Lantern Lake Winter Collection: Books 1-3

by Gretchen S. B.

  About the time they got home, Reed’s home anyway, the two of them were laughing.

  Reed was able to compose himself first. "What do you want for dinner? I figure it saves time if we eat together."

  Alice felt the smile on her face die down and she felt a little guilty. "I have dinner plans; Simon asked if I wanted to get dinner with him tonight and I agreed."

  She watched as an emotion she couldn’t decipher traveled across Reed's face before he blanked it and nodded. "All right, that solves that problem, then. I hope you guys have fun. It also gives me more time to work on the assignments from my first period class today." Reed pointed to the backpack he’d shrugged off his shoulders.

  Once they were inside, instead of heading to the kitchen he headed upstairs to his bedroom.

  It wasn't a common area so while part of Alice wanted to follow him and find out what made him shut down that fast, she couldn't. Knocking on his bedroom door felt awkward and intrusive so she went about gauging her own workload and getting ready for dinner.

  Chapter 7

  "Wait, wait, say that whole thing again," Max interjected, sticking both of his hands out in front of him in a stopping motion while maintaining one curled thumb around his beer bottle.

  Reed sighed heavily. He had not meant to say out loud that Alice was on a date with Simon. But he’d blurted it out as he downed his second beer. He knew he had no right to be upset about Alice being on a date. He had never asked her out, despite his feelings, so he shouldn't be upset that she dated other people. But it rubbed him the wrong way because it was Simon. It solidified the idea she and Simon were an item. Out of all the people she could be seeing, it had to be his cousin-slash-best friend’s rival.

  "Alice is out on a dinner date with Simon. Don't ask me where because I don't know. All I know is when we were driving home, I asked what she wanted for dinner and she said she was having dinner with him. That's all I want to talk about in reference to that, please."

  Reed looked over at Kevin who was rapping his fingers on his own bottle, his face screwed up in thought as he looked past both his little brother and his cousin.

  "What are you thinking, brother?" Max asked slowly and curiously from over Reed's right shoulder.

  After pausing a moment, Kevin lifted the bottle to his lips, downed it, set it down, and made eye contact with the other two men. "I think we should crash the date and see exactly what's going on once and for all. I firmly believe the two of them are not in a relationship. Yes, them going on a date says otherwise, but I agree with Max. The body language they were giving off doesn't say settled couple. Our cousin has liked this girl for years. I don't think you should let her go without a fight."

  Reed had a sinking feeling at his cousin's words. Kevin had always been coming up with cockamamie schemes as they grew up and as they aged, he'd learned when it was a good idea to back off or talk Kevin out of getting them all in trouble. Crashing Alice's date would not end well.

  "Let's not do that, Kevin. Plus, while the three cities are not large it would take us time to find out where they went," Reed responded in the calmest tone he could manage.

  "No, I am with Kevin on this one. If nothing else, it will be entertaining," Max chimed in.

  Reed turned and glared at his younger cousin. Max should know better than to egg Kevin on. Before he could say anything, Kevin chimed in.

  "Actually, I have a fairly good idea where they are. Remember last year when Zander, one of the other trainers I work with, convinced me to join his bowling team? I did that for like four months. In that four months, Simon took six different women there to go bowling. They weren’t anything beyond a third date. They would get dinner then get a lane. I'm willing to bet he's a creature of habit and that is his first date move. And what if I'm wrong? Then we just go to the bowling alley maybe play a game and we are not out anything."

  Reed could tell he was getting outnumbered. "No, no, no. I do not want to interfere with Alice's love life."

  Max clapped him on the shoulder. "Too late, Reed; you've been outvoted. Let's get on outta here. And since I've only had one beer, I'm the one driving."

  The groan that flowed up from Reed's throat as he watched his cousins get ready to leave was loud and he couldn't help it. He knew his cousins were going with or without him. At least if he went along maybe he could be a calming force in whatever they were planning to do to ruin the date. Once Kevin got an idea in his head there was not a lot Reed could do to talk him out of it. Pushing off the counter, he followed his cousins out of Kevin's apartment.

  ~~

  The pit weighing down Reed's stomach grew, and he felt anxiety spark through him mere seconds after they entered the bowling alley. Sure enough Alice and Simon were setting up in a lane halfway down the alley.

  "Dang, I'm good," announced Kevin with a clap. "Let's get a lane and scope this thing out." With that he pivoted and turned toward the counter where Bert, the owner of the bowling alley stood taking customers.

  "Can we please agree to prevent him from causing a scene?" Reed pleaded with his younger cousin.

  Max drew his attention away from Alice and Simon and smiled at Reed, but there was a mischievous bend to Max’s smile Reed didn't like. "I promise not to do anything that will get us kicked out and I promise to prevent Kevin from doing the same. Beyond that, meh." He shrugged as he finished.

  Reed groaned; Max was usually the levelheaded one of the group. He and Kevin tended to get away with all sorts of stuff, but Max was always the voice of reason.

