by Karina Halle
His cousin Linden, his wife Stephanie (my best friend), and their two-year old daughter True.
His cousin Bram, his fiancé Nicola (my other best friend), and her daughter Ava (from a previous relationship).
His cousin Mal, as well as his cousin Maisie and her boyfriend Adair (thank god no babies for them, there’s going to be so many kids up in this place).
Plus a whole bunch of people from the city, like his teammate Thierry, our friends Amara and Rennie and others.
It’s going to be fucking lit.
And he doesn’t have a single clue about it.
But I do need him to get going to practice because then it’s my cue to leave and head to the George hotel where I’m meeting his family. Everyone came in this morning.
I’m excited as hell, but I just have to play it cool, in case Lachlan picks up on my weird vibes. I mean, he’s my husband, he’s used to me vibrating all over the place and in every direction.
Luckily when he comes out of the bathroom, all clean shaven, which makes him look a lot younger, he doesn’t seem to notice. He gets changed into his tracksuit and then comes over to me, giving me a long, sweet kiss.
“I’ll see you later, love,” he says to me, then strides out of the apartment, stopping by the couch where Emily and Lionel, our dogs, are napping. He gives them both a kiss on the nose, making butterflies explode in my stomach like I’m falling in love with my gentle giant for the first time.
And then he’s gone.
I sit on the couch for a few minutes with the dogs, making sure he’s had enough time to get in Land Rover and drive off, then with a giddy smile, I get on my rubber boots and a parka and head on outside.
It’s a short walk from our flat to the hotel, so I decide to hoof it, taking in the sights of Edinburgh as it gets buried under snow. It’s so utterly pretty, sometimes it feels like I’m living in a fairy tale, especially now with all the stone buildings covered in a layer of frosting.
Of course a lot of the people I pass on the street are grumbling. Snow in February isn’t uncommon, but it’s the time of year where people have their sights set on Spring, so to have a cold dump of the white stuff at this point in the year can make people crabby.
Not me though! Growing up in San Francisco, we never had snow, so every time it happens here I take advantage of it. One Christmas we went up North to see Lachlan’s grandfather, and it was like I was living in a damn Christmas movie. Okay, it ended up being more like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation than, say, It’s a Wonderful Life, but still. Magical.
So I’m hurrying along, trying not to slip on the slushy roads, a smile plastered on my face as I pass people by. I’m not just excited for Lachlan to see everyone, but this is like a present for me too. I haven’t seen Steph, Nicola, Bram or Linden since our wedding. That was a crazy fucking time, but they were there for me throughout it all. I’ve been wanting to head back to San Francisco to see my brothers, since that was the last time I saw them too, but honestly now that my mom is gone, it’s hard to feel the pull back to that city. This is my city now.
And what a pretty city it is. I turn the corner onto Princes Street and I immediately take out my phone, snapping pictures of the castle on the hill, surrounded by snow.
Then I keep walking until I’m right in The George.
This is a fancy as fuck place but I’m glad everyone found a good deal. Oh who am I kidding, they all have money, especially Linden now that his helicopter business is really booming.
Steph had texted me earlier when they got off the plane, then again when they checked in, so I know their room number. I told them I was going to come by and try to keep them all awake, because I know the first thing they’re going to want to do after that hella long flight from SF to Edinburgh is sleep. But that will only fuck up their system for the rest of the trip.
I head up the elevator and go down the darkened hallways, searching for them. This place is actually kind of spooky in a way, like it’s haunted, though there’s nothing less scary than a Scottish ghost. The accent would have me laughing. You know, aye, boo, you numpty!
Finally I come to their door and I can hear a child wailing behind it.
Oh great.
See, I’m not good with kids. Okay, I’m fine with them, and I like them, but I don’t want any of my own (neither does Lachlan, thank god, and who can blame him), and they often view me as an alien species and vice versa. It’s probably one reason why we get along with Keir and Jessica so well, since they’re in the kidless department as well, though who knows that might change. Sell outs.
