“Violet, please,” Lily said, sighing.
Beside her, Nick laughed in surprise. They were waiting for Iris to pick them up from the train station in Willow Ridge. During the entire ride from New York, Violet had told them the whole story about Meela Baybee, Eddy’s newest client. Violet had met Meela months ago when she’d been the opening act for one of Karamel Kitty’s shows. Meela had a decent singing voice and a drive for success, but she’d desperately needed a better look, so Violet had swooped in and changed her image. Meela, who used to wear tacky neon body-con dresses, now had a large and devoted following full of Gen Zers who praised her skintight snakeskin biker shorts and the playful pastel nipple pasties she wore under mesh sleeveless tops during each performance. And it had all been Violet’s idea. It had also been Violet’s idea to connect Meela with Eddy, since Meela’s previous manager had been her cousin, who booked her only at venues that were so small, crowds inevitably broke out into fights because there wasn’t enough space to dance. In the weeks since, all of Eddy’s attention had been focused on launching Meela. That meant things like wedding planning, their parents’ annual July 15th birthday barbecue, and joining Violet to live out her sexual fantasies, fell to the wayside when Meela needed him to attend a haircare line partnership meeting.
“He said he would try to fly in later tonight,” Lily pointed out, noticing that Violet was growing increasingly upset. It was unlike her to be so agitated over a man. “He might still make it.”
“I hope so. He kept disappearing in the middle of conversations at our engagement party to take calls and handle a situation with one of his clients. This is another chance for our family to get to know him. We’re getting married in less than a month.”
Violet let out a sigh and leaned on the extended handle of her large suitcase, which was filled with clothes for the annual barbecue fashion show. Violet was wearing a sleeveless white silk tank and white wide-legged pants. Her hair was blown out, and somehow there wasn’t a strand out of place in the July heat. Lily felt like a camp counselor beside her glamourous sister. She was wearing a simple orange sundress. In this weather, she hadn’t dared do more with her curls than smooth them back into a topknot.
“Maybe he’s trying to surprise you,” Nick offered helpfully. He wore a short-sleeve white button-up. It was the most dressed up Lily had ever seen him. He was holding a tin of cupcakes because he’d refused to show up to her parents’ house empty-handed. Apparently, he’d borrowed the recipe from Henry. Lily tried not to read too deeply into this thoughtful act.
“Maybe,” Violet said, still frowning. She eyed Nick’s cupcakes. “Can I have one of those? I’m hangry.”
Nick could barely get out, “Sure,” before Violet reached over and removed the lid, grabbing a chocolate cupcake for herself. She bit into it and let out a moan. “What did you put in this? Cocaine?”
“N-no,” Nick stuttered. “Just flour, sugar, milk, butter, eggs and cocoa powder.”
“Please ignore her,” Lily said. “She says whatever comes to her mind. It’s best if you just don’t respond.”
Violet nodded, mouth full. “She’s right. I have no filter. This cupcake is delicious, though. You should be on that baking show with those nice British people.”
“Thanks.” His lips turned up in a shy-yet-pleased smile. He offered the tin to Lily. “Want to try one?”
Lily nodded, reaching eagerly. Then Iris’s black Mercedes pulled up in front of them, and Lily retracted her hand. “I’ll try one later. Iris hates when people eat in her car.”
“Sorry, I’m late,” Iris said, rolling down her window and unlocking her doors. Lily took Nick’s cupcakes while he grabbed Violet’s suitcase and placed it in the trunk. Violet wordlessly plopped down in the passenger seat while Lily and Nick sat in the back.
Iris pivoted around and looked at Nick, giving him a quick, analyzing sweep with her eyes. “You must be Nick. I’m Iris.”
“Nice to meet you,” Nick said as Iris took his hand in a very businesslike handshake.
“Nice to meet you too.” She flashed a brief smile at Lily and turned to Violet. “So where’s Big Time Eddy?”
Lily held back a snort and Violet groaned. A couple weeks ago while the three sisters had been on FaceTime, they’d heard Eddy in Violet’s background on the phone with someone saying, “Of course they want to work with me. I’m big time.” Now it was his official nickname.
“Here you go, starting already,” Violet said. “Eddy isn’t coming.”
“Well, that’s a shame.” Iris started the car and glanced at Nick in her rearview mirror. “I hope you’re up for some good old Greene family fun.”
Nick smiled, but he scratched the back of his neck. Lily noticed that it was something he did fairly often. Maybe he was nervous. He’d have to summon all of his extroverting powers to survive the day. She was nervous for him to meet her family, and she didn’t know why. It wasn’t like he was her boyfriend or something.
The women in Lily’s family basically fawned over Nick. You would think she’d never brought a man home to meet them before! Well . . . actually, she hadn’t.
As soon as they walked into the backyard, Lily’s mom and aunts flocked to them like bees to pollen.
“Oh, who is this? Lily’s boyfriend?”
“What a handsome fella you are!”
“Oh, you smell so good! What kind of cologne is that? I need to buy it for my husband.”
“Ooh, he’s got muscles! Feel those biceps!”
“Lily, where have you been hiding this fine man?!”
Lily wished that the ground would open up and swallow her.
“This is Nick, our neighbor,” she explained, angling herself in front of her aunt Doreen, who was busy feeling up Nick’s arm. “We’re just friends.”
“It’s nice to meet y’all,” Nick said, flashing a charming smile.
The realization that there was no romantic entanglement between Lily and Nick dulled the excitement, but Lily knew her aunts would be gossiping about them later.
The Greene clan was spread out across the patio and backyard. Lily’s dad was on grill duty, and his old boom box was behind him, blasting the throwback R&B radio station. Lily’s cousins in her generation were all boys, which meant she and her sisters had teamed up to do a lot of fighting as kids. Now her cousins’ children ran in between the adults and some were jumping on the trampoline that Lily’s parents had bought for Calla.
“You made cupcakes for us? How sweet,” Dahlia said to Nick, ushering him inside the house. Lily followed behind with Violet, while Iris went to check on Calla at the trampoline.
“The cupcakes are good too, addictively so,” Violet said as they entered the kitchen. “He laced them with drugs.”
“What?” Dahlia turned to Nick, confused.
“Ma’am, I promise you that there are no drugs in the cupcakes,” Nick said quickly.