and he ditches the smile. “So, Adam, I kind of remember you from high school,” he says, and the fact that he’s talking at all means he’s up to no good.
“Oh yeah?” Adam asks. He’s seated between Joel and Ryan, reaching across the table to grab a dinner roll.
“Actually, I don’t think I remember you. I just heard a lot about you.”
Adam smirks like he knows what’s coming. “People like to talk.”
Undeterred, Mason continues prodding. “Yeah, they said a lot of things.”
My mom takes the bait, her brow furrowed as she washes down a bite of stuffing. “What kind of things?”
“Adam hooked up with practically every chick in school,” Bryce offers with unbridled admiration. I’d reach across the table and punch him in the head if I thought I could even make a dent in his caveman-thick skull.
“Oh . . . ” my mom says. She glances at me, and I sigh.
“Adam has a girlfriend now. So does Joel.”
“Does Van Erickson have a girlfriend?” Mason goads.
“Who’s Van Erickson?” my mom asks, but Joel is already chuckling and giving Mason an answer.
“He has tons of them.”
My mom starts asking who he is again, but Mason interrupts her. “Was one of them my sister?”
This time, Mike is the one to set his fork on his plate and stare at my brother like he’s an idiot. “Do you really think your sister would be Van Erickson’s groupie?”
“Thank you!” I say with my hands thrown dramatically in the air.
Ryan grins and finally answers my mom. “Van Erickson is some big rock star. Kit’s band opened for them a few days ago.”
“One of the biggest rock stars there is,” Kale adds to throw glitter on my parade. When I look at him, wondering how the hell the guys know about us opening for Van in the first place, Kale shrugs and swings his finger at all four of them. “They looked you up online. There is this thing called the Internet, you know.”
“She gave him a wet willy,” Shawn volunteers from beside me, and the entire table explodes with laughter.
I’m staring at Shawn, wondering why he’s acting like he’s proud of me or something, when Bryce shouts, “She did not!”
Shawn gives a half smile and nods. “Five seconds after meeting him.”
Even Mason laughs so hard he has to set his drumstick down. My dad joins in from the end of the table.