“Are you kidding me, Jess? I can’t think of anything worse than having kids,” Ava complains. “Besides, I need a man first.”
“Aren’t you dating that Oliver guy?” I ask, confused.
“It’s Olivier,”Ava annunciates. “He’s of French descent.”
I try my best not to roll my eyes at my cousin. Even when it comes to men, her standards are high, and God forbid he’s not of French descent.
“Very romantic,” Jessa says with a grin. “I wish I could be whisked away by someone exotic.”
Beside her, my lips press flat, trying to hide my annoyance. Jessa jokes about this whole sweeping-away thing, which we always fight over, only for her to calm me down. The anger brews inside, but she pinches my arm to break me from my thoughts as if she knows.
“Maybe he has a cousin or something I can set you up with,” Ava jokes.
“Hmm, don’t thinkAndrewwants to become the third wheel.” Jessa laughs.
These two always know how to crawl under my skin to annoy me. Being surrounded by women is frustrating. Hence, I often call upon Nash to hang out with or even Lex.
“You know I hate being called that.”
Jessa turns to face me, now squeezing my cheek. “Stop being a sourpuss, and let’s get your face painted!”
I let out a groan as she holds my hand and drags me into the backyard. Will is the first to greet us, but his attention is directed to Ashton, who attempts to put something in his mouth which he shouldn’t.
“Why does this kid think it’s okay to eat bugs?” Will asks while sticking his finger into Ashton’s mouth.
Ava wrinkles her nose to then shudder. “Oh, God, I just had all these flashbacks to when Millie would dare me to watch her do the same thing.”
I shake my head with a slight chuckle. “Hmm, me too. Although, if we’re being honest, I may have swallowed a bug or two, not wanting to look like a pussy in front of you girls.”
“Why does that sound like something my wife had done?” Will mumbles as Millie walks out with a tray of food.
“You guys made it,” she says, eying all of us dubiously. “Okay, what happened?”
“Your son is eating bugs,” I tell her.
“Again? He’ll be fine.” She shrugs.
Will glances at her with annoyance. “Um, do you know how poisonous insects can be?”
“Okay, helicopter parent,” she mumbles.
The two of them have a stare-off, but Millie being Millie, doesn’t back down to Will. She didn’t when we were kids, and to this day, she still knows how to get what she wants with him.
“Okay, while the two of you argue over your son’s safety, I’m going to go say hello to everyone else.”
Jessa uses the escape to say hello to Noah and Kate as I make my way over to the grill where Rocky and Lex are standing. Only a few steps away from them, Eric stops me.
“Andy, darling.” Eric pats down my shirt, pretending to pick lint off the fabric. “You’re as gorgeous as I remember.”
“You saw me yesterday. What do you want?”
“It’s not what I want, but perhaps what I need.” I brace myself for something ridiculous because, after all, it’s Eric. “There’s this client of mine, and they have a daughter who has an important function to attend tonight but needs a date.”
“C’mon, I don’t do blind dates.”
“You might want to when you see the rack on her,” Eric informs me, then pulls back, tilting his head. “Wait, are you a tits or ass man?”
“He’s a pussy man,” Rocky yells while raising his beer. “Just like the rest of us.”