Page 14 of That Time I Kissed My Brother’s Best Friend
“Good to see you too, Dad.” She kisses his cheek, and I almost feel jealous. Of Phillip Graham. And his cheek. I am definitely off my game.
“Beau!” he bellows. “Great to see you again. Twice in one day, huh?”
“Yep.”Lucky me. “Can I help you with that butter, sir?”
“Oh, no, no.” He chuckles. “I think I’ve got everything pretty well-balanced.” He glances at Kasey and Brady. “Don’t you make any sudden moves either, or this Tower of Pisa here might topple.”
I take a step toward the door, preparing to make my escape. “In that case, I’ll be heading out.”
“Hold on, son.” Mr. Graham jams his chin on the leaning tower of butter so it won’t fall. “Leaving so soon?”
“I regret that truck-sharing-duty calls.”I regret that truck-sharing-duty calls?Why am I talking like this? When did I become Nathan Hale? “Anyway, have a good one.” To add to my weirdness, I salute the Grahams because apparently I can’t stop being an idiot.
“All righty then, Beau,” Mr. Graham says. “My better half tells me we’ll be seeing your family for the cocoa and caroling shindig tomorrow.”
I blow out a breath. “Wouldn’t miss it, sir.”
Kasey pipes up. “You’d better start preparing your song, Beau.”
“Preparing my what?”
“Oh. Didn’t my mom tell you?” Her mouth tilts up on one side. “Everyone has to take at least one turn leading a carol.”
“Sure, sure. Cool.” I run a hand through my hair. “I get it. This is another one of your jokes, right?”
Brady smirks. “Nope. That’s the rule, man. And I already got dibs on ‘O Holy Night.’ I like to really nail those high notes, so don’t even think about picking that one.”
“Don’t worry. I wouldn’t dream of it.”
But I might have a nightmare tonight.
ChapterFour
A TEXT THREAD WITH THE MCCOYS BEFORE THE UGLY SWEATER DINNER
Kasey: Hey, cousins! SO sorry I missed you all last night, but I can’t wait to see everyone soon. Any chance someone over there has an extra ugly sweater I can borrow?
Olivia: I only packed one (under duress) and wearing this thing seriously hurts my soul not to mention my eyes. Like literally. I can’t look in a mirror right now, or I’ll have a total identity crisis. Who started this tradition, and when can we let it die?
Darby: It’s OK, Liv. No one here cares what you look like, and my five Instagram followers are too busy worrying about getting into med school someday to share my post in their stories. Probably. PS: That’s not how the word LITERALLY works.
Olivia: YOU POSTED A PIC ON INSTAGRAM?
Darby:Please tell me the Denver altitude hasn’t killed every last one of your brain cells.
Tess: Liv. Darby is LITERALLY joking.
Olivia: You’re hilarious, Darbs. Consider this a retraction of any and all invitations to visit me before school starts. That honor is reserved for my favorite sister now.
Darby: You only like Tess more than me because she dresses worse than you.
Tess:HEY!
Olivia: Everyone dresses worse than I do. And I was only kidding, too, Darbs. You aren’t the only family member with a sense of humor. You and your inferior wardrobe can still come to the beauteous mountains of Colorado with Tess and me. Just don’t wear your ugly sweater. Please.
Darby: I was joking about Instagram, but not about med school. I’ve got an internship lined up that I need for my applications. I can’t take a vacation after this one.
Tess: On that note, I’ve been meaning to tell you, I don’t think I can make it this summer either, Liv.
