“Exactly.” I point my beer at him.
“Does Phoebe know about your grand life plans for her?” Mac questions.
“I’m pretty sure she does,” I vacillate.
“You should probably tell her,” Mac provides, then frowns. “Jesus, I’m like a broken record; that’s the exact line I kept saying to Brian about Trista.”
“You really are the only functioning adult sitting at this table.” Brian chuckles. “God knows how that happened.”
“Probably has something to do with me having to be a functional adult since I was about six,” Mac ponders.
“Sounds like there’s a story there,” I observe, pushing my shot to Brian when I see him eyeing it.
“How long do you have?” Mac quips, and I lean back in my chair.
“I have all night,” I reply, signaling for a food menu. “And I’m all ears.”
Chapter Eighteen
Phoebe
The three of us are sitting on the porch, enjoying some hot cocoa. Leanne had taken Bodie to bed hours ago, probably falling asleep with him.
“You look good, Phoebs,” Zoe observes, looking me over. “You seem relaxed. You’ve been so stressed out since you moved to New York.”
“Would you believe me if I told you I’m considering staying?” I bite my lower lip. “And not even because of Andy. I like it here, and I love working with Gabe.”
“You know, Leanne was so excited about the inn that you never did tell us what’s going on with you and Andy,” Trista points out.
“Because I don’t know.”
“Have you slept with him yet?” Zoe asks.
“No.”
“Kissed him?”
“Once.”
“Was it good?”
“Oh my God, so good,” I groan. “If we would have had condoms, I probably would have answered yes to your first question as well.”
“Oh, do tell.” Trista and Zoe both perk up, clutching their cocoas.
“Please don’t,” Brian grimaces as he wobbles up the stairs.
“Are you drunk?” I blink at him, wondering what mayhem my idiot brother caused.
“So drunk,” he affirms, plopping on the bench next to Trista and dropping his head onto her lap.
“Are you going to puke?” she asks with worry.
“Not that drunk,” he declares with a finger in the air.
“He may be that drunk.” Mac laughs, following Brian onto the porch. “He drank his vengeance tonight, and Andrew’s been cordially invited to breakfast.”
“‘Drank his vengeance?’” I lift an eyebrow, watching Mac easily lift Zoe and sit back down with her in his lap.
“Lola opened Andrew a tab at the bar,” he explains.
“Ah. Was that instead of the face-punching?” I ask hopefully, deflating when Brian shows me his bruised knuckles.
“He wants to marry you,” Brian informs me through a yawn.
“I know,” I reply.
“Do you want to marry him?” he asks, his eyes seem eerily focused all of a sudden.
“I don’t know.”
“Okay.” He yawns again. “Let me know if I need to punch him again.”
“No more punching!” I order.
“Fine. I didn’t really like it anyway,” he mutters, his eyes already drifting shut.
“Okay, Mike Tyson, let’s get you to bed.” Trista pushes Brian up and pulls him to a standing position. “See you guys in the morning.”
“Night, hun.” We wave her off and sit in silence for a while before I turn to Mac.
“What do you think?” I question, and Mac takes a deep breath.
“He’s a good guy, Phoebs,” Mac starts. “And he genuinely seems to care about you.”
“But?”
“But you guys still have a lot of stuff to air out,” Mac replies carefully.
“You mean there’s still a lot he isn’t telling me,” I interpret, and Mac just shrugs.
“I like him, Phoebe,” Mac says. “And I can tell Brian likes him too, despite his best efforts to be all over-protective older brother.”
“He really sucks at that,” Zoe grumbles, leering at Mac. “At least he got around to punching Andy before breaking open a bottle of tequila with him.”
“But none of that should matter,” Mac continues, ignoring Zoe’s reference to when he broke up with her last year. “And you’re smart enough to know that without me having to tell you.” He raises an eyebrow, and I nod with a sigh.
“I do,” I assure him. “Just makes it easier if I decide to go for it.”
“Please,” Zoe snorts. “You’ve already decided to go for it, you’re just enjoying torturing him.”
“He kind of deserves it,” Mac points out with a chuckle.
“Yeah, it’s only a matter of time before the self-torture aspect of it gets to be too much for me to handle, though.” I laugh.
“Okay, I think it’s time we all go to sleep, we have breakfast to cook in the morning and then shopping, and finally—it’s party time!” Zoe bounces with excitement.
“True.” I smile at my best friend. “You guys have all you need in the inn?”
“We do. Leanne took care of it,” Mac reassures me. “She’s really good at this.”
“She is, isn’t she?” I fall into contemplative silence.
“Oh, boy,” Zoe quips. “You’re brewing up a crazy plan, aren’t you?”
“I don’t know. Maybe,” I mumble, deep in thought.
“Just don’t stay up too late, okay?” Zoe laughs and kisses my cheek.
“Night, Phoebs.” Mac squeezes my shoulder and follows Zoe to the inn.
“It’s not crazy, it’s absolutely brilliant,” I say to no one in particular after a few minutes. “Now, I just have to convince everyone else.”
Andy
If the commotion from the kitchen hadn’t clued me in to where the action was, the heavenly smells coming from it were a dead giveaway. Following my nose, I walk in to find Mac busy at the stoves and oven, while Zoe and Phoebe chatter away happily as they slice vegetables.
“Good morning,” I announce my arrival, and Zoe drops her knife with a squeal, running to me for a tight hug.
“Jesus, Andy, where did all these muscles come from?” she laughs.
“It’s good to see you too, Zo.” I tighten my embrace for a second, then release her. “You look great.”
“Thank you.” She smiles at me sweetly before resuming her chopping duties.
“Happy birthday, Curls.” I bend down to kiss her cheek, and she grabs my chin, turning my face sideways and rolling her eyes at the bruise left there by Brian. “Where’s Leanne?”
“Bodie was getting bored, so she took him out to the garden to burn some energy,” Phoebe answers, dumping her pile of cucumbers into a bowl. “They’ll be back in a few, which reminds me, I should probably go wake Trista and Brian up.”
“I’ll resume chopping duties.” I salute and grab a tomato, placing it on the wooden board. “Everything smells amazing, Mac.”