Page 31 of Big & Lily

Does she, though? When we filled her in about the trip, she was less than supportive.

“The two of you alone in the forest? Are you out of your minds?” she’d said.

“Mom, we aren’t going to be alone,” I explained. “It’s a guided tour.”

“That doesn’t matter. Have you watchedAlone? They eat squirrels and mice until they starve. And you two have no survival skills.”

“For Christ’s sake, Mother,” Lily had snapped, her normal lack of patience with my mother even thinner now. “We’re not being dropped in the middle of nowhere with nothing but a bow and arrow.”

“Well, our family is not the outdoorsy type. Have you ever heard of an Ackerman sitting around a campfire? No. Because we were done with all that after we ran from the Cossacks. Now we enjoy the creature comforts we worked so hard to earn.” My mother’s revisionist history of our family tree got more phantasmagorical with every telling. This was the first I’d heard of any Cossacks. “You’re going to be miserable.”

“I really have to go, Mom,” I say, realizing I’ve been in this bathroom long enough for Lily to make some snide comments to the group about what I’m doing in here.

“How’s your sister?” my mother asks. Her tone changes, and I know she is as concerned about Lily as I am.

“As well as can be expected.” Telling her about the rings, and the flirting, the extreme snark, and the crying isn’t going to help anything.

“You keep an eye on her.”

“Of course, Mom. That’s what I’m here for.” Ruth Ackerman knows that better than anyone else.

Finally, I resort to knocking on the wall to get my mother off the phone. “Someone needs the bathroom, I’ve gotta go.”

“You’re hiding in a bathroom? I knew this was going to be bad.” And she’s back.

“No, you called me while I was in the bathroom. Now I have to go. My friends are waiting for me.”

When I finally return to the bar, I see my friends are not waiting for me. Their attention is turned to something else. And, no surprise, my sister is in the middle of it.

Chapter Fifteen

The first thing I see is Lily, standing behind Dane, her hands to her mouth, her brows arched over wide eyes. Then I see Dane’s back, his elbow raised and pulled behind him, his hand in a tight ball. With his other arm, he is clutching a fistful of some guy’s fleece. The stranger’s face is twisted and red. A bar stool and a chair from our table are upturned. A beer glass lies smashed on the floor, its former contents running across the uneven floorboards. A circle has formed around Lily and the two men.

Before a punch is thrown, Heidi and I rush into the circle. She puts herself squarely between the two men. I loop my arms around my sister’s waist and pull her out of the way of danger. Heidi and I must have gone to the same Sister Basic Training. Jump in and defend first, ask questions later.

“Break it up,” she commands in a voice that could keep thirty sled dogs in line.

The guy jerks himself out of Dane’s grip. Dane backs up but bounces on his toes like he’s Rocky Balboa.

I swing my sister around and grab her wrists. “Lily, what the hell happened?”

“And keep your fucking hands to yourself,” Dane yells at his opponent. Brick now has his hand on the actor’s back.

“Shecame on tome,” he snarls back.

Heidi is pointing to the door. “Outside, Shane,” she growls atthe other guy. Shane straightens his shirt and strides out of the bar, letting the door slam behind him. It’s only a moment before we hear tires spinning in the gravel parking lot.

Okay, I’m getting the gist. “What did you do?”

“Nothing,” she says, her voice an octave higher than normal. “I was being friendly.”

“How friendly?”

“Friendly! Like polite! I went for more beers, and I got up to the bar and he started chatting with me. What was I supposed to do? And then, well, he got a little too close, and Dane—”

“He had his hand on her,” Dane adds defiantly. “I wasn’t just going to stand there.”

“I’m sorry, guys,” Heidi says. “Shane isn’t great with social cues, isn’t around people that often, but I promise you he’s harmless.”