When We Kiss (11 page)

“You should. I know Kyle wants to go. Maybe Dylan or Sean, too?”

Liam had actually talked to Dylan about skydiving. “Dylan's been there, done that in the army. I'm not sure he'd be into it again. Sean might, though.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Derek said.

“You're serious? Like, I can set it up this weekend.” Liam's pulse picked up at the idea of taking his family on a jump. “The forecast looks perfect.”

“I'm in.” Derek picked his phone up from the bar and typed into it. “We'll see what Kyle says.”

Liam nudged his elbow into Derek's arm. “You sure Chloe won't divorce you over this?”

Derek grinned. “No, but I can be convincing when I have to.” He glanced down at his phone. “Kyle's in, too.”

“Sweet. I'll check with Sean later,” Liam said. “This is going to be fun. I'm surprised we haven't put this together before.”

Derek laughed. “I'm not. You're hardly here! Kind of hard to plan something like this when you aren't around.”

They could've gone without him, Liam reasoned, but that wasn't the point. What
was
the point? “Are you giving me shit like my sisters do for not coming to Ribbon Ridge more often?”

Derek raised his hands in surrender. “Absolutely not. You do what you gotta do, bro. That said, it is good to have you here, even if it's just temporary.” He gave Liam a long look before taking a drink of beer.

That look seemed full of unasked questions. “What?”

Derek shrugged. “Nothing. It
is
good to have you here. Wish it wasn't temporary. But then, you haven't really said.” He turned to face Liam. “What
are
your plans?”

Liam took a pull off his beer. “I haven't really decided for sure. I mean, I'll go back to Denver. That's where I live. For now, I'm glad to be here for the zoning stuff. Not that I'm doing a whole lot.”

“I think just your being here is plenty. Alex would be happy.”

Liam took another drink of beer so that he didn't snap out an obnoxious response. He didn't make decisions based on what would make his dead brother happy. He was dead, after all, and nothing any of them did would change that.

Derek exhaled. “That was the wrong thing to say. You're still pretty pissed at him, aren't you?”

In the weeks following Alex's death, he'd been viciously angry, and the thought of coming home, of living here where Alex had lived—and died—made him physically uncomfortable. Over the past year, Liam's ire had diminished, but it was still there. “I think he made a bad choice and put the family through unnecessary tragedy.”

“He was sick. In ways we didn't realize.”

He was talking about Alex's bipolar disorder. But Liam had known about that. Liam had been the one to push him to get help and take medication, which he'd done for a while. Maybe if Liam had stayed in Ribbon Ridge instead of moving to Denver, he would've seen Alex stumble, could've helped him get back to the treatment he needed.

Oh, fuck that. He wasn't going to feel guilty about
that
, too. Alex had been seeing a therapist—Kyle's fiancée—for crying out loud, and even
she
hadn't picked up on just how far off the rails he'd gone.

“You're right,” Liam said. “But I refuse to pity him. He made his own choices. Normally you'd tell someone they have to live with their shitty decisions, but in this case we're the ones dealing with the fallout, not him. Selfish bastard.” He took another drink of beer.

“So yeah, still pissed.” Derek shook his head. “I might not get it, but then the twin thing you had isn't something any of us can really understand. I respect your right to be pissed.” He held up his glass and gave Liam a toast before taking a drink.

The twin thing they'd
had
. Liam had always identified as an identical twin, but now that he was alone, it felt like something was missing. No, he wouldn't go down that path. That way led to darkness and despair, and he'd avoided it since the day he'd heard Alex had died.

“So what do you think I should do? Move back to Ribbon Ridge and settle down like the rest of you?”

Derek let out a sharp laugh. “Right. No offense, but I can't see you doing that. Never could. And it's not that you're a player—though you are.” He smirked, and Liam rolled his eyes. “It's that you're always moving. Settling down just isn't something you do. Honestly, you sitting in one place to watch
Game of Thrones
is about the most docile I've ever seen you.”

Liam arched his brows in mock affront. “
Docile
?”

Derek chuckled. “Serene?”

“Damn, you make me sound like a whirling dervish or something.”

“
You
said it . . . ” Derek grinned before finishing his beer.

