However Long the Night

Chapter Fifteen

When they arrived at Shelby's, music wafted through the screen door to greet them. The sound of soft laughter brought a genuine smile to Will's face, helping loosen the strings of stress that tightened his chest. Josh winked, opened the door and let out a loud wolf whistle.

"Hey! You ladies decent in here, or what?" His voice boomed, but Will could tell it was an act. It would take more than a change of scenery to wipe the day away.

"Babe!" Shelby ran out of the kitchen, jumped into Josh's arms, and planted a loud kiss on his lips, her curls momentarily covering his face. "I missed you!" Disentangling herself from his grip, she stood back for a second, her forehead wrinkling with concern as she gazed up at him.. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm fine." Josh folded her in his arms again, his cheek on her forehead, and Will looked down at the floor.

Glancing over her shoulder, Shelby nodded at him. "C'mon in, Will. Skye and I are making food, and we've got some drinks, too. Like, real drinks. Not that it will make today any better, but maybe it'll help us all chill out a bit. Want a beer?" She grinned wide, pleased with herself.

Josh raised his eyebrows, clearly impressed. "How'd you score that? Yeah, beer us up, stat." He gave her a high-five, then reached down to palm her butt. Shelby squealed, jumped, and surprised him with a quick swat.

"If you must know, my brother was back home last weekend. I gave him sad little sister eyes when he went out for a beer run, et voila!" She smiled slyly, hands on her hips.

"And that worked for you?" Will didn't bother hiding the skepticism in his voice. Shelby's brother wasn't the type to rush out and buy alcohol for her without incentive.

"Well, I also gave him thirty bucks, so yeah, that helped." She shrugged and laughed good-naturedly. "I stashed the beer in a cooler under the back deck this week, but it's been on ice for a couple of hours now. Aunt Bridget, Mom, and Dad went out to the lake for the night, so it's time to crack 'em open."

Skye appeared at the kitchen doorway, holding two bottles. "Hi guys." Handing out the beer, her 1 winked at Will when their gaze connected. Dark hair loose, she wore a soft T-shirt and cut-offs that emphasized her long, slim legs. For a second, she took his breath away. "We were just about to go outside. C'mon, help us carry stuff out!"

The kitchen table practically groaned under a towering tray of nachos, spring rolls and sauce, a stack of brownies, bag of chips and a bucket full of beer on ice. Eager to dig in, they loaded up their arms, balancing food and drink as they filed out to the patio table on the back deck. Sitting down two by two across from each other, the motherlode of snacks filled the tablespace between them.

"Hey. Are you ok?" Skye's whisper tickled Will's ear. She was so close he could smell her perfume.

"Yeah. I mean, today sucked." The lump in his throat was hard to swallow away. "But I'm glad I'm here." Reaching under the patio table he squeezed her hand.

"Me too." She gave him a small smile and squeezed back.

"Sweet spread, babe." From across the table, Josh wrapped his arm around Shelby's waist. "Thanks for inviting us over. Tonight's exactly what I needed."

If he played his cards right and toned down the daredevil shit, Will figured Josh and his 3 could have a real shot of sticking things out with Shelby and her 4 for the long haul.

They seemed so happy together: the type of couple who gets together in high school, stretches their relationship to an acceptable age in their twenties, then gets hitched and starts the cycle all over again with kids of their own. To some, that kind of life was boring. To Will? Boring was a gift.