Page 95 of The Invitation
“With benefits, clearly,” Gannon says.
“Gannon, I swear to God I’m going to kill you,” I say.
He holds his hands in front of him as if he’s deferring to me—which we both know he’s not.
I get up from the table and walk to the pool. I snag Waffles’s ball out of the water and toss it across the yard. The sight of him chasing it with his tongue waggling out of the side of his mouth calms me down a little.
“I don’t know what we are,” I say. “We’re taking some time to process it.” I take a deep breath. “I know where I stand.”
“You love her,” Tate says simply. “You always have. We all know it.”
My head whips to him, my mouth hanging slack.
He laughs. “We all talk about it all the time, wondering if you two will patch things up or if you’ll screw up and marry someone else.”
My heart pounds as I watch him smile, seemingly happy that this transpired.
Does he really think that? Do our friends? Why didn’t anyone say anything?
And hell, if she married someone else …Fuck. Fuck no.
“So is this a done deal as soon as you ‘process it’?” Tate asks.
I take the ball from Waffles and throw it again.
“There’s only one little hiccup that concerns me,” I say. “And, although Georgia hasn’t mentioned it specifically, I think she’s worried about it, too.”
“What is it?” Gannon asks.
I take my seat again. “It turns out that Dad had an affair with her mom.”
“When?” Anger paints Tate’s face. “Recently?”
“No, I’m not sure but it was when we were in high school.”
Gannon shakes his head. “Just when you think you can’t hate Dad more …”
“Apparently, her mother hates all things Brewer,” I say.
“You can win her over,” Tate says, nodding. “Bust out that charm and she’ll be eating out of the palm of your hand.”
“You could fuck Georgia and her mom,” Gannon says.
I ignore him and keep my focus on Tate. “That’s my hope. I think Georgia is trying to figure out how to get around that. Her mom is the only family she has.” I bite my lip. “I couldn’t get in the middle of that, you know?”
“No, I don’t know.” Gannon stands up and stretches his arms over head. “If her mom had a problem, that would be it—her problem. You can’t carry around everyone else’s problems, Rip.”
“This is why no one likes you,” Tate tells him.
Gannon smiles. “And that keeps life simpler.” He winks at us. “I gotta get going. Good talk. If you need any more life advice,do notlet me know.”
“See ya,” Tate says, giving me a look.
“Later,” I call after him.
Tate waits for Gannon to disappear inside the house before speaking again.
“I truly hopes this works out for you,” he says. “You and Georgia? I think it makes sense in a very hurricane-meets-a-tornado kind of way.”
