“You okay?” Addie asks her softly.
“Never better. Is there liquor?”
“I see some coolers over by the fire pit,” I reply and grab Addie’s hand in mine as we follow Cami toward the chairs. “How long has she been in love with him?”
Addie’s gaze whips up to mine, then back to Cami. “Our whole lives.”
“It shows.”
“Not to him,” Addie replies as we both watch Landon wrap Cami in a bear hug, then ruffle her hair, the same way he did Addie’s. “See?”
“Maybe he sees it but doesn’t know what to do about it?”
Addie shrugs. “Maybe it’s none of our business.” She chuckles as we sit next to each other. “Thanks for coming.”
“Thanks for inviting me.”
DINNER WAS AMAZING. I can see where Mia gets her culinary skills. It has to be embedded in her genetic makeup.
We’re in a large semicircle around the now-lit fire. Cami and Addie are roasting marshmallows. Two of the three friends of Landon—Mike and Corey—are playing guitar and singing some old Johnny Cash songs.
They’re not half-bad.
Corey stops playing halfway into “Ring of Fire” and says, “It feels weird to sing songs with Jake Knox sitting here with us. Play with us, man.”
“I don’t have—”
“I have a guitar for you to play,” Landon says and dashes into the house to retrieve it.
“You don’t have to,” Addie says with worried eyes, but I just smile and brush my hand down her long braid.
“It’ll be fun. Maybe they’ll teach me a thing or two.”
“Right.” Mike snorts.
Landon passes me the guitar, a Gretsch, which is gorgeous. “Nice guitar, man.”
He grins and sits on a bench next to Cami. “I know.”
“Let’s do ‘Ring of Fire’ again, from the top,” Mike says and we all break into the song. I sing along with the guys, enjoying myself. I haven’t jammed just for fun in a very long time.
We play three more songs, and then conversation takes over. S’mores are made, jokes are told. I begin to strum the melody that won’t leave me alone lately. I’ve only ever played it on the piano, but it sounds just as sweet on the guitar.
“That’s pretty,” Addie murmurs next to me. “I don’t recognize it.”
It’s yours.
“It’s just something I’ve been fiddling with,” I reply honestly.
“Oh my God, Addie!” Mike calls from across the fire. “I can’t play ‘Margaritaville’ without thinking about that time you and I went on that weekend trip to the beach.”
Addie chuckles beside me. “You mean the time I went when my parents said I couldn’t and I got grounded for a month when we got home?”
“Hey, it’s not my fault that you were a disobedient teenager,” Mike replies with a smile. “Addie and I used to date in high school,” he informs me. I glance down at Addie, who simply laughs.
“Date is a strong word, Mike. I think you used to annoy the hell out of me in high school is more accurate.”
“Right,” Mike says with a sarcastic nod. “You just keep telling yourself that.”
“Addie was quite the naughty girl when we were younger,” Mia informs me as she takes a bite of her s’more.
“Oh, do tell.” I set the guitar aside and lean in, already fascinated.
“Remember that time we had a kegger out on old man Mathewson’s property when we were seniors?” Corey asks. “That means Addie, Mia, and Cami were sophomores.”
“Oh God,” Addie groans and then laughs out loud. “Why are you doing this to me?”
“She got so drunk,” Cami says with a shake of the head. “So, so drunk.”
“So drunk that she stripped naked and jumped in the lake,” Landon says, laughing. “It was March, I think.”
“February,” Addie mutters. “It was so fucking cold!”
“Sobered you right up,” Mia adds. “But then, when she tried to get dressed, she couldn’t find her panties. Turns out, she’d flung them over her head, and they got stuck on a tree branch about twenty feet in the air.”
The girls are doubled over in laughter, wiping tears from their eyes.
“Hey, I retrieved them for her!” Corey says. “I climbed that damn tree and got pitch all over me.”
“Poor baby,” Addie says, then sighs as the laughter subsides. “Ah, the good ol’ days.”
“Wait,” Cami says with a frown. “Was that twelve years ago, or last week, because she’d totally still do that.”
“Not in February,” Addie says, laughing all over again.
“Blondie!” Landon slaps his leg, then points to Addie. “Remember the summer after you graduated, and I came home on leave, and we went camping?”
“Uhh . . .” Addie replies, but Mia jumps in.
“The sad old man!” Mia exclaims.
“Sad old man?” I ask, enthralled.
“Addie saw this old man at a campsite next to ours, and she decided he looked sad,” Mia explains.
“So, she went over to the edge of his site and flashed him,” Cami finishes, rolling with laughter again.
“Did you ever keep your clothes on?” I ask her.
“Not if I could help it,” she admits with a naughty grin. “Why would anyone do that?”
I’m going to fuck the hell out of her when we get home.