Page 10 of Reckless

“Your imaginary boyfriend?” A loud throaty laugh escaped her body. I enjoyed making women laugh. I probably shouldn’t be making Hannah Spencer laugh though.

“Okay, fine. You are funny. Stop it now.”

I faked a bow and that got me another giggle out of her.

“Too bad you can’t tell that to the lovely lady you shooed away last weekend.”

“You’ll survive.”

I was surprised at how easy the conversation with her was going. I assumed she held a grudge against me because of our last encounter five years ago. She was over it, apparently. Not that it was a bad thing. On the contrary. If all the women I had disappointed in my life, acted like Hannah Spencer did, my life would be a lot easier. But then again, she had years to recover from what I did. Most of the women came looking for retribution immediately after I pissed them off.

“They should have been here already,” she said looking around. “Do you think they got lost?”

“That would be hilarious.” Hannah shot me a look. “What? They are in their mid-twenties. And we have things like Uber, and I can name at least five map apps right now.”

She opened her mouth to answer me, but I saw Clementine in my periphery, with Lucas right behind her.

I stood up and seconds later my sister’s body slammed into mine with all the force she had. It still amazed me how much she changed. There was no sign of the grumpy teen she was in high school.

“I can’t believe you came,” she looked at me wide-eyed.

“You were the one that flew here, remember?”

“Yeah, but I still thought you wouldn’t come see me.”

I didn’t want to answer that. I didn’t know how to answer that. It was a good thing I didn’t have to. Clem turned around to face Hannah who was just releasing Lucas from a bear hug. Didn’t she wait for them at the airport? What was with all the hugging?

Something passed between the three of them. Hannah looked at Clem from head to toe like she was seeing her for the first time. They shared a quick hug and I saw her whispering something in my sister’s ear.

Something was happening and I started to feel like a piece of shit for ignoring Clem’s messages for so long. Was she sick?

I scanned her up and down just like Hannah did. She was a little pale, but otherwise everything looked normal. I moved my gaze to Lucas. He was beaming.

I was missing something.

“Hey, man,” Lucas offered me a hand and I shook it. “It’s good to see you.”

“Same,” I mumbled. I wasn’t going to squeeze him to death like Hannah did, but he was good for Clem. And the moment my sister slammed her body into mine a minute ago, I realized I missed that little monster more than I admitted to myself.

“I’m sorry we are late, but I wasn’t feeling very well,” Clem said as she sat at the table. My instinct was to tease Hannah about the fact she reduced them to two eight-year-olds who couldn’t find their way into the city. Or should I say five-year-olds? Kids knew how to use technology better than adults. But I focused on Clem instead.

“Are you sick?”

“What?” She giggled nervously. “Of course not.”

The waiter came and tried to leave us the menus, but Clem started a conversation with him about the healthiest choices she could order. I sensed Hannah’s eyes on me and turned to look at her. The moment I did that she opened her menu and pretended to read it.

Fifteen minutes later their small talk was grating on my last nerves. No one tried to approach the big topic we were supposed to be discussing.

“Sorry to interrupt,” I cut Lucas off even though the girls were laughing at his story. He talked about his younger brother Troy falling in love with every girl he met. “I thought there was something you wanted to talk about.” I continued and turned to Clem. “Spill it, little monster. What’s going on? Are you pregnant or something?”

It was a joke. I didn’t really think she was pregnant. That was something she could text me, right?

But then Hannah gasped. Clem’s face went blank. Her mouth fell open. Lucas reached and covered her hand with his on the table. He looked like the happiest man alive.

“Are you?” I asked this time for real.

“Thanks for ruining the surprise,” Clem’s eyes watered.

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