  "Come on, man, you have to know this is a bad idea," Reed pleaded quietly.

  Shaking his head, Max raised an eyebrow. "It's not that terrible. You’re the one that refuses to tell Alice how you feel about her. I agreed to this because I know how much Kevin hates Simon and I know what a jerk the guy is. I'll be more entertained by seeing what happens when he tries to mess with them. I have a sneaking suspicion anything he does will be more about Simon than Alice. Don't worry, everything will be fine." He clapped Reed on the shoulder again.

  Before Reed could say anything else, Kevin walked toward them beaming, holding three pairs of shoes. "We have lane three, not ideal for spying." He handed the shoes off to the two of them. But instead of walking to the left toward the third lane he began heading toward Simon and Alice.

  Holding his breath, Reed watched rooted where he stood as his cousin walked almost right up to their lane but feigned looking at the bowling balls as if picking one. Reed sighed heavily as he saw Simon excuse himself and head toward the restroom. Much to Reed's horror he watched as his mischievous, troublemaking cousin switched out the ball Simon had been using for what Reed could only assume was a heavier ball. Alice was bowling at the time, so she didn't see the switch. By the time she made it back Kevin was out of her eyesight.

  Maxwell chuckled next to him. "Maybe it will be harder for him to show off now."

  Groaning loudly, Reed turned to the food and beverage counter. "If I'm to live through this evening, I need at least another two beers." Without waiting for Max to respond, he pivoted and headed over. Reed felt bad for not asking his cousin if he wanted anything. Mostly he wanted to be by himself so he could get a level head and decide how to get ahead of whatever game Kevin planned on playing.

  Luckily, they set up their game and played the first three frames without any problem. Reed would be lying if he didn’t admit, even to himself, that the three of them did look over and giggle every time Simon fumed as the clearly heavier ball affected his score. The older man was clearly ticked and couldn't figure out what was wrong but possessed too much pride to try and switch out the ball himself.

  By the time they were in the fourth frame, Reed finished up his fourth beer and felt a fairly healthy buzz. At first, he couldn't figure out why the alcohol hit him so hard then he remembered he hadn't eaten dinner before heading over to his cousin's house. Tsking, he stood abruptly getting both of his cousins’ attention.

  "Sorry, guys, I just realized I
have had four beers and no food. I'm going to get something from the concession stand. Does anyone want anything?" He looked at both of them in turn.

  Max shook his head as he grabbed his bowling ball and moved back toward the lane.

  Kevin on the other hand stood up and walked toward him. "I could use something to eat and another beer. I'll come with you."

  Kevin looked like he was up to something, but Reed shrugged it off and waited until he was in step with his cousin and the two of them headed to the concession stand. They stood in silence as Reed checked out the menu. It wasn’t as if there was a wide variety at the bowling alley. The only items really worth eating were sandwiches that had been wrapped up and cooked at Betsy’s diner and driven over here. The rest was the kind of thing Reed could've eaten in high school but as an adult did not digest as well as he used to.

  When they got to the counter, he ordered another beer, as did Kevin then the both of them ordered a couple of sandwiches, figuring if Max didn't end up wanting one, they could split it. As they grabbed their orders, the two of them turned. Kevin was to Reed’s left and he pivoted as he moved, a much larger gesture than normal but Reed brushed it off since he didn't know how much alcohol his cousin had consumed.

  A second later, he heard a shout and watched wide-eyed as the plastic cup Kevin had been holding full of beer emptied itself all over Simon's shirt and jeans. It was like a train wreck―he couldn't look away.

  A sinking feeling circled his gut: Kevin had done it on purpose. While Reed hadn't seen Simon get up and head toward the concession stand that didn't mean Kevin hadn't.

  "Crap," he exclaimed under his breath, quietly enough no one else could hear it.

  "What the hell are you doing, McAllister? There is no way that was an accident," Simon's voice bellowed all but silencing their section of the bowling alley.

  Reed looked away only long enough to see Alice glance over wide-eyed as she saw the scene. There was no way she was going to be convinced this wasn't a set up. Especially when Reed heard his cousin's response.

  "I don't know what you're talking about. But I appreciate you going out of your way to help me not consume the extra calories another beer contains. You may teach physical fitness, but I actually have to live it." His cousin stepped slightly back and walked nonchalantly over to the trashcan a few feet away before dropping his cup in.

  "Don't you walk away from me after dumping your beer all over my clothes. What am I supposed to do now? It's not like I carry around an extra set with me."

  Reed's brain was speeding into overtime telling him to step in and problem-solve, to mitigate the situation that he was sure Kevin was not going to resolve. The two men always hated each other, and Reed made it a point to negate some of Kevin's more aggressive actions. But he had enough alcohol in his system that the shock overrode everything else.