Time to change the subject to something a little safer than Liam's future. “I asked Dad about bottling last week, and he didn't say no—Tori heard him, too. You know anything about that?”

Derek nodded as he finished swallowing. “Just that he's thinking about it. I've been trying to wear him down for years—since Bex proposed bottling back when she interned with him.” Bex was Hayden's ex. She was a brewer and had interned with Dad after college. “Things are kind of in flux right now, though. Kyle's transitioning out so he can focus on being a chef, and I don't think Hayden's coming back.”

“To Archer or to Ribbon Ridge?”

“Definitely not to Archer, in my opinion, and I honestly don't know if he'll come home at all. Last time I talked to him, he seemed pretty smitten with Gabrielle.”

The French girlfriend. “Is that right? I'm surprised. I always figured he and Bex would get back together. They seemed destined to be, if you believe in that shit.”

Derek chuckled again. “As a matter of fact, as a happily married man, I do believe in that shit. And I hear you. Unfortunately, I think that ship has sailed. I guess we'll find out when he decides whether to stay on at the winery in France.”

“Have they offered him a permanent job?” Liam had to admit he'd support Hayden staying in France. Then Liam wouldn't be the only one who'd left and stayed away. There was safety—and comfort—in numbers.

“Not yet, but I imagine they will. Either way, he said he'll be home in July for Sara's wedding.” Derek peered at Liam. “You'll be home for that, too, right?”

“Of course. I haven't missed anyone else's. Except Tori's, and that was her own damn fault for sneaking off to Vegas.”

“Totally. I could see you doing that if marriage ever did finally bite you in the ass.”

“Ha! No thanks. To all of it.”

“It's too bad. Rob would be thrilled if you came back and took over the real-estate division. I'm going to be really busy if he decides to pursue bottling. I could see building a facility just outside Ribbon Ridge—between here and McMinnville.”

Liam liked that idea, and the real-estate developer in him wanted to participate. “That would be a lot of jobs for the area.”

Derek nodded. “I know. But without a COO, things are going to get sketchy.”

“Are you trying to hint that I should move back and be COO?”

“Not really, but that would be great!” He slapped Liam on the shoulder. “You've got your own thing in Denver—I get it. But like I said, Rob would be beside himself. He'd probably semi-retire if you came back.”

Great. Dad would take it easy if Liam just moved home. No pressure.

“Dude, I am not trying to give you the hard sell,” Derek said.

“Could've fooled me.”

Chloe came up to the bar then, thankfully saving Liam from further guilt-tripping. “Hey, Liam, how's it going?”

“Good, except your husband is trying to make me feel bad about not living here.”

Chloe scowled at Derek, but her eyes were warm with affection. “Leave him alone.”

Derek stood. “Dude, I never meant to do that. My bad. We're just happy to have you here, even if it's just for a little while.”

Liam lifted his glass to finish his beer. “Sure.”

“No, seriously. I hope you know that.”

Chloe touched Derek's arm. “He does. You guys just aren't good at expressing your feelings.”

Derek smiled at her before dropping a kiss on her lips. Their casual romantic camaraderie was strangely annoying to Liam. “True,” Derek said. He turned to look at Liam. “You'll let me know about this weekend?”

“Absolutely, but plan on it.” Liam was a bit surprised he'd so readily agreed to take them all skydiving. He typically kept his sports life separate from his family. With the exception of Alex, who'd been with him—in the spiritual sense—every step of the way.

“What's happening this weekend?” Chloe asked.

Liam exchanged a look with Derek before smiling at Chloe. “Top-secret boys' day out.”

Her gaze turned immediately suspicious. “Why do I think I'd disapprove?”

Derek pulled her against him and kissed her temple. “I'll tell you all about it on the way home. See you, Liam.”

“See you.” Liam waved at them as they left. When he turned to pick up his beer, he realized it was gone. Stay and have another, or head home alone?

He thought back over the evening. He'd agreed to take his siblings skydiving, turned down hot sex, and established a friendship with a woman. Shit, what else out of character was he going to do? If he wasn't careful, maybe he would find himself living back in Ribbon Ridge.

No, he'd worked too hard to build his empire away from here. Which he'd done to put distance between himself and Alex, for whom Liam was a constant reminder of what he'd never have. Alex was gone now, so what was keeping Liam away?

