Page 54 of Audiophile

“Reed! I could change my answer,” I scold. He laughs a deep, belly laugh that warms me all over.

“But you won’t.” He shrugs and takes my hand to walk back inside.

“You’re such a cocky ass,” I complain.

“This is a whole new side of you,” he declares, amused. “I like it. So, when do I get to see your room?”

“Never,” I snort. “It’s still decorated half seventeen-year-old, half thirty-three-year-old. I was hoping I wouldn’t be here long enough for it to matter. Six months in, and I’m still here.”

“You need to give yourself a hell of a lot longer than six months to get back on your feet. You’re starting from scratch?”

“Basically.”

“Yeah, I get that,” Reed says. He opens his mouth as though he wants to say something else, but the moment passes. “When do we get to bash Nate? I’m counting on it as a bonding experience.”

For once, the memory of Nate doesn’t make me sad. “You can get Livi and Tommy on board for that.”

“Perfect.” He winks at me, and we’re back in sync. When we walk through the doorway, hand in hand, it’s the first time I’ve felt like a true adult in Mama’s kitchen.

“Mrs. Diamante, that smells fantastic,” Reed praises, and Mama’s cheeks darken.

“Call me Anita. But flattery will get you large portions.”

“Anita,” Darin interrupts. “Did you cut your hair? It’s lovely.”

Ma laughs and brandishes a spoon in Darin’s direction. “See? Darin wants double.”

Surprisingly, Aunt Carla and Mama take a break from the intense questions, and Reed gets sucked into conversation with Tommy and Darin. Mama forces me to keep an eye on the sauce, eavesdropping when Livi sidles up to me with a smirk.

“Give me the dirt, P!” Livi demands. “Was he fantastic? Better than Nate?”

I roll my eyes as Mama purses her lips until her mouth turns white. “I wouldn’t know—we stayed up all night talking. Then we hiked the waterfall loop, and I came here. That’s it.”

“It’s no fun unless you kiss and tell,” Livi grumbles.

My forced smile feels like a frown. “We haven’t kissed.”

“Seriously? What? But you—dinner—and family! Weren’t you kissing on the porch?”

“Talking.”

“Damn it!” Livi swears. She passes a twenty-dollar bill over to Tommy, who sends a wink my way.

“And you think you know Petra better,” Tommy says with a grin. “I live with her. She’s practically asexual.”

Reed snorts, and it is the loudest thing in the room. His eyes meet mine over a room of frozen bodies. I can’t hide the blushcreeping across my face, and I collapse into laughter. “Good thing I took back the limit,” I complain halfheartedly, and Reed smiles.

Tommy stares at me too, with a softness I don’t expect. “I forgot what your real laugh sounds like.” But then he makes a face. “Gross,” he declares, and slides the bill back over to Livi.

“Without kissing?” Livi asks incredulously.

“No kissing?!” Aunt Carla throws her hands up in the air. “What is happening with young people nowadays? I swear to God, Anita, I’m never going to have grandchildren if Marco doesn’t figure out—”

I leave the pot for Aunt Carla to stir while she rants to Mama about her chances of being a grandmother, and drape myself over Reed’s back to kiss his jaw.

“That’s the only kind,” I reassure Livi, but it’s Mama who breathes a small sigh of relief. I stuff down how much that prickles.

Livi reluctantly slides the money back over to Tommy. Reed steals it from the counter, deftly reaching behind him to tuck it in the front pocket of my jeans. He squeezes the back of my thigh in support before he lets go. The move in itself is a declaration of how familiar Reed is with my body, and my cheeks burn hotter than before. He doesn’t let me retreat, linking our hands together across his chest.

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