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Chapter Fourteen
Sebastian
“Five minutes to spare,” Mac said, checking his phone and sighing. “We’re good then, right?”
He was a bundle of nerves, and I wished I could tell him yes. That just because we were on time, my family would be pleasant to be around. Or that because they were meeting the love of my life for the first time, they’d actually be decent.
But that was something I couldn’t guarantee.
I looked around and a lifetime of memories flooded over me as I stared across the lake I knew so well. It normally felt like coming home, even more so than the actual home I grew up in.
The lake house was a place I loved. A place I used to look forward to going to every single summer growing up. But that was because it gave me some respite from my real life.
This trip wouldn’t be like those endless summers. Instead of being able to hide away in remote corners of the woods with Rob, Em and I would be the center of every conversation. And Mac would be on display like a performing monkey.
My parents were always more pleasant at the lake house than at home, but after being out of their house for over a decade, coming here was no longer a respite.
I opened the trunk and sighed. We were literally walking into the lion’s mouth.
I was only here because of Em. Her request to come for the week was wholly unexpected, and I wasn’t about to say no. She must have had her reasons, and I would not get in the way, no matter how uncomfortable it was being here.
“Sebastian!”
I turned around so fast I almost dropped our bags. Nina, Em’s aunt and a bigger fan of me than I was of her, was running toward me, her arms outstretched like she thought I would forget how awful she was to us after Rob died. She was of the out of sight, out of mind camp and told us we were prolonging our suffering by mentioning his name.
She reached me and I deposited Mac’s toiletries bag into her hands. She looked down at it and frowned. “I was trying to give you a hug.”
I feigned innocence and slung all our bags over my shoulders, topping my load off with a pillow to insulate myself from her. “I guess I’m just so excited to get inside.”
She grinned and smacked my back. “It’s good to see you. It’s been a long time—” She frowned, as if doing the mental math.
“Since the Christmas before Rob’s death—”
She let out a little squeal and handed Mac’s bag to him as he stepped out of the car.
Em was hot on his heels and tucked her arm in his. “Aunt Nina, hi.” She gulped, and I gave her a small nod. We’d get through this trip unscathed if it was the last thing I did. Putting on her bravest face, she smiled at Mac. “This is my fiancé, Mac.”
“I thought Sebastian is your fiancé?”
“They both are—”
Nina made another little squeal and pressed her lips together. “Let me show you to your room.” With a cutting look, she assessed our trio and frowned. “I’d have you in separate rooms, but there just isn’t the space.”
Em jogged ahead of her and opened the front door. “We can find Bash’s room on our own.”
The lake house was exactly like it was the last time I saw it. There were faded flannel throw pillows on each couch. The couches had been made by my grandfather using felled logs from the property. The cushions had been custom made by my great uncle and my grandmother. There was a lot of history in this place.
Before I could lose myself in any sort of nostalgia, Em yanked me down the hallway, Mac on her other side.
Inside our room—the room that was mine, and then mine and Rob’s, and now, unbelievably mine, Em’s, and Mac’s—Em flicked on the light. The single uncovered bulb in the center of the room cast a warm yellow glow over us.
“I am so sorry,” she whispered. “This was a mistake.”
Dropping onto the bed that would be way too small for us, she covered her face. Mac and I perched on either side of her, rubbing her back.
“We’ll make the best of it,” I said, burying my face in her neck.
Even if the whole idea of being here was insane, we had each other. We would be okay if we stuck together. Dread pooled in my stomach as I thought of all the ways my family—and Em’s—had tried to tear us apart when we were just friends, before there was even a chance of us being together. And how they would react to our unusual relationship when it was staring them in the face.
