“As long as he has the wine, I don’t care,” Miller added from across the kitchen. “I’m just finishing up—give me five more minutes.”
“Yes, would you sit your ass down and open the wine, please? I spent the afternoon with the governor’s wife, and well, I just need a drink,” Simone said, grabbing for one of the bottles.
Vaughn set the bottles down on the table and pulled a corkscrew from his pocket. He opened the first bottle and poured a larger than average glass for Simone, before pouring himself something normal. Kyle motioned to Drea to see if she wanted some, and she nodded her head slightly. He grabbed two glasses and poured them each a smaller glass, and handed hers to her. She smiled brightly at him, taking a sip.
“So, how’d the cruise go this afternoon? Everyone behave themselves?” Grayson asked. Drea’s hand stopped mid sip, and Kyle tensed at the question. Could Brig have said something about what he saw? No, he said he understood that they weren’t public yet, so he wouldn’t have run off and complained. Although if someone else in the group saw something, there was no telling what the reaction would have been.
“Can I get a definition of ‘behaved’ please?” Drea said, quickly recovering from her pause. “Because for a moment today I wondered if we had become a charter for the Playboy Mansion.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Miller asked, bringing the first round of food to the table.
“All the girls on the trip ended up taking off their tops and spent the afternoon combating tan lines,” Kyle said, trying to hide a grin.
“Maybe I should have sent Dalton,” Grayson commented.
“Pretty sure he’s already seen what was on display, but he would have still appreciated it more than Drea.”
“Were they nice?” Grayson asked.
“Grayson, seriously?” Vaughn asked.
“Kid got an eyeful all day, it’s only right to ask the question!”
“You don’t have to answer, son,” Miller said.
“They were the best money could buy—I’ll leave it at that,” Kyle commented. The men all chuckled and nodded their heads in understanding. He looked over at Drea who was rolling her eyes. He would bet that if he glanced over at Simone he would see a similar reaction.
“But other than the peep show, everything went fine?” Grayson returned to his original inquiry.
“Yeah, they managed to not actually have sex on the trampolines,” Drea said sarcastically. “And despite showing up pretty hammered already, no one puked. So I’ll call it a successful day.”
“Alrighty, that should be the last of the food,” Miller said, bringing over a large platter of sliced beef. “So no more talk about puke. Let Friday night dinner commence.”
They all started to pass the food around and served themselves as they went. It was a simple meal of roast beef, with green beans, salad, and Kyle’s favorite side dish, au gratin potatoes, and the ever present, freshly house-baked bread. Kyle might have to steal some of that away for later too. It was like Miller had cooked this meal just for him.
“So Kyle,” Vaughn started, “do you know why we have Friday night dinner?”
“Vaughn, you promised not to tell this story,” Simone said. “Don’t embarrass Drea in front of her guest.”
“It’s just Kyle, and I’m only going to tell the story if he hasn’t heard it. He’s her best friend, right? He probably already knows it.”
Kyle looked to Drea who was keeping her head down looking at her plate. This felt like a trap somehow, but he wasn’t sure whether he was supposed to know the story or not. If he did, would that reveal that they were closer than her uncles realized? He decided to err on the side of caution and went with the truth.
“All I know is that it was started when Drea was in junior high, ish? Right?”
“Right, she was twelve,” Vaughn started.
“Thirteen. She was thirteen,” Miller interjected.
“You sure?” Vaughn asked.
“I raised her, didn’t I? Pretty sure I remember the milestones.”
“Okay, so she was thirteen. She was totally obsessed with that show, Gilmore Girls. You know it?”
“I have been forced to sit through an episode, or twenty,” Kyle said, nudging an uncomfortable-looking Drea.
“She wanted to be just like them, and on the show they had Friday night dinners, so she insisted that we do it too.”
