Two Bar Mitzvahs (18 page)

“What about piña coladas? I know you’ve had strawberry daiquiris,” Kiki replied.

Hannah took a sip of my beer. “I’ve experimented plenty with drinks.”

Mom walked up with their guests. “Hannah, these are our friends and direct neighbors Lana and Kevin Thompson. And this is Walter and Amy Rivers; they live around the block.”

“Nice to meet you.” Hannah gave a little wave, since all the chairs and people between them made it impossible to shake hands.

Although Dad could’ve grilled something as pretentious as steaks, we didn’t roll that way. Not at our house. Dad wined and dined any day, and many nights, for business. But he never brought any of that flash beyond the front gate at the curb. Our home was his sanctuary, a casual place filled with laughter and love.

And so Dad shouted out the menu choices, “All the burgers with cheese, say aye.”

“Aye,” I called.

“Aye,” Kristen added.

“Any hot dog takers?”

Kendall, Lana, Jason, Kevin, and I all called out an affirmative. Kendall returned to the table with Hannah’s tropical drink, complete with an hourglass-shaped glass, a blue drink umbrella, and a wedge of orange dangling on the rim.

Impressed with the presentation, I arched a brow. “You looking for a job at the bar?”

Kendall scrunched her face at me.

I laughed. “Could’ve fooled me. That’s a five-star looking drink.”

“Pffft.” Kendall plopped into a seat across from us.

Kristen began to pass around two platters, one with burgers and the other with toasted buns. “When have you ever seen us blend a drink without dressing it up?”

I thought back, realizing Kristen was right. In fact, we’d all been making mixed drinks since we were tall enough to work at the counter without tipping over the glassware, long before we were old enough to drink them. It was a game we played when Mom and Dad were entertaining. And somehow their cute kids playing bartender had turned into amusement for the guests. “You’re right. Totally forgot about that.”

Kristen snorted. “No wonder why you wanted to open your own bar and tend behind it.”

“Kendall, help me with the rest of the food,” Mom called from the kitchen door.

I got up. “I’ll help too.”

Hannah scooted back, but I shook my head. “Stay here. Relax and keep an eye on Ava. She’ll keep calm if you’re here.”

We returned with the side dishes, Mom and Kendall with bowls of chips and dips, me with a watermelon half filled with melon balls. Several conversations were underway already, my Dad and Kevin in a friendly debate over the proposed shopping mall a few blocks down. Ava had found a quiet spot in the shade under her lounger and had sprawled out for a nap.

At our three umbrella tables, our family caught up with one another and neighbors gossiped. Kevin mentioned admiring Clinton Iverson’s new Bugatti Veyron. Mom whispered the news about David Stewart’s new twenty-something wife.

When the food had been eaten, the gossip topics exhausted, and the energy dwindled down, we said good-bye to the neighbors. I purposefully hung back with Hannah and Ava for a few minutes before the rental trucks started to arrive for the party setup. I glanced at Hannah who sipped the last of her second mai tai.

“Well, what do you think?” I tilted my head, watching her peaceful expression.

Her gaze drifted down to her pale orange drink. “It’s okay. Not my favorite.”

Leaning in to brush a kiss on her cheek, I chuckled. “No, silly, my family. You were a little nervous when we drove up here. How about now?”

She blinked. “I totally forgot I’d even been concerned.” A smile tugged at her lips as she looked up toward the house where everyone had disappeared. “I think I might love your family.”

Stretching my arms up and locking my fingers together behind my head, I laughed. I let my ass slide down in the seat and crossed my feet on the chair seat opposite me. “All signs indicate they definitely love you.”

Snorting a cute puff of air from her nose, she shook her head. “I still can’t believe you tossed me in the pool.”

I scoffed, unapologetic. “You needed that icebreaker. And with the entire cheering section goading us on, I knew you wouldn’t be completely mortified. Think of it as a family initiation.”

“Next time, warn a girl.” She gave my shoulder a light shove. “So I guess I’m officially a Michaelson?”

The words came out of her mouth before she realized what they meant. I blamed it on her double dose of mai tais that I’m sure contained enough alcohol to impair her judgment and loosen her filters. ‘Officially’ a Michaelson meant taking our name—which involved proposals and weddings.

But her lighthearted demeanor told me she hadn’t made the mental connection. And to make sure her thoughts didn’t stray from her warm-and-fuzzy happy place, I chuckled. “Oh, yeah. You’re a Michaelson alright, baptized by pool water, christened in the shower, and adopted while barbequing.”

I lifted my beer. “Raise up that ‘okay mai tai,’ Maestro.”

With a big smile beaming on her face, she grabbed her glass with the orange slice dangling from its rim.

“To new families and the security in knowing that with love, an entire army will always have your back.”
No matter what obstacles we faced.

Hannah’s smile widened. And I swear her happiness brightened an already sunny day—burned right through all the nonsense that had clouded our morning.

***

After stowing Ava safely away in her crate for a nap, we went down to the kitchen to help with the last of the cleanup. I took over wash duty from Mom. Kendall tossed Hannah a clean dish towel, then joined my other two sisters, who sorted through Mom’s serving pieces, deciding which items they wanted to use for the party. The rest would be purchased for pennies on the dollar from a restaurant supply store, who’d committed to Kristen to stay open this afternoon by private appointment.

Before we’d dried the last platter, 3:00 p.m. rolled around and the gate buzzed, signaling the rental trucks had arrived. Kristen ran off to the control panel to let them in. Then she rushed through the kitchen again and out the back door.

I took the platter from Hannah and set it on the granite countertop. “That’s our cue. Showtime.”

Two paneled trucks drove across the lawn and parked where Kristen directed them. Two-man teams began unloading dozens of chaise lounges and half as many market umbrellas. Huge concrete pots were brought out as well, then positioned in an alternating pattern, one in an empty space behind every few chairs.

