Page 56 of What Happened Last Night

Katie rolled her eyes. “Oh, that. I heard all about that. You don’t understand what Aunt Nan is like when it comes to Luna dating. She picked up on you the first time Luna mentioned you. You know how there are sounds only dogs can hear? When Luna’s into someone, it gives off a sound only Aunt Nan can hear.”

I scrubbed a hand through my hair. “Your family is rather overprotective.”

“You have no idea,” Katie said. “None of Aunt Nan’s children are married yet, and it drives her crazy, but she’s especially fixated on Luna. She wants Luna to get married, but it has to be to the right man. I’m not talking about looks or money here, though those help. She wants Luna to find a man who’s marriage material so Luna can settle down. I think Aunt Nan has nightmares about Luna staying single into her forties and living with cats.”

I was starting to get a clear picture of why Luna had moved away from Bend. “That’s offensive,” I said. “There’s nothing wrong with being single and nothing wrong with cats.”

“Now you see why Luna and I stick together,” Katie said. “Considering the men I’ve dated, living alone in my forties with cats sounds like my perfect life.”

I took a sip of my cooling coffee, my mind spinning. “That still doesn’t explain why your aunt barged in on me uninvited.”

“Because she doesn’t have boundaries,” Katie explained. “In our family, in the words of Jack Sparrow, boundaries are more like suggestions. Aunt Nan suspected that Luna liked you, she wanted to know what you looked like and what kind of person you were, so she walked in to have a look.”

I rubbed a fingertip over my temple. “She nearly walked in on something pornographic.”

Katie sighed heavily. “Please don’t remind me about all the great sex Luna is now having. It will only make me more depressed.”

“You aren’t going to interrogate me about that part?” I asked.

“Oh, I have questions, believe me. Aren’t rich guys into weird, kinky shit?”

“Not this one.” I never talked about my sex life, but Katie seemed like a singular case. “For the record, I very much enjoy consent. The more explicit, the better.”

“Damn it,” she said again. “You’re like a freaking unicorn. Do you have any flaws?”

“Bad time management skills.” I listed them off. “Messy family history that I dealt with by moving across the country and changing my life instead of facing it head on. Addiction to work. Unhealthy suppression of emotions. Substandard social skills. Introversion. Low-level general anxiety. Fixation on making money as a pillar of my self-worth. Probably more.” I saw her shocked expression and shrugged. “In the plus column, I do my own laundry.”

Katie crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair, her posture softening. “And you give good gifts,” she added.

I felt myself brighten at that. “Were they good? I was really trying.”

She made a chef’s kiss gesture with one hand. “Perfect. Okay, since I sort of like you—which is a miracle—I’ll give you a tip.”

I waited, my coffee forgotten.

“Don’t worry about Aunt Nan,” Katie said. “She isn’t your problem. Luna’s brothers are your problem.”

“Aside from the death threats, you mean?” I asked.

Katie shook her head. “You aren’t going to die, Will. But they’ll put you through some kind of hell. And if you make enemies of her brothers, Luna won’t like it. They annoy her, but she still loves them.”

I nodded.

“If you camp and fish,” Katie said, “Tanner will love you. If you golf, Mack will love you. If you hike and score lots of women, Jay will love you. Do you do any of those things?”

“No.” I sighed and rubbed a palm over my forehead. “Katie, this is unfortunate. You have no idea how good I am at Elden Ring.”

She laughed. I’d won over one member of Luna’s family, at least for now. “Will, your gaming skills are not going to help with this.”

“Right,” I said. “I guess I need to learn how to fish.”

TWENTY-SIX

Luna

The Road Kings finished writing their new album one day early. As Will explained it to me, the band hadn’t spent their time locked in the studio formally recording the music, only writing it. They had put rough demos down for most of the songs, but the songs still needed polish. The real recording sessions would come in a few months, when a producer came on board, the replacement bass player was worked out, and Neal could carve out some time to come to the studio again.

Neal and Raine had met in their early twenties, when they had a one-night stand after a Road Kings show. That night had resulted in their daughter, Amber, who was a teenager now. As they coparented over the years, Neal and Raine’s lives hadn’t lined up in the right way for them to be in a relationship. That had finally changed during the Road Kings’ reunion tour last year, when they had realized they wanted to get together for real and make it work. Now they were married, and their son was almost here. It was wildly romantic.

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