Trials and Tiaras (Untouchable #7) - Heather Long Page 0,142

tests were done, and school wasn’t really about actual education. Hell, most of us were on reduced schedules. Grades locked this week, and it was all about make up work if you had it. We didn’t.

So Mom played the Mom card, and I gathered up the guys along with Frankie for dinner. Dad grilled, and we were all out by the pool. Frankie wore the bandage bathing suit from spring break, and damn if it didn’t look even better on her right now than it had then.

Of course, I had to not focus on her in it. Swim trunks were not good at disguising erections, and no one needed to give Mom any more fodder for teasing. Frankie and Coop were playing in the pool, while Dad gave Archie a grilling lesson.

I didn’t know whether to feel sorry for him or to laugh. The guy tried, I’d give him that. But I thought we might be better off if we designated cooking off limits to him. I had a feeling those burgers were going to be burnt or raw when we got them.

“So Jake,” Mom said as she put the covered salad on the table. We were all going to eat outside. “I talked to your mom, and she told me the girls weren’t all going to Germany until later in the summer?”

“Yeah, Dad might get new orders, he’s TDY somewhere in Italy right now, and he has another assignment. So until we know he’s back at his base or reassigned here…they’re waiting.”

“Oh that’s a shame.” She glanced over at Frankie and Coop. “You two should start getting dried off for food.” Then in a lower voice, she added in a half-whisper, “If they don’t burn it.”

Not laughing proved difficult.

“Ian, go help your brother boyfriend. I do want to eat this evening, and we have a lot to talk about.”

Jake choked and sputtered. “His what now?”

Fuck.

Mom grinned, and I shook my head. She was never letting this go. I made my escape to “help” Archie and Dad. Coop’s sudden laughter rolled over from the other side of the pool, and Archie glanced at me.

“What’s so funny?”

“Oh, Sara’s probably explaining brother boyfriends to them,” Dad said without missing a beat, then shot me an apologetic look. “Sorry, I tried.”

The burger Archie had been flipping broke apart as he dropped it. “The what now?”

Yep.

Never. Going. Away.

Jake

After dinner at Bubba’s place and “brother boyfriends,” I wasn’t quite ready for the big family dinner “surprise” that was thrown for us. Mom, Bubba’s parents, Coop’s mom and his dad, all the siblings, and Jeremy sprang it on us the last weekend of the last week of school. We really only had “classes” on Monday, then graduation prep on Tuesday, and on Wednesday, Frankie, me, and the guys would walk her old elementary school in our graduation caps and gowns and visit with the kindergarteners before we were out. While we—as in Archie, Bubba, and I—hadn’t started there, we could still go if we volunteered, and we wanted to do it with Frankie and Coop.

Graduation was Saturday.

The Saturday night before, Jeremy informed us we had to show up at Archie’s place for dinner, no excuses. So we’d gone, only to find the rest of our families there. The only ones not present were bad meatloaf—thank fuck—and Archie’s mom.

It was like a huge holiday meal with courses, and toasts, and laughter. It was also about congratulating all of us on graduating and getting ready for college the next year. Mom and Sara pulled Frankie aside at one point along with Carly, and when I would have gone to rescue her, Joe stopped me and Bubba both.

“Let them have their moment.” At my quizzical look, he just gave me a patient smile and waved us back over to the others. Coop’s dad was trying, and while there was still a definite chill in the air between Coop and his dad, Coop seemed to be relaxed.

It turned out the moms had gotten together and gotten Frankie a graduation present. In addition to a diamond bracelet, they’d also volunteered to be a ‘mom’ if she needed it. It amused me that they would pinch hit for her to call if she had boy issues. Like she could call my mom if she had an issue with the other guys, and call Carly or Sara if the issue was with me.

As cute as I thought it was, it was also very sweet, and Frankie had been kind of sniffly afterward. I