Page 67 of Sparks Still Fly

“Ooooh, which one?” Lainey adds fuel to the fire, and I love it.

“Wait, there’s more than one?” That’s my wife’s voice I hear, and I don’t love that.

“Well, I’m asking about the one with the arm tattoos who manhandles horses all day. God, that’s hot.” Charlie doesn’t look at Raf, so she can’t see that his face is going a little red as she moans into her sandwich while talking about his brother.

“So hot,” Maeve agrees.

The fuck?

“So, soooo hot.” My sister nods as she agrees with her friends.

“What the fuck?” The question comes out as a chorus as Adam, Rafael, and I all ask it at the same time. The girls break into a fit of giggles, and the three of us shake our heads at one another, annoyed that they managed to mess with us.

We chat about what’s new and catch up on each other’s lives. When we’re all cleaning up, I watch Raf wrap up the sandwich he took from Charlie, handing it to me. “Maybe you wanna have this later? I wasn’t very hungry." He’s lying. Raf is quite literally always hungry.

“Sure. Thanks, man. What kind of sandwich was it?” Curiosity gets the best of me. There has to be a good reason for him not to eat. Raf is the guy who will eat other people’s leftovers without second thought. Joey from Friends? Yeah. That’s Raf.

“I got the veggie sandwich.” Before I can respond, he walks away to clear some more things off the table. The veggie sandwich has mushrooms. Raf is allergic to mushrooms.

An hour later, Lainey and Maeve are dancing in the kitchen, while Charlie’s in the living room, completely unbothered, reading a book. Raf took off to see Arthur, and Adam’s being lured into a dance with his fiancée.

Lainey must have let Maeve pick the music because “Somebody Like You” by Keith Urban is currently playing, and my sister has had enough wine to not care that she’s dancing to country music, which she claims to dislike.

“Come on, husband. Won’t you dance with me?” Maeve reaches out her hand, and since I’ll never deny her anything, I take it. She pulls me up to her, and I’m not sure if it’s her doing the pulling or if it’s her gravitational force. My moon, calling me to her.

Her hands go to my hair, tugging lightly in a way that makes me groan. I shake my head at her. She knows exactly what she's doing.

“Tiny dancer, have you had any water?” She giggles and pulls me closer, so I wrap an arm around her waist.

“Yes. I had the water you so diligently put out with lunch. But, I’ve definitely had more wine than water, though.” Another fit of giggles has her throwing her arms up in the air and belting out the lyrics.

I wrap both arms around her as she sways and sings completely off key. Seeing her this happy and carefree makes me laugh.

She brings her arms down, fingers back in my hair, right where they belong. “I want to love somebody like you, Owen. I really want to.” Her blue eyes sparkle like the ocean on a sunny day. They’re clear, even if I know she’s more than a little tipsy on wine at the moment.

“I know, sunshine. I know you do.” She tugs on my hair and pulls me down to her for a kiss. Her lips are soft and sweet as I taste the rosé on her lips. The moment is sadly cut short by my little sister.

“Whoooo! My best friend and my brother are kissing, and it’s the cutest fucking thing I’ve ever seen!” Lainey’s shout has us quickly pulling apart, and there’s a ripple of laughter around the room. I definitely didn’t see this coming, and definitely not this soon, but fuck, if it doesn’t feel good to finally feel like she’s mine.

By the time Raf gets back, Lainey, Charlie and Adam are ready to leave. They have a couple of hours on the road ahead of them thanks to traffic, and I have no doubt Lainey will use that time to sleep off some of this wine.

“I hope we did a good job of keeping you company and taking away any stress you’re feeling about the guardianship process. Everything will be great, big brother. Julia will be here soon and it’ll be amazing.” My little sister smiles sleepily at me. “I want to come for a visit, but only when you’re ready, okay? Settle into your little family first, then let us come shower her with love.” Lainey hugs me and whispers so only I can hear, “I’m so happy for you, O.” I squeeze my drunk little sister a little tighter and let her go, making sure Adam’s got a hold of her because she’s about to topple over.

After saying our goodbyes, Maeve sways next to me, and I wonder if it isn’t about time she sleeps this wine off as well. I crouch down and scoop her up in a firefighter’s carry, which gets her giggling again. I drop her down gently on her bed.

“All right, blondie. Time for you to sleep this off before you end up marrying somebody else today.” I pull a blanket up to cover her up, but she throws it off, pulling me onto the bed with her.

“I only ever wanted to marry you, Owen. No matter how tipsy I might get, it was only ever going to be you. I knew that when I was nineteen, and I still know it now.” She smiles, cradling my face in her hands, and kisses me softly. I want to believe what she said, but she’s had a lot of wine. Still, my heart beats wildly with the hope of the truth behind her words.

“Will you stay with me?”

Fact: I would like nothing more. But again, a lot of wine was consumed.

“Let me get you some water and some aspirin before you fall asleep, all right?” She nods, but there’s mischief in her bright blue eyes.

“Then you’ll get in here and remind me what it feels like to be fucked by Owen James, yeah?” I take in a sharp breath. Again, there’s nothing I’d like more. I don’t answer her and get up to grab the water and painkillers.

When I step back into her room, she’s under the covers, but I take in the clothes scattered next to the bed. When I step closer, her bra and panties are also on the floor.

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