“Well, I think it’s great that these two lovebirds can’t keep their hands or tongue to themselves, even at the dinner table. That’s the kind of passion every couple should have.” Gran-Gran slaps the table. “I need a glass of brandy. Let’s retire to the sitting room.”

I take the out while I can. “We should probably think about heading home, actually.” This time Ronan lets me yank my hand free from his grasp. I push my chair back, looking to put some space between us.

“You’re not staying the night?” My father’s disappointment is obvious.

“We both have to be up early for work tomorrow.” It’s not a lie. Also, the charade with Ronan has gone on long enough. I’m not sleeping in the same room as him to keep up false pretenses. Besides, I don’t trust Skylar not to pick the lock and try to hump him in the middle of the night.

“That’s too bad. Next time you’ll have to plan to stay,” my mom says.

I doubt I’ll be able to do that anytime soon, but I don’t bother to argue. We spend another ten minutes debating whether we really need to leave. Ronan yawns. I can’t tell if it’s real or forced, but I use it to our advantage.

“Looks like someone is crashing from all the buttercream.”

The entire family walks Ronan and me to the door. Then it’s a round of awkward hugs and lots of people whispering in my ear about how they hope I bring him back at Christmas. Ronan uses me as a shield to avoid a hug from Skylar. Quite literally. He moves to stand behind me, his forearm coming to rest against my collarbones, fingers curling around my shoulder. The entire front of his body is pressed up against the back of mine. I find myself sort of melting into him as Skylar does some kind of weird dance move like she’s trying to find a way between us.

He rests his chin on my opposite shoulder and extends his hand. “It was a pleasure to meet you, Skylawn.”

“Skylar.” She gives it a dead-fish shake, pouting the entire time.

“Right, my bad.” He brushes the shell of my ear with the tip of his nose. “Time to go home, Care Blaire. Dessert round two is calling my name.”

chapter twelve

The Revealing Ride Home

Ronan

Okay, so the whole sexual innuendo, “dessert round two” comment was a little over the top, but I felt it was completely justified considering Blaire’s cousin needs an ego check.

It isn’t until we’re in Blaire’s SUV and we’ve made it past the gates that I finally speak. “That was interesting.”

Blaire glances at me before she turns left out of the driveway. Her cheeks are tinged pink, likely from the embarrassing end to our visit in which I insinuated, in front of her entire family, that I was going to take her home and devour her like one of her cupcakes. “Sorry I didn’t adequately prepare you for the experience.”

“I don’t think anything could have adequately prepared me for that.”

“They’re well-meaning but crazy.” She tucks a few wayward strands of hair behind her ear.

“You can say that again. How the hell did your parents end up swapping partners?” I wonder how many people Blaire’s had to explain this to and whether it ever gets easier.

Blaire blows out a breath. “Uh, I don’t really know what precipitated it, but my whole family has always been really close, traveling together to get new restaurants up and running. Skylar, Maddy, and I were pretty much raised as sisters, and whoever wasn’t on the road looked after us. The parental roles were basically interchangeable.”

She grips the steering wheel tightly. “When I was a sophomore in high school, Mom, Dad, Aunt Nora, and Uncle Lawrence sat us kids down and explained that things were going to change.” She shakes her head, maybe remembering how it all went down. “It was the weirdest conversation I’ve ever been involved in. At least until Maddy and Matthew told me they’d started dating.”

The whole Maddy and Matthew situation is its own crazy nightmare, I’m sure. I’d have to come back to that, though. “You were in high school when it happened?”

She nods once. “Yup.”

“That must’ve been rough.”

“Uh, well, not much changed to be honest. I mean, there were obvious things, like my mom and dad stopped sleeping in the same bedroom, but the actual family dynamic stayed pretty much the same. Outside the house it was a whole different story, though.”

“Can I ask how, or do you not want to talk about it? Because honestly, I can totally understand if you don’t want to, but I can’t lie and tell you I’m not curious.”

“It’s like a bad daytime talk show episode.”

I can’t tell if she’s embarrassed or what, so I give her an out. “We can change the subject.”

“It’s fine. It was a long time ago. I’m mostly over it. I’m pretty removed from the situation at this point. I love my family, but the whole situation is weird and kind of squicky, you know?” She grimaces. “Actually, you probably don’t know, which is a really good thing. Anyway, my parents thought the best plan would be to have everyone move into the house together, less disruption for us kids, and my aunt and uncle were always over anyway. So they pooled their resources and built that tacky monstrosity and we all moved in there. My mom and my uncle took a wing, and my dad and my aunt took a wing, and us girls were just supposed to deal with it.”

“Is that how it worked out?” Having two families mesh together like an incestuous Brady Bunch doesn’t seem like something teenage girls would just be able to roll with.

She lifts a shoulder in what I assume is meant to be a careless shrug. “Yes and no. Was it awkward? Definitely. We went to this really exclusive, expensive private school where everyone was super gossipy, and my parents own some insanely successful restaurants all over the world, so…”

“It did not go unnoticed.” I can’t even imagine how awful it would be to have your family’s messed-up drama become public knowledge.

“Nope. Teens aren’t very forgiving when your parents and your aunt and uncle switch partners. I think their lack of convention made me crave normalcy. I became obsessed with family shows, especially Leave It to Beaver. I loved everything about shows with stereotypical family units who were solidly average.”

“I can see how that would be appealing.” I take in her appearance, from the perfectly styled hair and makeup to the full-skirted dress and cute heels. “I’m assuming it also inspired your fashion sense.”

“Kind of, yeah. The whole thing sort of came out around Halloween and I was already in my Leave It to Beaver phase, and I was in the play Grease, so I started wearing the dresses and never really stopped. It was easier to have people whispering about my weird fashion choices than it was to have them talk about how my parents were probably swingers.”

“People said that to you?”

“There was speculation, and honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that it was true, however I’m happy to be blissfully ignorant on that front for the rest of my damn life.”

Everything I’ve learned about Blaire tonight shifts my perception of her. She’s even stronger than I realized, not taking the easy road where everything could’ve been handed to her on a silver platter.