Page 56 of All Bets Are Off

She smirked. “It had better be, given how much they charge for cocktails here.”

At twenty-eight bucks a pop, she was right. “Yes, well…” My gaze moved one table over, to where I recognized three familiar faces. They were all dressed to the nines, icepick heels offsetting short dresses and fancy up-dos. They were all also looking at us.

“Hi,” I said blankly as Ruby, Opal, and Pearl raised their glasses.

“Hello.” Ruby was the youngest sister, and Zach had once mentioned that he was closest to her simply because of their ages. “This is a surprise.”

I glanced at Tallulah, briefly wondering if we should stay or not. If we drank too much, I ran the risk of saying the wrong thing in front of the Stone sisters.

“It will be fine,” Tallulah assured me under her breath. Her smile was at the ready when she pointed it at the other women. “I haven’t seen you guys since, well, I’m not certain I’ve ever seen you guys together.”

“This is my friend Tallulah,” I offered. Zach’s sisters made me uncomfortable. It was as if they were in their own little world sometimes. They weren’t triplets—Opal was thirty-eight to Pearl’s thirty-six to Ruby’s thirty-four—but they could’ve passed for them.

“We remember you.” Opal smiled. She seemed to be struggling with the same internal debate that was hampering my communication skills. “You know what?” Her grin broadened. “We should probably take advantage of this situation to get to know our new sister-in-law. I mean … youarepart of the family now.”

“Awesome.” Tallulah grabbed her drink and motioned for me to follow her to their table. She didn’t wait to see if I wanted to join them. “I bet you guys have all the gossip on Zach.”

“Oh, we have some stories,” Pearl agreed on a giggle.

Well, that was all I needed to hear. If they had stories, they were going to have to share them. Zach’s head was so hard I could never tell what he was thinking. They could give me insight. I grabbed my drink and joined the foursome. “This is … interesting,” was all I could manage when I was seated between Ruby and Opal.

Opal threw back her dark head and laughed. “You don’t need to be afraid. I know Zach is afraid of us—and he probably should be—but we’re nowhere near as evil as he likes to pretend.”

I sipped my cocktail and considered it. “I think he feels guilty.” Spreading my husband’s private business probably wasn’t a good idea. At my core, though, I was a nurturer. If the only thing I managed to do during my marriage to Zach was make his relationship with his sisters better, then I would consider it a win. “Your father seems to have anointed him as the chosen one, and Zach struggles with it.”

Pearl nodded. “We know it’s not Zach’s fault that Dad puts all of his efforts into him. Zach didn’t ask for it. Frankly, he acts downright uncomfortable with it. That doesn’t change the fact that Zach is given preferential treatment simply because he has a Y in his chromosomes.” She looked bitter, and I didn’t blame her.

“It sucks for you guys,” I agreed. “It sucks for him, though, too. He feels a lot of pressure from your father.”

“Is that why you guys decided to get married when you did?” Ruby asked. “I mean … we didn’t even know he was dating you.”

“Oh, well…” This conversation was dangerous, and I shifted uncomfortably on my seat.

“We knew he’d gone quiet on the dating scene,” Opal explained. “We used to laugh at his exploits. He had a specific reputation.”

I nodded, letting them know that I wasn’t bothered by the topic. “I’m well aware of his reputation,” I assured them. “My brother is still playing that game.”

“Ah, Rex.” Ruby looked temporarily twitterpated, throwing me. “I used to have the worst crush on your brother. I know I’m older?—”

“Two years isn’t really older,” I volunteered. “Unfortunately for you, my brother’s mentality still puts him firmly in his mid-twenties. He’s just never grown up.”

“He will,” Opal said. “I don’t blame him for taking advantage of the situation. He’s a good-looking guy with a great job. You can tell he’s one of those guys who is eventually going to settle down. He’s going to hit a wall at some point and want to get married and have kids. And you know what?” Her eyes sparkled. “When he does settle down, he’s going to be faithful. I bet he’ll be a great father, too. He just hasn’t reached that point yet.”

I nodded. It made sense. “Yes, well, he still makes farting noises with his armpit when he wants to irritate me. You’ll have to forgive me if I don’t see the potential just yet.”

Ruby burst out laughing. “That’s an older brother thing.” She paused a beat. “Actually, that’s a brother thing. Zach went through the farting armpit stage too. He doesn’t do it to us now, though.” Briefly, she looked concerned. “He doesn’t do it to you, does he?”

The image of that made me laugh. “No.” I shook my head. “He’s been pretty serious lately.”

“Yes, well, Dad is putting a lot of pressure on him,” Pearl volunteered. “It’s good he has you to help him. We were actually thrilled when we heard you guys got married.”

“You were?” That was shocking to me.

“Totally.” Opal was grim. “We knew he was going through something in the run-up to Dad dropping the hammer. We thought he was going to have a meltdown before he got it together. Then he showed up with you.”

“Huh,” was all I could manage. Seriously, what else was I supposed to say?

“I kind of always knew he had a thing for you,” Ruby said out of the blue.

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