Hold Me Forever: a feel-good romance (The Maxwell Brothers)

The next couple of weeks moved at an insane pace. Tyler was gone more than he was here, and I was happy for him, but I also missed him a lot.

Luke’s contractor started working on my house. I was beyond grateful that he’d accepted to be paid in several installments, but I still needed the money from Jared to make it all work. I still hadn’t talked to Tyler about it, but I planned to do so tomorrow after he returned from New York. They’d played the New York Hellions today, and they won!

I was in a celebratory mood and couldn’t wait to go out with Reese, Lexi, and Kimberly, who was here for a week. They invited Emma too. It was going to be amazing. Truthfully, it was just an excuse to go out, but I’d been so busy lately that I’d take any excuse I could get.

Right before I left my apartment, I had taken a picture of myself in the mirror, sending it to Tyler, though I had no clue when he was going to see it.

I met the girls at a trendy bar in the West Loop, just a block away from Tyler’s condo. Emma came with me, and we were both dressed to impress. I was wearing a short red dress, sheer tights, and black heels with a strap, and Emma was in black pants and a yellow top with a pink hat. Lexi had a tight dress that showed off her curves. Reese wore jeans and a black silk top with spaghetti straps and looked like a million bucks.

‘Nice to meet you,’ Kimberly said, shaking my hand and then Emma’s. Her hair was in curls. She was wearing a black skirt and a sweater hanging off one shoulder, kind of a carefree ensemble. She looked fabulous. ‘Okay, so the motto for tonight is ‘The girls are having fun.’’

The bar was in a stylish corner building painted green and black. We chose a round table that was strategically close to the counter.

‘Tequila is on the house, ladies,’ the bartender said.

‘Wait, did we just step into heaven?’ Kimberly asked. ‘How is tequila on the house?’

‘They just want to get us drunk to order more,’ Reese replied.

‘That makes sense,’ I said.

We all raised our glasses.

‘To everyone being together,’ Reese added before we clinked our drinks and downed them.

‘Woohoo,’ I exclaimed. I was the first one to plunk down my glass, and Emma finished next.

Lexi came in third, and then she tapped her fingers against the table. ‘It feels good to be out with the girls.’

‘We should make it a thing,’ Reese declared. She glanced at Emma and me. ‘All of us. You two included.’

My sister grinned. ‘Damn, all I have to do is show up and I’m already invited to all future events. I like this family.’

I just smiled, feeling a bit shaky. As usual, I was emotional at being included so effortlessly. And also, as usual, my sister just accepted it all at face value.

‘Okay. Let’s order something,’ Kimberly said. ‘Look, they have a special page with handcrafted cocktails.’

‘What the fuck is that? All cocktails are poured by hand.’ Reese snickered.

‘I’m guessing it’s just a fancy way to name them so they can charge more. But damn, they sound sexy,’ I said, perusing the menu. I ordered a strawberry daiquiri with a secret ingredient. Every cocktail was a well-known one but with a twist.

This would be fun. I was so relaxed with these girls, it was like I’d known them forever.

My sister nudged me. ‘You know what? We should include drinks in our spill-it sessions.’

Kimberly straightened in her seat. ‘What’s that?’

‘Oh, my sister and I, we just have regular catch-up times. We call them our spill-it sessions.’

‘I like that,’ Kimberly said. ‘We should do the same.’ She looked at Reese and then at Lexi.

Lexi shrugged. ‘I’m up for it.’

‘So, how does it work?’ Kimberly asked. I had the impression she might take out a notepad any second now and write down everything.

‘We don’t have rules or anything. We just say whatever is weighing on us or on our minds.’

‘Should we start now? I mean, it seems as good a time as any. We have drinks. They have dodgy ways of getting our money. There’s a dance floor for us and more drinks. And oh, a hot bartender.’ Kimberly looked behind the bar before focusing back on us.

Reese nodded. ‘I’ll go first. I’m seeing a new therapist, and I need to know why I still care enough to be hurt by Malcolm and my ex-best friend getting married. The old therapist couldn’t help, so I needed an upgrade.’ She was saying this in a playful tone, but it was obvious she was suffering.