I decide to knock anyway.
The door immediately flings open and a very sleepy, red-faced Steph is there. Her eyes go wide when she sees me, her mouth dropping open.
“Eeeeeeeee!!!” she squeals, jumping up and down.
I start jumping up and down too, flapping my hands around like I’m a bird.
She brings me into a huge hug and I know somewhere down the hall someone is opening their door and seeing what all the fuss is about. Either that or it’s a ghost.
“I can’t believe I’m here,” Steph says to me, pulling away.
“I can’t believe you’re here either,” I tell her, then reach up and pull a Ramen noodle from her hair. “This yours?” I ask, holding it out.
“Ugh,” she says, taking the noodle from me and tossing it on the floor behind her. “Don’t worry, it doesn’t matter, the whole place is a mess.”
She opens the door wider and I step inside.
She wasn’t kidding.
The hotel room looks trashed.
There are Ramen noodles everywhere, spilled juice on the carpet, the curtains look like someone’s been hanging off them, the bed is unmade.
“Didn’t you just get here?” I ask, looking around.
And then finally I spot the culprit.
She’s in the closet, peeking through the gap in the door.
“Hey True,” I call out to her.
True just bares her teeth like a wild animal.
Okay then.
“Don’t mind her, she’s been a terror for the last twenty-four hours,” Steph says, collapsing onto the couch. She looks exhausted, now that the euphoria of seeing me again has worn off. “To that end, I haven’t slept in twenty-four hours.”
“Not even on the flight?”
She gives me a look. “No. Not on the flight. Linden did,” she growls over his name, “but True didn’t sleep and she cried the entire time. The whole entire time. Everyone on the plane hated me. I even had some assholes tell me I shouldn’t be flying with a child but oh my god, she’s freaking two years old. She’s allowed to fly. Plus when we brought her to your wedding, she was fine. She was an angel! I don’t know what happened.”
“Speaking of your deadbeat husband, where is Linden?” I ask.
“He said he was going out to get us some food since the Ramen we packed, well…” She gestures to the noodles all over the room. “There was an incident. But I’m pretty sure he’s out exploring the town, or who knows, at a pub with Bram. I wouldn’t be surprised.”
“They’re next door right?” I ask, pointing to the adjoining door.
“Yeah but I think they’re sleeping. At least Nicola and Ava are.”
“Nooooo,” I tell her. “You can’t let them sleep! That’s going to mess up everything. You’re all here for a week, you need to try and adjust.”
“That’s what I told them,” she says, yawning. “Though honestly, I don’t think it would hurt if I just closed my eyes for a second.”
“No, Steph,” I tell her. Then I look at True in the closet. “True, go attack your mom. Don’t let her sleep.”
True makes a cat-like sound and then comes roaring out of the closet, running right for her mother and jumping on her.
“Oh god, Kayla, I am going to kill you.”
I grin at her. “Didn’t you miss me?”
She groans as True starts lightly slapping her mother’s face. She’s such
a pretty looking girl, the product of two of the sexiest people I know, and yet her capacity for evil is truly impressive.
But to make things fair, I head over to the door to the other room and I start banging my fists on it. “Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up! Wake the fuck up!”
“Kayla, no, wait, what are you doing?” Steph cries out.
I look over my shoulder at her just as the door opens.
I turn to face a very old, wet, half-naked man in a towel.
“What’s going on?” he asks me.
I yelp. “Ahhh! I’m sorry. You’re not Nicola.”
“No I’m not bloody Nicola,” he says with a sneer. Then he looks over at Steph. “And there’s no way anyone in this place can sleep a wink with that child running about.”
Then he turns, his ass crack clearly showing, and slams the door shut.
I slowly look over at Steph, my face beet red. “You said they were right next door!” I cry out, absolutely mortified, though that’s fading away into hilarity.
Steph’s trying not to laugh. “I did! I said they were next door. I didn’t say through that door!”
“Oh my god,” I laugh, collapsing to my knees on the carpet, tears streaming down my face.
