Page 51 of One Night With You

“We were better at the sex,” Lincoln said, “because we were really good at having sex.”

“Yes, we are. I mean, if any one of the sets of the Montgomerys are going to be good about having the talk, it’s going to be one of the triads. I’m just saying.”

Both of my brothers closed their eyes, and covered their ears, while I just laughed. I was used to their antics. We had always been open and honest about sex and growing up. I lived in an unconventional household in some respects, so that meant we had had a lot of questions when we were younger. More like why we had three parents and some people only had two. And all three of my parents had decided if they hid anything, it would make things worse for us. And they were always open about wanting to make sure we were open with them. Meaning as soon as I got my first girlfriend when I was fourteen, my dad sat down, and explained that while sex was fun, I should wait until I was older. Because emotions always came through it, even if youwanted to pretend there weren’t any. And then he had handed me a pack of condoms and said if I was going to be dumb and work with just my hormones, I needed to remember my brain just a little bit.

I hadn’t needed those condoms for a couple of more years, but I had been grateful for the new pack that he had given me because the first one had been expired.

That was my family, always taking care of us—only that meant they were always nosy.

My mom smiled. “I’m just saying, Claire seems really nice. I’m so glad that we got to meet her at that event.”

I shook my head. “You’ve known Claire for a while now. She’s Phoebe’s best friend.”

“And Phoebe and Kane are adorable. I know they’re living together now. Do you know if Kane’s planning on asking Phoebe to marry him?” My mom held up both hands. “I’m not saying that they have to be married to live together. Hello, that is not who we are.”

“I know, I know,” I said with a laugh. “I think Phoebe’s working on figuring out her new family situation, you know, with the whole secret family thing.”

Phoebe, it turned out, had a whole set of siblings that nobody else had known about, so she was dealing with the consequences of that and trying to get to know them. It wasn’t always smooth sailing, but I knew my cousin was taking care of her.

“That’s true. I don’t know, I just like weddings. And with so many cousins, that means we get to have a lot of them. Doesn’t Claire plan weddings and receptions?”

“I love how you circled back, and she does some. She likes doing all types of events, and not just weddings.”

“Well, speaking of events…” Mom began, and I was grateful for the change of subject, at least I thought I would be. “The Montgomery family party might have to be canceled.”

“Why?” Logan asked. “It’s seriously my favorite part of the year.”

We didn’t always have a multi-family holiday party in the Montgomery household, but there was always at least one major event where every Montgomery was invited. This year it was post-holiday season and things got tricky time wise. That meant a lot of bodies in one place, and a lot of planning. Every set the four main branches hosts on a rotating schedule. They did the same for the family reunions that we had. This year, it was the Boulder family, with my grandpa and grandma in charge, and that meant my parents were helping plan the most since it was their turn. It was very complicated, and there was a spreadsheet involved, because of course there was a spreadsheet involved. And I knew that one day soon, it would be our job to deal with that.But for now, I just let them deal with the planning. Or at least I thought I did.

Oliver leaned forward. “What’s going on?”

Mom’s face darkened and both of my dads reached out to pat her hands. “The place that we usually have it at when in Boulder canceled on us.”

“The lodge? Why the hell would they cancel on us?” I asked.

“Because they’re bastards. They wanted triple the money because they had another event double booked, and they canceled on us. We’ll figure it out,” Lincoln said, with a sigh. “But I don’t think we’re going to be able to work with all of the little pieces as well as we usually do. It’s going to be a little more hectic, considering all of us are in some of our busiest seasons.”

Mom pressed both hands together in front of her. “I know Claire is horribly busy, but do you think she could help?”

I narrowed my gaze, trying to see exactly where I had gone wrong here.

“Are you serious right now, Mom?”

Mom held up both hands, looking very innocent. “I swear, I just need help planning because every single other person in our family right now is doing a thousand things. I just want us to have a lovely event like we always do. But I know Claire is in her busiest season, so ignore me. And just because she happens to be yourgirlfriend or whatever label that you’re using, doesn’t mean that I’m really needling. Maybe.”

“I really don’t believe anything about that innocent tone.”

“There’s nothing innocent about your mother,” Ethan said as he sipped his drink, and Lincoln snorted, while my mother just glared at them both.

“I’ll deal with you two later.”

“And that’s our cue to go,” Logan said with a laugh as both Livvy and Lake came down, Amelia dancing between them.

“I’ll text her and see. But she’ll probably be too busy.”

“I know. And we’d pay her. I don’t want her to think we’re taking advantage. Because Montgomerys don’t do that. We always pay our way.”

Lake squeezed my shoulder as she walked by. “Oh, you thought of using Claire for the event. That’s good. If Claire can’t come, I have a backup, But we should use Claire. Keep it in the family.”

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