That was something he didn't want to contemplate, because he was pretty sure he wouldn't like what he found.

He stood and dropped some cash on the bar. “See you, George.”

He picked up his helmet and stalked out into the night.

A
UBREY WALKED INTO
The Arch and Vine out of the light drizzle on Thursday evening. She pulled off her raincoat and nodded at George behind the bar.

“Hi, George!”

“How are you doing, Aubrey? The rest of the gang is here, I believe. They're back behind the screen so you can have a private get-together.” He winked at her. “Don't get too crazy.”

She laughed. “Hardly.”

She made her way toward the back corner, where a screen was set up to block off a few tables for a private event. She came around the partition and was immediately greeted with hugs and chatter.

“I'm so glad you could come,” Sara said. “Come and sit. You can hang your coat over there.” She pointed at a rack of hooks on the wall, where everyone else had already deposited theirs.

Everyone else included Tori, Chloe, and Maggie, who were seated along the back of the table, as well as Sara, who sat opposite them and gestured for Aubrey to take the empty seat beside her.

“How's the brief looking?” Tori asked. Of the group here, she was the most invested in the zoning issue, since she was the architect. Actually, that wasn't a very good assessment. Everyone had a stake in The Alex getting up and running. Sara couldn't even do her job as an event planner until the zoning was finalized, and all of the work Maggie was doing on the garden and Chloe was doing on the art would be for naught if they didn't open.

But they
would
open—Aubrey wouldn't consider the alternative. It was just a question of when.

“It's good,” Aubrey said. “I'm pretty stoked to have a night off where I don't have to think about it.”

Tori winced. “Oops, my bad. I didn't mean to bring you down.”

Aubrey hadn't meant to imply that. “No worries, I'm good.”

Maggie lifted her pint glass. “I hereby declare work off-limits.”

The others lifted their glasses as well, but Chloe frowned. “You don't have a beer, Aubrey.”

There was an empty pint glass in the middle of the table. Aubrey snatched it up and looked between the two pitchers. “What are my choices?”

“Maid Marion hard cider for Sara mostly and Longbow,” Maggie said.

Aubrey rolled her eyes. “You guys are wimps. I thought we'd be doing shots or something.”

Chloe stood up abruptly. “Now we're talking! Be right back.” She took off to fetch who-knew-what.

Maggie crossed her arms and shook her head. “I told you guys we should've lined up shots when we got here.”

Chloe came back and slipped into her chair. “George is making us a pitcher of his signature margaritas. And Anna is bringing shots of Patrón.”

Tori rubbed her hands together. “Sweet. Now we have a party.”

Maggie leaned forward, her dark eyes sparkling. “No work talk and tequila shots. Sounds like we need a drinking game.”

“Seriously?” Aubrey asked. “I haven't played a drinking game since college.”

Maggie narrowed her eyes and looked between Sara and Tori. “Are you Archers going to play fair? I know how you people operate. You're cutthroat. Absolutely brutal.”

Tori and Sara high-fived each other over the table.

“We'll take that as a compliment,” Sara said.

Aubrey glanced around at everyone. “So what should we play? Quarters and beer pong seem messy. There's Thumper, Questions—”

Tori shook her head. “Has to be ‘I Never,' right?”

Chloe nodded. “Totally. And what's shared at The Arch and Vine stays here.”

The mood grew serious for just a moment as they all exchanged looks and nodded in agreement.

“Do we need to pinky swear?” Sara giggled.

Anna showed up with the shots and the pitcher with margarita glasses. “You want food to go with all of this, right?”

“Nachos, hummus, and maybe the grilled chicken salad all around?” Chloe suggested.

Everyone gave Anna their dressing preferences, and the server left again.

Tori handed out the limes while Chloe made sure everyone got a shot.

Maggie sprinkled salt on the back of her hand between her thumb and forefinger and held up her tequila. “To a night without testosterone.”

Everyone else applied salt as well, except Aubrey. “I prefer my Patrón unimpeded.”

Tori grinned. “Like Liam.”

Yes, like Liam. Aubrey had forgotten that and was actually surprised she had. They'd done several shots last Labor Day weekend. But maybe the quantity was why she'd forgotten.