Now Steph is laughing too, a big belly-aching laugh, and the two of us are positively howling. I’m rolling around on the floor, and then True comes beside me and starts rolling around too.
Then the main door to the room opens and through my tears I can barely see Linden and Bram walk in.
“What the hell is going on here?” Linden asks, staring down at me. “Kayla?”
“Hi,” I manage to say, holding my ribs. “The man. The old naked man.”
They close the door and look at the both of us.
Bram shakes his head. “I think they’ve lost it.”
“To be fair, Kayla lost it a long time ago,” Linden says. “Being in our motherland must have gone to her head.”
“Oh my god.” I lift my arms up above my head. “Help me up you bastards.”
Linden grins at me and comes over, placing his hands at my elbows and lifting me up to my feet.
“Nice to know you’d leave a woman on the ground,” I tell him.
“Shut up,” he says, smiling.
We hug.
Linden’s always been a good hugger.
“Bram,” I say, turning to him next. “How are you? Still doing Bramtastic?”
He gives me a cocky grin, “You know it,” before he pulls me into a quick embrace. “So what’s this about an old naked man?”
I grimace. “I was trying to find Nicola and wake her up.”
“You can do that right now if you want,” he says, running his hand over his beard. “Me and Linden have been walking around, trying to stay awake.”
“Uh huh,” Steph says as Linden attempts to kiss her on the cheek. “Is that why you smell like beer?”
Huh. I hadn’t even noticed. Then again, everyone smells like beer in this place.
“You’re supposed to acclimatize,” Linden says, flashing Bram a cheeky smile.
“It’s eleven am,” Steph points out.
“No, that sounds about right,” I tell them. I turn to Bram. “Take me to your woman.”
I follow Bram out in the hall, leaving Steph and Linden and True to sort through their mess, and to the room on the other side. Of course.
Bram swipes his key and we step inside.
It’s dark.
The curtains are drawn.
Fuck that noise.
Bram slides the key into the light switch and I flick them on.
Nicola and Ava are passed out together on the bed.
“Wake up!!” I yell, cupping my hands over my mouth.
Someone above us thumps on the floor to tell me to be quiet.
And Nicola isn’t even moving.
Bram sighs. “Come on you guys, wake up.”
Only now Ava stirs, slowly sitting up. “What…dad?” she asks, looking around the room. “Where am I?”
“You’re in Edinburgh, baby!” I yell at her, running over to her with my tickle fingers out. Even though Ava is seven (or eight, I can’t keep track), she still has much to fear with the tickle monster.
“Kayla!” she cries out and then her eyes go wide as I start tickling her all over. “No, no, no. No fair!”
Meanwhile Nicola is still dead to the world.
“Hey, hey, Ava,” I say to her, wagging my fingers above her stomach. “I’ll stop if you help me wake up your mom.”
“Deal,” she says. Then she gets to her feet on the bed and starts bouncing up and down, Nicola’s wavy brown hair flying around.
I open all the curtains so the bright snowy light from outside floods in, while Bram gets the kettle on, presumably to make her a cup of tea or instant coffee.
“Oh lord, please stop,” Nicola moans into her pillow. “I’m going to hurl.”
I look over at Bram expectantly.
He shrugs. “She may have had a lot to drink on the plane.”
“Yeah mommy kept on asking the flight attendant for more of the little bottles,” Ava says, bouncing, bouncing, bouncing. “She drank them all!”
“I schmav a fer o flin!” Nicole mumbles.
“Is that even English?” Bram asks.
She lifts her head up an inch. “I have a fear of flying, okay?”
Then she rolls over on her side and blinks at me.
“Kayla?”
“Who did you think was here?”
A smile slowly spreads across her face, making the drool at the corner of her mouth and the creases on her cheeks from the pillow case look less noticeable. “Kayla!”
I climb on the bed beside her and pat her on the head. “There there. We don’t need to hug if you’re going to hurl. I just came by to keep you awake. What did I tell you all week long. Don’t sleep when you arrive! Sleep on the plane.”
