I nodded. “Definitely. Do you mind if I invite Melissa?”
“Not at all,” Tyler said. He headed for the kitchen. “Anybody want a beer?”
“I’ll have one,” Nick said.
“Not for me,” I said. Ignoring the side-eye my brother was giving me, I took out my phone and called Melissa. “Hey, do you want to come over for a cookout?”
“Is this a celebratory cookout?” she asked.
“Not exactly,” I said, trying to keep my voice lifted so Nick didn’t get suspicious.
“Becca, I thought we agreed.”
“My brother is here.”
“Oh,” Melissa said.
“So, I’m going hang out with them.”
“That’s probably a good idea. You don’t want to do a group reveal right now.”
“Nope. Do you want to come?” I asked.
I could hear my voice creeping up higher and getting a bit too loud. I wanted the conversation to sound completely casual, but I worried I was starting to give away the little bit of panic that was growing inside me. Melissa agreed, and I let out a breath of relief before hanging up.
“Come on out to the back,” Tyler called from further in the house. “I’m bringing a cooler out.”
Nick and I walked through the house, and I detoured by the refrigerator. Grabbing out one of the refillable bottles Tyler kept full of water and chilling on the second shelf, I downed some of it, then carried it outside with me. I didn’t want to keep turning down the offer of having a beer with them, and if I was holding a drink in my hand, they wouldn’t feel the need to offer.
Tyler was already in front of the grill, and I stepped up beside him. I figured I would expose myself to the smell fast and see how it hit me, then go from there. The meat had only just started warming up, so the smell wasn’t strong yet. But I could smell the charcoal, and it didn’t bother me. That seemed like a good start.
There was something sexy about him standing there cooking in front of the grill, and I couldn’t help but rise up on my toes and kiss him on the cheek.
Melissa got there twenty minutes later with a grocery bag stuffed with containers of potato salad, macaroni salad, and baked beans, and bags of potato chips. We hung back for a bit while Tyler and Nick joked and laughed. It was good to see them getting along again.
It ended up being a good day. With the exception of the whole internally freaking out because I was hiding my pregnancy thing. But it was nice to just be all together and enjoy ourselves. Everything else would come in due time. Maybe it was actually better this way. It would give me time to prepare.
29
Tyler
Things were finally starting to fall into place. Not only were Becca and I seeing each other, and things were great between us, but Nick was starting to warm up to the idea of us being together, even if he was teasing us about it an awful lot. Melissa and Becca seemed close still, and the relationship Becca and I had didn’t seem to be getting in the way of them and their hushed, whispery conversations in corners and conspiratorial glances. I figured those had more to do with details I would never, ever broach with Nick that they seemed to have no problem with, so I let it be.
I felt really good, and as I headed into work, I tried to focus on that feeling. Yet, something was bugging me a little. Becca seemed just a bit off, somehow. The way she’d acted during dinner the day before was like a surface-level attempt at seeming happy. If something was bothering her, I wanted to help her, but I was getting the feeling that I had done all I could. It had to be something to do with her family, I figured, though I could be wrong. I didn’t want to assume, but it was the only thing that made sense.
As I pulled into the driveway, I opened my phone and shot off a text to Becca, inviting her to come out to the bar that night. We were having a jersey night, and people who came in with jerseys got discounts all night long. While Becca tended to get a discount from me anyway, I figured it would be something fun for her and Melissa to do together while still allowing me to spend a little bit of time with her. Plus, I had exactly one jersey in my place, and I knew from recent history that she looked stupidly hot when she wore it.
Granted, she was bound to wear pants with it at the bar, but my mind could edit those out.
After a few minutes, I got the text from her, responding and telling me she and Melissa would be there later, and I went about the business of setting up for the evening. Ava and Jordan were running around having a blast putting up decorations, and Mason was at the bar, going over the modified menu for the night with Matt and the new cook. Tom was even supposed to drop by that evening if he could make it, as he was in town seeing Mom earlier.