“What's that little smile, Aubrey?” Maggie asked shrewdly.

Aubrey blinked. “Nothing.”

Chloe laughed as she tucked her blonde hair behind her ear. “Oooh, this game is going to be fun as hell.”

They all held up their glasses and tapped them together before downing the contents in concert.

Aubrey swallowed the tequila down her throat and closed her eyes briefly to savor the sharp heat as it wound toward her belly. Yep, that reminded her of Liam. Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea after all. She'd done a pretty good job of blocking him out the past couple of days since his strange visit. Being super busy at work was a good thing in this case.

And his visit
had
been strange. He'd dropped by just to ask her to be friends? And to go flying, apparently. She hadn't heard back from him, so she wondered if it was really going to happen.

“Who's going first?” Sara asked before sipping her margarita.

“You may want to save your drinks for the game,” Chloe advised. “Otherwise you're going to be plowed, and I'm pretty sure you're the lightest weight among us.”

“You're undoubtedly right, but I also expect I'll be drinking far less than all of you.” Sara gave them all a superior, saucy look, then dissolved into laughter, which spread around the table.

“I'll go,” Maggie said. “Just to review, I say, ‘I've never gone skinny-dipping' and anyone who
has
gone skinny-dipping has to drink.”

Tori gathered her hair and dropped it down her back. “That's it.”

Chloe looked at Tori and Sara. “Any rules for what we say? Meaning, can I say ‘I never' about something I've done, or does it have to be things I
haven't
done?”

“Why are you asking us?” Sara exchanged a look with her sister. “We aren't the rule makers.”

Maggie snorted. “You're Archers. You're rule makers, breakers, and just all around hard-core gamesters.”

“Then I'll make the rules,” Aubrey said, enjoying the banter. “Yes, you can say ‘I never' about something you've done. Are you sticking with skinny-dipping, Maggie, or was that just an example?”

“I'll stick with it.” Maggie took a drink, which was followed by laughter and everyone else drinking.

“Seriously,
everyone
?” Maggie asked, incredulous. “Damn, I'm going to have to up my game.”

Tori sat between Maggie and Chloe. “Me next, I guess. Let's see . . . I've never gone streaking.”

Chloe narrowed her eyes, then her face cracked into a smile. “I'm sensing a naked theme here.”

Aubrey laughed. “Same.” She took a drink. Maggie was the only other person who joined her.

Maggie set her glass down. “Streaking and skinny-dipping were almost a requirement with my parents. They loved to take us to a nude beach.” She stuck her tongue out and shook her head vigorously. “I refused to go anymore when I turned twelve. There are just some things an adolescent girl doesn't need to see.”

Tori touched her shoulder. “Yikes, do you need some brain bleach?”

This was met with loud guffaws. Aubrey knew Maggie's folks were total hippies with an open marriage. She'd heard some of Maggie's stories, and while Aubrey didn't enjoy spending time with her own parents, she couldn't imagine the things Maggie had endured.

Maggie looked at Aubrey. “What's your streaking story?”

“Nothing terribly exciting. Just a drunken jog around campus with the Pre-Law Society when I was a freshman.”

“Is it just me, or does streaking at Stanford seem like a whole different level of streaking than a nude beach?” Chloe asked.

Everyone laughed. “Completely different!” Maggie said. “Your turn, Chloe.”

Chloe blew out a breath and tapped her finger against her lip. “Let me see . . . ” Her eyes lit, and she suppressed a grin. “I never got drunk underage.”

Tori gaped at her. “Are you kidding? That's a total gimme. You're just trying to make us all drink.”

Chloe lifted her glass. “Guilty as charged. What can I say, George's margaritas are delicious.”

Everyone agreed as they drank.

“Okay, Aubrey, don't let us down,” Tori said. “Give us something juicy.”

Juicy.
She racked her brain for something good. “Not sure if this is juicy enough for you, but it could be interesting. I've never shoplifted.”

No one drank for a minute. They just looked around the table at each other.

“Sara?” Tori asked, staring at her sister.

Sara exhaled and picked up her glass. “Fine.” She took a drink. “When I was five, I took a stuffed animal from a garage sale.”

This cracked everyone up. Aubrey patted Sara on the shoulder. “I don't think that counts.”

