Page 108 of Almost Always

A few days later, he dumped Vivian publicly.

Then told her father what he’d witnessed.

CHAPTER 32

JULY

Since Cal wasn’t a big fan of fireworks—for a kid that ignored his inside voice all the time, he was sensitive to most loud noises—they never really did anything for the Fourth of July. In New York, the three Ames men would lock themselves up in the house and watch whatever movie his son was obsessed with that year and ignore the world. So obviously he hadn’t planned anything for their first Fourth with Daisy.

However, someone else had scheduled them in for some fun.

It was a lazy Sunday morning and Cal, Daisy, Boots and Rafferty were lounging in the backyard of the Ames house when Gavin and Ginny arrived with an invitation. To join the gang in Bethany Beach for the long weekend. He was ready to politely refuse, when his son jumped to his feet and peppered the couple with questions and agreed on behalf of everyone else.

And that was it.

They were at the beach with ‘the gang’.

When they drove up with everyone else two days ago, Rafferty had been overwhelmed by the number of people he was meeting. Louise had been reminding him in every session that he needed to make friends. Apparently Daisy, Mack, Monroeand Wyatt weren’t enough, and not even Bronte could count as a friend because she helped him out with Cal in the beginning. So she’d be proud at how many new friends he was making.

Since he already knew Gavin and Ginny, albeit briefly, they introduced him to everyone else. There was Oleander and Jackson, both inStar Wars-themed clothes that got his son excited. Cal even challenged Jackson to a lightsaber battle when they returned to Wildes. He met the newlyweds, Frankie and Milo, and was most unprepared for her flirtatious comments that followed—“You look like you could bench press me without any trouble.”

Everleigh and Lachlan were apparently big fans of the Patch, which automatically made them people he liked. He also met Clementine and Oakley. He’d met the chef during a visit to her bakery and knew all about her partner thanks to the meddling Daisy and Ginny had done a few months ago.

He stood there, soaking it all in while everyone settled into the house. That was a whole other thing he needed to process. It was a large beach house with ten bedrooms and even more bathrooms. He followed Daisy inside and found two spacious kitchens, a dining-cum-living room that had French doors leading onto a wraparound porch. A pool the length of the house was beyond that, with stairs leading directly to the beach.

Once they were settled in their room—Cal got his own, much smaller room—he turned to his girl and shook his head.

“Your friends are…something.”

She laughed and tugged him into the king bed. “I’m glad you got to meet them though. I spend more time with Ginny and Clem, but the others are really great too.”

“Does one of them own this house?”

“Ginny said something about a bride they worked with renting the space out.”

He nodded and lay down beside her. “I can’t believe you know so many people.”

“Is it too much?”

“No.” He made a face and shrugged. “I know I need more friends, but I wasn’t expecting this.”

“Truthfully, I wasn’t either. I hang out with them in smaller groups and doses. But we don’t have to socialize all the time, okay?”

“I’m glad to be here with you, Daze.”

She kissed him and smiled. “Me too.”

Since everyone already knew each other and Rafferty was the new one, the first day was spent getting to know him. He expected an intense interrogation, so he was fully prepared. Cal was probably the most excited and didn’t hold back when he was asked anything and everything. Growing up with only his grandfather and great-grandparents, his son hadn’t really been exposed to other adults. So the attention was overwhelming, but it was very clear that Cal loved every minute of it. Milo and Gavin even included him in the grilling of burgers that night because he’d asked them so many questions and wanted to learn.

To Rafferty, that was a sign of good people.

Cal was young enough that they could have dismissed him as a kid and not included him in any of the celebrations. But it was clear that every single one of them wanted to hang out with him. Jackson even found two staves so they could have a practice lightsaber battle by the pool. Cal got Oakley to draw fake tattoos on his arm, so he could match with Daisy—this made his girl tear up.

The morning of the Fourth, he woke up to find Cal snuggled between him and Daisy in their bed. Even though he was dying to empty his bladder, he stayed in bed to watch them sleep. When he did finally wander downstairs, he discovered that thanks to the late night, everyone was still in bed. But he made coffee and returned to the bedroom as Daisy woke up.

“Hey,” she whispered, tucking the covers around Cal as she slipped out of bed. “I didn’t even know he was here.”

Rafferty kissed her forehead and handed her his cup so they could share. “Neither did I. I think we were so exhausted last night that we slept through it.”

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