Gardeners descended onto the pots, adding soil and planting assorted flowers into each one. After about forty minutes, all the chairs had been positioned and the gardeners had begun hosing down the tables and umbrellas, the cushions and chairs, and finally the decking around the pool.

Hannah nudged up beside me, smiling. “Those pots have snapdragons.”

Even though my sunglasses were dark, I could see the brilliant colors. “It was one of two requests I made to the gardeners.”

She tilted her head. “What was the other?”

“Purple pansies. Mom’s favorite.”

“Awww, how sweet.”

I wrapped an arm around her. “I take care of my girls.”

She leaned in, resting her head on my shoulder as we stood in the shade, watching the last of the activity. “None of your family is doing anything tonight, on the actual Fourth of July?”

I shook my head. “We’ve never been big on crowds. And we need a good night’s rest to handle the nonstop craziness that will happen for the party tomorrow.”

“So really, there’s nothing for you and I to do today, other than make sure everything gets put in its proper place?”

Taking her hand, I led her down toward the pool area. The breeze picked up, and the fading sun made the temperature perfect. “Exactly. We oversee the client’s vision to ensure that what we ordered arrives, and the way we imagined things actually occurs.”

Hannah ran a finger across the top of the cushion on a chaise, the back of which rested at a perfect forty-five degree angle to match the rest in line, down the length of the pool. “Where did all the lounge chairs, tables, and umbrellas come from? They’re a perfect match to the existing terra-cotta cushions and tan furniture.”

I nodded as I scanned the pool area to take in the sixty-five chairs, thirty on each side and five in the middle at the end, spaced into wide groupings of two and four. “They’re a perfect match because it’s all their furniture. When Mom bought the collection a few years back, she bought enough for parties just like this, and she stores the extra pieces between events. She only throws one or two parties a year and wants things informal when it’s family and a few neighbors.”

Hannah blinked. “Right. Informal.”

I chuckled as I roped my arm around her shoulder again and turned us back toward the house. We passed one of the planted pots that overflowed with flowers. “The pots are new this year. She may keep them, not sure.”

Hannah paused in her step.

Trying not to laugh, I nudged her forward. “Go on. I know you want to.”

I sighed, enjoying these quiet stolen moments we had together, away from the hectic pace of business, protected from the nastiness of exes. The weekend had only begun, but all the tension and stress that had been plaguing us had already washed away.

Leaning down to the pot filled with colorful blooms, she bit her lip in that tempting way that drove me wild, but glanced up with a joy-filled innocence—completely at odds with my guttered mind. And then the woman I loved embraced the little girl inside her and gripped a red flower by its jaws, making it sing while she gave it a voice.

“La, la, laa, la, la, laaa…” Her cheeks pinked by the time she released the flower. She nudged back into my side but kept her gaze down at the pool decking, trying to hide her widening smile behind the curtain of her hair.

But I’d caught a glimpse of it and an ache spread through my chest as I kissed her temple and led us back into the house. A selfish part of me knew why I’d insisted on snapdragons: not only because she loved them, but because I loved seeing the side of her she hid from the world—the uninhibited child she kept under lock and key, except for a rare occasion when she trusted and set it free. For me.

After securing Ava into her crate for the night in the adjoining bathroom, we settled down into my double bed in the childhood room that had grown up with me. A Mets pennant hung on the wall from when Dad had made time on my tenth birthday to take me to a ballgame. A couple of trophies sat on the tall dresser in the corner, both from rowing crew. The wall also held photos: some from vacations with family, others from wild spring break trips I’d taken with friends. The only photographs of girls anywhere were of my sisters.

Hannah pulled the covers over her head.

I laughed, ducking under with her. “Whatcha doin’ under here? Should I grab a flashlight? Are we playing fort?”

She made a frustrated noise. “I can’t believe I’m sleeping in the same bed with you in your parents’ house.”

I dropped my voice low. “I think they
know
we’re not sleeping.”

Her jaw dropped, and she smacked my chest.

“What? I’m sure they had sex when they were our age. Actually, they were younger than we are when Kristen was born.”

“And did the two of them stay the night in the same bed in your dad’s parents’ house?”

“Don’t know. Want me to go ask?” I ducked out of the fort and moved to get off the bed.

Her hand clamped down on my wrist, her whisper fierce. “Don’t you dare.”

Chuckling, I pulled down the covers, baring her pretty face. The T-shirt of mine she wore had slipped down one of her shoulders. I pulled the material up over her head, baring her breasts. Moonlight flooded in through the uncovered window, making her skin seem to glow. Her nipples hardened as I watched her.

“I’m not having sex with you in your childhood bed.”

I snorted. “But the shower was okay?”

“That’s different. You…”

“I…”

Her eyes narrowed. “You coerced me.”

My brows shot up. “Coerced? That’s a strong word.”

She turned her head and glanced toward the bathroom, relaxing her expression. “Convinced.”

I trailed my fingers along those tempting exposed breasts. When I brushed along the outer curve, her breath hitched and her eyes fluttered shut. I leaned over and teased my lips along the crook of her neck until she shivered. “More like seduced,” I whispered.

She swallowed hard.

With a light touch, I swirled my fingertips over the swell of her breast until my palm grazed her nipple.

On a gasp, she arched up into my touch, seeking more. “You’re doing it again,” she mumbled.

“Doing what?” I murmured against her skin, teasing her earlobe with my teeth.

She smiled. “Coercing me.”

“Oh, we’re gonna play that game, are we?” I pulled my hand away and dragged the backs of my nails along her ribs. “We’re arguing the subtleties of semantics. Your word sounds forceful. Perhaps you need a more thorough demonstration.”