I didn’t even try to stop my laugh as Georgia grumbled, “Oh, for fuck’s sake.”
Kline wrapped his arm around her shoulder as her mom, Savannah, followed in Dick’s footsteps, clad in nothing but a string bikini. Cassie tucked her face into my chest to hide her laughter. She might have even snorted, but when I looked at her, she pointed down at Phil.
“It was the pig.”
“Hey there, Kline!” Dick greeted with excitement, slapping him on the shoulder first, then his back, and then finally pulling him into a tight man-hug. Their little father-son-in-law bromance never got old.
“Thatch, Cassie,” he acknowledged when he finally released Kline, and then wrapped Georgia in a hug. “This is some shindig, huh? Not Maur’s usual charity scene.”
I glanced around the neon spectacle. “Yeah, I don’t think the crusty upper-class crowd is happy about it, but it seems to be a big hit.”
There were more people here than I’d ever seen at one of these things, and the atmosphere was really fucking cool. Glowing shirts and neon-looking water all the way down a giant Slip’N Slide that had to be five hundred feet long. There was nothing adults—especially ones like me—liked more than acting like a big fucking kid. Doing it for the good of someone else was even better.
“Thank fuck,” Dick snapped. “Only so many times I can sit through one of those fucking hoity-toity dinners.”
“Dad!” Georgia scolded.
“Hey, I’m with Dick,” I said, and Cassie agreed, “Me too.”
I raised an innuendo-filled eyebrow. Savannah noticed. “Wow. There’s some really great sexual energy between you two.”
I smiled, but Cassie didn’t stop there. She never did. “That’s because we’re banging like bunnies.” When other people got embarrassed, Cassie became emboldened. It was so fucking sexy.
“Fantastic!” Savannah shouted. Dick held out his knuckles for me to give him a pound, and Georgia dropped her head into her hands. “Why me, God?”
“Baby,” Kline said through a laugh, tucking her into his chest.
“Where’s your mom, Kline?” Savannah asked. “I want to say hi.”
“She’s here somewhere,” he muttered. All our eyes scanned the surrounding crowd to see if we could find her, but really, it was like looking for a little piece of conservative fluff in a giant lint ball.
“Oh!” Cassie pointed out, completely defying the odds. “There she is.”
“Maureen!” Dick yelled loudly. I shook my head and looked to the ground. “Here! Here! Over here, Maur!” Kline’s mom struggled to lock on to the face in the crowd calling her name.
“Goddamn these crowds,” Dick grumbled.
Cassie let go an ear-piercing whistle that silenced the entire crowd and made them turn to us. Maureen’s eyes found the group along with everyone else’s.
“I knew there was a reason I liked you, other than your rack,” Dick told Cassie.
Georgia sighed. “Oh, Dad.”
Cassie didn’t mind at all. “Thanks, Dick.”
I pulled her a little closer, and she laughed. Phil tugged on his leash occasionally but mostly just rooted around at everyone’s ankles. Normally, Kline would have reacted, but I guess a horse-sized dog and his asshole feline lover had really desensitized him to animal distractions.
Bob caught up to Maureen just as she shuffled over to the group.
“Good job on the one-dollar beers, Maur,” Bob said, lifting his cup in salute.
“Are you already drinking?” Maureen asked, aghast. “I still have things for you to do.”
“Relax. I’ll do them. But you can’t get a one-dollar beer anywhere anymore!”
“I know a place,” I put in, and Kline shook his head. Probably at the image of Bob and me out on the town together.
Bob wasn’t deterred, pointing to me with pizazz. “You’re on.”
“Bob, please,” Maureen said. “Can you keep your eyes on the prize?”
“Uncle Thatch!” I heard the scream just as a little body ran into the backs of my legs. Handing the leash to Cass, I turned and picked up my favorite girl. I had a favorite woman now too.
“Hey, hey, Princess Mila. Where are your mom and dad?” I asked just as Frankie and Claire came into view. She pointed anyway. The crowd was thick, and they didn’t have the same ability to run through people’s legs.
“She took off as soon as she saw you,” Claire huffed, out of breath, as they made it to us.
I smiled and looked at Mila. “You ready to do your slide thing, girlfriend?”
“I’m not your girlfriend,” she laughed. “Aunt Cassie is!”
“Who’s this?” Bob interjected.
“I’m Mila,” she said in answer. “I’m six years old, and those are my parents.” She pointed at Claire and Frankie. “I used to think I was gonna be a school crossemguard, but now I want to take pictures like my Aunt Cassie.”
“She better wait a few years to take pictures like you,” I whispered into Cassie’s ear, picturing the half-naked men, and she smirked.