“How many does this make now?” I ask, trying to hold my laughter in.

“Nine,” she replies between gritted teeth.

“Sam wants to be a baseball player, like his daddy,” Van informs us all, earning a glare from Gabby.

“Rhys doesn’t break windows. Rhys doesn’t need me to actually assemble every single snack he has.” She turns to us, her eyes a little manic now. “I swear, the kids never want something simple to snack on like an apple, or some little fish crackers. No. They want a sandwich with cheese and meat and mayo. Or better yet, mac and cheese.”

She lays her head on her arm on the table and whimpers.

“All I wanted was a bubble bath.”

“Shh, it’s okay, ladybug,” Declan says as he approaches the table and strokes his hand down Gabby’s hair while the rest of us laugh with hilarity. Even Simon is chuckling, his eyes dancing with humor.

I lean in to him. “I know this is a lot. We can go whenever you want.”

“Are you kidding? I’m having a great time. I’m about to start asking questions about you as a child.”

Gabby’s head comes up. “Oh, this is a better subject by far. We have lots of stories.”

“Great.” Simon rubs his hands together eagerly and I shake my head.

“No one wants to hear this.”

“Oh, but they do,” Van says with a gleeful smile. “What do you want to know?”

“Was Charly always so confident?” he asks.

“Oh yeah,” Gabby says with a nod. “She was always the most headstrong and put together.”

“I was not. That was Eli.”

“Of the sisters,” Van clarifies. “Charly was the most organized. Even if we were playing, it had to be in a certain order.”

“No one likes chaos,” I mutter, and Simon tightens his hand on mine.

“But she has the best sense of humor of all of us, and she loves so big, you know?”

“I do,” Simon replies and lifts my hand to his lips. “She has a big heart.”

“She wears that heart on her sleeve,” Van says but I shake my head.

“No way.”

“For the most part,” Gabby says, agreeing with Van. “But there are times that she pulls in, and guards herself fiercely. I hate it when she does that because she’s hard to read.”

“So did she ever do something scandalous in school, that may have gotten her in trouble? Come on, girls, I want the dirt.”

“Hmm…dirt.” They look at each other, as if they’re trying to come up with something, and then shrug.

“Honestly, Charly never really got into much trouble,” Gabby says. “I was the one that got pregnant right out of high school. Van got married right away. Charly was always just career minded.”

“Yeah, I don’t think she got into much trouble,” Van says, but Declan is just smiling at me, keeping his mouth shut, but he couldn’t be more obvious.

“Clearly, Declan knows something you don’t,” Simon says. “Spill it, mate.”

“I was sworn to secrecy,” Declan says and shakes his head. “Sorry.”

“Wait, you know something we don’t?” Gabby demands. “I want to know.”

“Me too,” Van says.

“Me three,” Sarah adds, who has been watching the conversation with rapture, “and it’s completely none of my business.”

“I will pull every hair from your body with tweezers,” I say calmly and take a sip of water, my eyes on Declan. “And you know that’s not a threat.”

“I do like my hair,” he replies. “But it was a long time ago, Char. Who cares if I tell them now? Even Dad isn’t here to punish you.”

“It deserved punishment?” Simon asks and leans over to whisper in my ear. “I can spank you later.”

And cue the wet panties. Again.

“I heard that,” Declan says and scowls at Simon.

“I don’t care,” I say with a shrug, and everyone leans toward Declan in excitement.

“Charly was about sixteen,” he begins, then looks at me for confirmation to continue. I just sigh and nod.

What the hell?

“It was summertime,” he continues, “so we were all staying out in the Bayou, at the house Gabby lives in now. The nearest neighbor is about a half a mile away, and at the time it was owned by this really mean old lady with her teenage grandson.”

“She wasn’t that old,” I remind them all, “but to us back then, she was ancient.”

“Was this that guy, oh what was his name?” Van asks and taps her nails on the table. “Jerry? Larry? Terry?”

“His name was Eddie,” I reply.

“Eddie!” she snaps her fingers. “That’s right.”

“And we were just friends.”

“Sure,” Gabby says with a nod. “Of course you were.”

“Anyway, Charly told Mom that she was going to a friend’s house for a sleepover and instead she snuck out with Eddie to go camping.”

“In the swamp?” Sarah asks.

“No, just in his backyard. I wasn’t that adventurous, but he had a really cool telescope, and you could see the planets and stuff.”

“Sure, he was going to show you his telescope,” Gabby says with a snort.

“Do you like looking at the stars, darling?” Simon asks and kisses my cheek.

“Yeah, it’s kind of fun.” I shrug and prepare myself for the rest of the story.