“I was trying to sleep on the plane,” she says, looking up at me and wincing. “Hence the alcohol. Only it didn’t work. Just give me five more minutes.”
“I don’t think so, sweetheart,” Bram says, tugging on her feet. “If the rest of us are able to stay awake, you can too. Besides, I learned a secret. It’s called beer. And Linden and I found a lovely wee pub around the corner that would be a perfect place for us to start getting our drink out. The only way out is through.”
“Good idea,” I tell him. “I’ll text Natasha and Jessica and let them know where to meet us. Then we can all head over to our place.”
“I’ll let Mal and Maisie know too,” Bram says. I’m not in close contact with those cousins since one is in Glasgow, and the other is in some other place I can’t either pronounce, nor remember.
“Does Lachlan still not know?” Nicola asks, slowly sitting up and wincing.
I shake my head. “Believe it or not, I’m good at keeping a secret.”
“I’ll believe it when I see it,” she says with a small smile.
“So what’s the plan then?” Bram asks, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall. “We surprise Lachlan after his practice?”
“Yeah. I want you guys to all be there and then like jump out and really give him a fucking heart attack. Then tomorrow night, that’s the party party. I’m sure tonight you won’t be tying one on.”
“Tying one on?” Nicola repeats.
“Getting shitfaced.”
“Hey,” Ava says. “It’s poopface, okay?”
I laugh, hand at my mouth. “Yes, whoops. Sorry. I meant poopface. Don’t say shitface okay?”
“Kayla,” Nicola says sternly but she’s trying not to smile.
“See, you missed me too!” I get up off the bed. “Now, should I go to the pub or wait for you guys. I’m afraid to leave you alone in case you fall asleep again.”
“I’ll keep an eye on her,” Bram says. “You just go get the other McGregors.”
I nod and head next door to them, knocking on the door.
Linden answ
ers it this time, drinking a small beer from the mini bar. “Any luck?”
“Yep, they’re up.” I look around the room. It’s still a disaster zone. “Where’s the girls?”
“Steph is giving Ava a bath.”
“Okay well I’m going to head to that pub you and Bram just sneaked off to. All the rest of you McGregors are meeting us there in an hour.”
He wiggles his lips, thinking that over. Then he goes over to the bathroom and pokes his head in. “Am I officially allowed to go to the pub with Kayla or do you want me to wait for you and True to get ready?”
I can’t see Stephanie, nor do I hear her response, but I’m guessing it’s a look that can kill judging from the fear on Linden’s face and the way he closes the door.
“You know, I’m just going to stay,” he says to me.
“I’ll stay with you.”
“Beer?” he asks me, heading to the mini bar.
“Please.”
Because Lachlan doesn’t drink, I don’t drink when I’m around him. We don’t keep any alcohol in the house, and I won’t even touch it when we’re out for dinner together.
But when I’m with my friends, all bets are off.
So we sit down in the mess of a hotel room while Steph and Ava get ready. By then, Nicola, Bram and Ava are ready too and we get to the pub around the corner with moments to spare.
We’ve just sat down and ordered our beers when Linden and Bram look over my head at the door.
“Well, well, well, look who it is,” Bram yells out across the pub, getting to his feet. Thankfully yelling is the norm here.
I twist in my seat to see Brigs and Natasha strolling in.
Brigs is looking as tall and commanding and handsome as ever, a real debonair presence, especially as he’s wearing a suit, making the rest of the men look like amateurs.
Natasha is blonde and model gorgeous with a killer sense of humor. We get along so fucking well it’s not even funny. Even though she’s pushing her baby Ramona in the stroller, she’s definitely one of those “cool moms” without even trying to be.
Bram and Linden pile out of their chairs, engulfing Brigs with a double-whammy hug, while I quickly embrace Natasha and lead her over to the girls.
They’d all met before at my wedding (if I remember correctly, we got in a lot of trouble during my stag party, which just proves how easily Natasha fits in with our group), and already they seem to be acting like they’re old friends.