Page 105 of Rebel Bride
Hi! I ran into your mom and she invited me to dinner at your parents’ place. I assume you’ll be there.
Dino Boy
Well, I will be now.
Damn.
One wine delivery and a shower later, I headed over to the Kershaws’ house, a lovely ranch style home close to the lake on Chicago’s North Shore. I’d been here a couple of times before for cookouts with Dash, but he always wanted to leave early because the Kershaws were “too much.” I’d never thought so, but now I realized he was jealous of how easy and natural they were with each other.
I pulled up and was exiting Rosie’s car at the same time as the arrival of Lars, Addy, and Mabel. I had run a couple of errands for Lars over the last week, so I’d had a little snuggle time with his toddler daughter. Addy was holding hands with the little sweetheart, who looked positively darling in a candy-striped pink dress.
“Hi, Mabel!”
“No!”
“Still with the nos, huh?” She was going through a phase of saying “no” to everything. “So tell me, should I have stayed and married Dash?”
“No!”
Addy laughed. “Mabel knows what’s what. Are you here for dinner?”
“I hope that’s okay. I ran into your mom at the liquor store, and she was most persuasive.”
“Of course! Glad she has the magic touch.” She turned to Lars. “Could you take her? I wanted a quick word with Summer before we go in.”
Lars scooped his daughter up. “Come on, Button. Let’s get you inside.”
Addy watched them go, then faced me. “So I’m moving in with Lars and Mabel.”
“Oh, that’s great news.”
“It is. But also maybe great news for you, too? If you’d like to graduate to a bigger bedroom, it’s yours.”
I had been trying to contribute with groceries and cooking meals, but now that my income was more stable, this would be better. Assuming I was staying in Chicago.
“I would love that. If Rosie’s up for it.”
“Are you kidding? It was her idea. Plus this way, I have a space to retreat to when I need my best girls.” She gave me a quick hug. “Okay, apologies for my family in advance. Especially Conor.”
Conor was the least of my worries. Heading inside, I steeled myself for a night of ignoring his eldest brother. Hopefully there would be plenty of Kershaws to give me cover, the first of whom ambushed me the moment I stepped over the threshold.
“Summer!” I knew Hatch’s great-grandmother Aurora reasonably well, given that she often visited the front offices—the office of CEO, Harper Chase-DuPre, in particular—to chat about what they were doing “to protect her grandson.” Apparently, she’d been calling or stopping in for years to ensure Theo was being cared for by the management. Both hilarious and adorable.
“Hi, Mrs. K.”
“I’ve told you, it’s Aurora. So I’ve been working on a new martini recipe. Try this.”
Good grief, I was barely in the door! I took a sip. “Let me see. Vodka, limoncello, and … blackcurrant?”
“Excellent palate! That one’s for you. I’m going to call it Rebel Bride, in your honor. A nice combination of sweet and tart.”
“Not Runaway Bride?”
“Oh no! ‘Rebel’ is much more appropriate. It takes a lot of guts to go against the flow of the river instead of letting it carry you downstream.”
Tears made my throat tight. Baby Mabel looking as cute as a button, a dedicated cocktail, and this family “Kershawing to the max”? I wasn’t sure I would make it.
With my martini and a bottle of red, I headed into the kitchen, arriving just in time to find Theo with his hand inside his wife’s blouse. On spotting me, they pulled apart. Slowly. How lovely to still have the hots for each other after five kids and twenty-five years of marriage.
