Page 61 of Kiss Me Forever

“Not all of them.” A group of brunettes with blue eyes and wide smiles walked past, each with plates of food in their hands, and waved even as they continued their conversation.

“Perhaps a majority of them are Montgomerys, but like us, there are more than a few friends of the family invited.”

The morning after Brooklyn had spent the night, we had woken up and made breakfast. Bella hadn’t blinked an eye at the fact that Brooklyn had still been there. In fact, the kid had just been ecstatic that she didn’t have to eat my breakfast. I hadn’t thought I’d been doing badly, but of course, Brooklyn was the best. She made cinnamon rolls from scratch, and I swore if it wasn’t for the fact that my job took a lot out of me, and I spent so much of my time fucking Brooklyn, I would probably gain weight by being with her. She made such damn good baked goods, that it was a little stressful. But I knew interesting ways to burn calories.

She’d ended up inviting us to this picnic, and I knew she had been nervous. Because she would have invited us no matter what. I had been to countless Montgomery events like this, where they would invite the entire family and as many friends as they could possibly fit and feed. There wasn’t an entrance fee, but everybody did their best to pitch in, because it wasn’t as if the Montgomerys were millionaires or anything. Of course, I knew a couple were thanks to their jobs and families. But what made the Montgomerys work was that they were a blue-collar family that worked their asses off for each other. So everybody pitched in, and Bella and I had brought drinks.

Heading down to the Costco in order to buy in bulk was really the only way to make certain things work. We dropped them off when we had first come in, and a few younger Montgomerys had shown up and taken everything off with their dolly, as if they had done this a thousand times before. And frankly, they had this down to an art at this point. So that was probably more true than not.

There was a bouncy castle for the kids, a full beach volleyball section, another place for flag football, soccer, and field hockey. I had a feeling if there had been a way to do something like this at an ice rink, Montgomery hockey would be a thing.

There were different food stations surrounding the park so there wasn’t a hold-up in one area. As well as drink stations, and seating areas for those who needed a moment to breathe. The elder Montgomerys were usually found there, with a grandchild or great-grandchild on their lap. And if my eyes weren’t deceiving me, I knew there were more than a few pregnant Montgomerys at this event.

“You made it,” Brooklyn said as she moved forward, and I held up my arm. She slid right next to me, as if we had been doing it a thousand times, and we froze at that moment.

We hadn’t actually spoken about the fact that we would be coming to this, not quite together.

But as soon as one of the Montgomery cousins caught the action, the cat was out of the bag.

“Oops,” Brooklyn whispered, and now the Montgomery wildfire grapevine would be quickly approaching its magnitude for the fact that Brooklyn had just held on to and kissed the cheek of Reece Fox.

“Well, this is going to be interesting,” I said dryly.

“My parents love you. Don’t worry. I mean, I would worry a little bit.”

“Oh, is this one of those meet the parents things?” Bella asked.

I coughed and Bella grinned. Brooklyn moved away from me so she could hug Bella tightly. The way that those two leaned into one another as if they’d known each other their entire lives did something to me I couldn’t quite name.

They were friends. My relationship with Brooklyn made things tricky, but I knew Bella could rely on Brooklyn no matter what. I would just have to do everything in my power to make sure that stayed the same even after I ended up fucking things up with her. Because I didn’t do serious relationships well. And I was more than likely going to fuck this up.

That was why dating somebody I worked with, who was practically my boss, and connected to my life in multiple ways was a bad idea.

And yet all I wanted to do was bring Brooklyn back to my side so the three of us could walk through the picnic and spend the day together.

I was in quicksand up to my neck, and there was no getting out.

“This isn’t going to be awkward at all,” Bella said with a laugh, and I glared at my daughter before kissing the top of her head.

We both froze in the action since we were still getting used to this whole connection thing, but she smiled up at me.

“I see Wyatt and Natalie over there. Can I go?”

I looked over at the soccer area where Bella’s friends who I had met a couple of days ago stood and waved.

I nodded and pulled away. “Sure. Just stay on the grounds and where a Montgomery adult can see you, okay?”

“Even if they’re strangers?”

“A Montgomery is never a stranger,” Brooklyn sing songed.

“I bet you have that embroidered on a pillow,” the dryness in my voice could not be matched.

“My mother does.” She fluttered her eyelashes, before hugging Bella tight.

“Seriously though, if you need anything, all the Montgomerys look alike, so you’ll be able to figure out who’s who.”

“You need name tags.”