Page 57 of Choosing You

“Oh, yeah! I know we were just here the other night, but I couldn’t remember if I congratulated you, so…” He held up his glass. “Cheers!”

“Thanks, man! Go have fun. There are a lot of people eager to talk to you!” Then he winked and moved down to get someone else’s drink order.

No sooner had he turned around to face the room than they had several people standing in front of them.

Here we go…

“Oh my God,” Sloane said. “Are you guys serious right now?”

Her three brothers were standing in front of them looking extremely intimidating, and he wasn’t sure if he should say something light to break the tension, pretend someone was calling him and duck away, or try to be equally intimidating and haul Sloane close to stake his claim.

“You’re not intimidating anyone,” Sloane stated defiantly. “So why don’t you just…”

“Hey, I hear you guys are into classic cars!” he said quickly, his voice sounding only mildly squeaky.

“That’s right,” Ben said, shaking Will’s hand. “We heard you work on classic cars!”

“What the hell?” Sloane murmured. “What was with the whole…you know…glaring at Will thing you were doing?”

“That was just to mess with you,” her brother said with a grin. “It was cute how you got all defensive.”

“You guys are the worst!”

“Have you ever gotten your hands on a classic Corvette?” Finn asked, also shaking Will’s hand. “I’ve always wanted to drive one of those. Especially the ’57.”

“The ’57? Really?” Kyle chimed in before shaking Will’s hand. “I’ll bet Corvettes are easy to come by. Have you ever worked on a classic Aston Martin? You know, like what James Bond drove?”

“Ugh…not the James Bond thing again,” Ben groaned. “Seriously, dude. You have a problem.”

After that, the conversation flowed, and at some point, Sloane just walked away. He figured it was because she could tell he was handling things just fine with her brothers.

As the night wore on, he talked to almost every guy in the room—and the occasional girl—but they typically grew bored with the conversation and walked away.

Now, it was after eleven and Will was yawning a bit more as the day caught up with him. He was currently sitting with Levi, Reid, and Chloe’s husband, Tanner. Reid nudged him on the shoulder. “Huh…what?” he said, realizing he was close to dozing off.

“Tell you what, you’re doing me a favor by helping a buddy of mine, so it’s my turn.”

Was he really half-asleep or was Reid talking in circles? “What are you talking about?”

“Go and grab Sloane—the girls have been gossiping with her long enough–and go home. We’re all going to be together again tomorrow at the festival, so it’s not a big deal if you go.” Then he looked at Levi and Tanner. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m more than ready to leave too. Levi, I love your family, but sometimes…”

“It’s a lot,” Levi murmured. “Believe me. I know. Why do we need to be together all the time? We were all just here two nights ago. Why did we need another get-together here? I mean, I’m happy for Ronan and Max and Marcus and John…”

“Don’t forget Kevin,” Tanner added. “He’s been talking a lot about his contribution to the bar too.”

“Exactly. We’re all happy for them, but this could have been a night where they were open for business,” Levi said. “Plus, my kids are going to be up so early tomorrow. I’m exhausted.”

Will’s eyes went wide. “Wait…so…you’re all like…being together all the time isn’t…like…”

“Dude, use your words,” Reid teased.

“Sloane’s a little freaked out at how much time you all spend together,” he told them. “She doesn’t exactly get it.”

“To be fair, it only got this way once we all started having kids. Before that, it was maybe once or twice a month that we were all together,” Levi explained. “And the girls always had one night a month when it was just them. All the babies changed that.”

“Oh.”

“Seriously, Will, grab your girl and go home,” Reid said firmly, giving him a small shove. “The two of you don’t get to see each other very often because she lives so far away. No one’s going to begrudge you for wanting some time away from the family.”

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