Kimberly put an arm around her shoulders, pulling her in for a hug. ‘We’re not therapists, but we can listen.’

Lexi held up a finger. ‘We can also throw eggs at his car. I offered it once, and it still stands, especially now when I’ve got some extra liquid courage from the tequila… or from the cocktail.’

‘Or we can throw them at hers,’ Emma suggested.

I felt bolder than usual, so I offered, ‘Or both of them?’

Kimberly looked at her sister intently. The chatter of the people around us was pretty loud, though, so we all had to lean in whenever we spoke so we could hear anything.

‘You could come to Paris for a while. I stand by my offer to introduce you to a Frenchman or two. And they’ll take your mind off that asshole.’

Reese blushed.

Lexi did a little shimmy in her seat and pointed at Kimberly with both her forefingers, moving her shoulders up and down. ‘You are a genius. I think that’s exactly what Reese needs: a change of scenery.’

Reese ran a hand through her hair, straightening up at the table, and we all came a bit closer. ‘You know what? I might do it, but only if you can take some time off. I don’t want to be in Paris on my own.’

‘I’ll try,’ Kimberly said. ‘There’s a lot going on at the travel agency, but it won’t go under without me.’

‘That must be so fun,’ Emma said, ‘to work as a travel agent.’

‘Oh, it is fun,’ Kimberly said. Clearing her throat, she looked around the table. ‘I think Gran’s seeing someone.’ Groaning, she tipped her chin into her chest. ‘That was not my secret to share. I’m terrible. I just felt like exploding if I didn’t tell someone.”

Reese jerked her head back. ‘Wait, what? How?’

Somewhere behind us, the bartender turned the music louder. We had to hover around our table even more.

Kimberly bit her lip. ‘I saw her drinking coffee with an elderly gentleman at the coffee shop next to The Happy Place.”

“I go to The Happy Place every day. How come I didn’t see this?’ Reese asked indignantly.

‘I guess she’s careful around you,” Lexi said.

“I’m happy for her but also stunned. Well, maybe it was just a coffee anyway, and we can’t say anything until she does.’

‘I agree,’ Kimberly added. Turning to me, Emma, and Lexi, she said, ‘Sorry, girls, we hijacked this evening.’

“Hey, we’re enjoying this, aren’t we, sis?” Emma exclaimed.

I nodded. “We are.”

Lexi was drumming her fingers on the table. ‘I wish that for Beatrice. But I don’t want to get my hopes up, because you know how much she cares about your granddad.”

“Has she been a widow for long?’ I asked.

‘Oh yeah. I think she’s been a widow for longer than she was married. To be honest, I can’t do the math after so much alcohol,’ Reese said.

‘We never even met Grandad. He died before we were born when Dad was still in college. But I know what you mean, Lexi. She’s still so attached to him. Part of why she keeps The Happy Place is because it was the first thing they built together. And every year around the anniversary of his death, she just goes into this sad place inside her, where we can’t reach her,’ Kimberly explained.

My heart hurt for the poor woman.

‘But Paisley can,’ Lexi said. ‘I mean, not consciously. They don’t talk about it, but she’s happy when she’s around Paisley.’

‘That’s true,’ Kimberly said.

I couldn’t help but wonder how things might be like if both our parents were still with us. We’d probably have a very similar dynamic to the Maxwells. I smiled despite the bout of sadness settling in my chest, bringing the glass to my lips.

For my entire adult life, I didn’t feel like I belonged anywhere. It was just me and Emma against the world. But now, for the first time, I felt like I belonged here with these girls.

‘Shall we get another round?’ Kimberly asked.

‘Sure.’ I made to reach for the menu when my phone lit up with a message. It was from Tyler.

Tyler: Hey, beautiful girl. Guess who’s back early. Declan just picked me up from the airport. Where are you and the girls?

‘Oh my God. Tyler’s back early,’ I exclaimed.

‘Woohoo. Our champion’s back,” Lexi chanted.

“He wants to know where we are,’ I mentioned.

Kimberly burst out laughing. ‘I can’t believe he’s crashing girls’ night.’

‘I can,’ Reese singsonged.

‘Oh, I’m going to tease him about this forever,’ Kimberly announced.

So would I, but I couldn’t wait to see my man.