“It shouldn't, because my mom drove me back there and made me pay for it from my allowance.”

Aubrey could totally see Emily Archer doing just that.

Anna returned with the nachos and hummus plate, and the game went on hiatus as everyone dove in. By the time the salads came out, they were on their second round of margaritas and had already done their second tequila shots. They jumped back into the game midway through their salads and had to order a third round of drinks so they wouldn't run out.

As Anna brought the next batch of shots and margaritas, she looked around the table. “Is someone driving you all home?”

“Derek's planning to pick me up,” Chloe said. “I'm sure he can give you all a ride.”

Aubrey swallowed the last bite of her salad. “And I'm walking distance, so you're all welcome to stagger back to my place for a sleepover.” The alcohol had hit her, but she was pleasantly tipsy, hopefully nowhere near staggering.

Maggie prepped her hand with salt for the next shot. “Oooh, a sleepover! That sounds fun.” She looked around the table. “Everybody ready?”

They all scrambled to pick up their shot glasses then drank.

Sara shuddered. “Oh, you guys, I should slow down.”

Tori looked at her sister and gave her an encouraging nod. “You're fine. I've always got your back, remember?”

Sara nodded. “I wish Alaina was here. Can you imagine the stuff we could find out?”

Chloe pushed her empty shot glass to the edge of the table so Anna could grab it when she came back. “No kidding! Think of the fun we could have—‘I've never made out with Ryan Gosling.' ”

“Which she totally did in that one movie,” Maggie said. “I wonder if she's ever met Sam Heughan or Gerard Butler.”

Tori looked at Aubrey. “In case you didn't know, Maggie has a thing for kilts and brogues.”

“Who doesn't?” Aubrey asked. “Oooh, I have one. Who's dated a Brit?”

Tori immediately drank and then smirked at everyone. “Married one!” Everyone took their turn high-fiving her.

“When you say dated,” Maggie asked, “does that include a minor hook-up at a party?”

Aubrey squinted at her. Was the room starting to get brighter? Or worse, was it maybe moving a tad? “What's a ‘minor hook-up'?”

Maggie had one hand on her margarita glass. “Make-out session, maybe a little groping.”

“Counts for me!” Sara said. “Drink! Anyone else?”

Chloe looked around the table. “Does an Aussie count?”

Aubrey laughed. “I really figured Carnegie Mellon's geography department was better than that. Australia and Britain aren't even in the same hemisphere.”

Chloe rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. “Fine.”

Tori turned to look at Chloe. “I think you should have to drink twice for that nonsense.”

Everyone verbalized their agreement, and Chloe giggled before taking two very long drinks.

“I've got one!” Maggie said. Her lips curled into a devilish smile. “I've never had a tattoo or a piercing that isn't in my ear.”

Sara frowned at her. All of their facial expressions seemed to have become exaggerated, or maybe Aubrey was just seeing them that way. She made a mental note—for what good that was at this point—to skip any future rounds of shots. And maybe make this her last margarita.

“Isn't that technically two ‘I nevers'?” Sara asked.

Maggie waved her hand. “Who cares? Or are you going to go full Archer on me and make up some penalty?”

Chloe leaned around Tori to look at Maggie. “Hey, we outnumber them. We're not letting them gaslight us.”

“Okay, so who's drinking?” Maggie looked around eagerly.

Tori, Chloe, and Aubrey drank. Maggie clapped her hands. “Spill. Which is it Tori? And give details.”

Tori set down her glass and wiped her lips with the back of her hand. “Tattoo. Dolphin. Hip.”

“Why a dolphin?” Aubrey asked, thinking her voice sounded a bit too loud and incapable of making it softer.

“We all have animals associated with us—it started with Christmas ornaments or in some cases a nickname or something. Like Sara's is a kitten because Dad called her Kitten.”

“Dad did not call Tori ‘Dolphin,' ” Sara informed the table with a bit of a slur.

“I just liked dolphins,” Tori said. “Still do. What about you, Aubrey—piercing or tattoo?”

“Tattoo. Boring. It's a four-leaf clover with the number three inside of it. I've never been a very lucky person—I've had to work my ass off for stuff. I was hoping the clover would help.” She smiled and appreciated the nods of encouragement from the other women.