  "Simon, I don't care what you do. Maybe you can drop your date off at my cousin’s house and go take care of it yourself, get a cold shower in. Because at the end of the day Reed's house is where she'll end up. She's not going anywhere with you, with or without the beer. But I wouldn't intentionally waste a beer. Especially one I just paid for. But even if it had been intentional, think of it this way: I saved Alice a couple hours in your company."

  Reed watched as Simon tensed and a growl came up from his throat. As the man opened his mouth with his reddening face, Bert's voice rumbled up from behind. "That'll be enough from both of you. I've known you since you were teenagers and you're known for causing all sorts of stupid problems. Now, I don't want to have to kick out either of you so here's what we’ll do. Simon, I’ll reimburse your playing fee since it looks like you'll be stepping out early. Kevin, so help me, get back to your lane. Your brother and cousin better keep you on a tight leash or I am kicking all three of you out of here. While I can't prove it wasn’t an accident, I know Simon was standing awfully close behind you so I can't guarantee that something else wouldn't have happened if you had made a tighter turn."

  Bert's gravelly voice was enough to set Reed into action. He pushed his legs forward and shifted the tray he was holding with the sandwiches on it, and his drink in the holder to his right hand. With his left he looped arms with his cousin and began hauling him back toward their lane without looking over his shoulder.

  "Don't worry, Bert. Max and I'll handle this." Reed did not make eye contact with anyone as he half dragged his cousin back to the lane. He snuck a look at Kevin and saw his best friend smirking. He took a chance and tilted his head so he could see Alice in the corner of his eye. She looked mad and the sinking feeling in Reed's stomach returned.

  It wasn't until about three minutes after he had deposited Kevin back in the seats and put down their food that the sound level in the bowling alley got back to where it had been before the incident.

  None of them said anything while the volume was so low for fear of being overheard, but once it was clear people were going about their business, Max turned mid-bowl and plopped himself into the plastic chair next to his brother. "Dude, that is not okay." It was a quiet voice that Reed was fairly sure only he and Kevin heard.

  Kevin shrugged and took a bite out of one of the sandwiches. "I saw him walking toward the concession stand. Yeah, I took advantage of the opportunity. But that jerk was standing so close behind me, he was practically breathing down my neck and I snapped. I figured if he was going to stand that close to me, he clearly wanted something. So, I made the wide turn and figured I had a fifty-fifty shot he would take a step back as I turned. No big deal.”

  Max shook his head. "I don't know what it is about him, but Simon has always brought out the worst in you. Can you please behave the rest of the evening?"

  Kevin gave his brother a droll stare. After a second, Max sighed, got up, and continued to bowl.

  The itch to tell his cousin that Alice was probably ticked at all of them needled at Reed. But he didn't want to cause a fight. He stood closer to where Max was bowling, as if he was paying attention more closely to how his cousin played. He was next in line anyway so it wouldn't look too weird.

  When Max turned around and saw him, he blinked, startled, and he gave a sympathetic smile. He paused as if he was going to say something then changed his mind and walked past Reed to go sit down again. He knew his cousin well enough to guess the younger man probably understood how futile it was to say anything to try to change Kevin’s mind.

  Reed was fairly certain the incident had probably blown his chance with Alice. Maybe not utterly and completely torpedoed it, but it definitely damaged some of her good opinion. If he was lucky, she would think it was all Kevin and Reed wasn’t involved, but anyone who knew them knew, especially growing up, Reed and Kevin were almost inseparable. Chances that one of them would act without discussing it with the other, from the outside looking in, were slim.

  In actuality the two of them, while still incredibly close, were not joined at the hip like they used to be. Maybe in high school they would've discussed every move but now, not so much.

  Sighing, Reed took up his ball and concentrated on hitting the pins. They still had more than half of their game left. While he’d definitely lost his buzz, he wanted to at least enjoy the rest of the game because who knew what awaited him at home now that he knew Alice would be there.

  ~~

  "What were you thinking? I mean let's say for a second, I believe Kevin did that totally unprompted. I know he and Simon hate each other, but from what I remember of Kevin and from what I know of him growing up he doesn't do things completely unwarranted. He had to have gotten the idea somewhere. Tell me, what were you guys discussing that made him pour beer all over Simon? Were you trying to ruin the date for Simon or for me?" Alice’s tone was hurt but there was a strong layer of anger covering it.

  Reed winced when he stepped in the door and heard Alice head toward him. She had clearly been waiting for him to come home so she could approach him about this.

  "I'm sorry, Alice. I had no idea he was going
to do that." He tried to keep his tone as apologetic as possible. Because while he didn't want to ruin Alice's date, he had gotten a small amount of satisfaction knowing her date with Simon ended.

  "And you just happened to be at the same bowling alley as us?" Her eyes shot accusing daggers at him as she put her hands on her hips.

  "How would I know where your date was? All I knew is you are having dinner with him. How from you having dinner with Simon would I to get that you're at a bowling alley?" The fact that Simon was apparently very predictable with his first dates wasn't something he was about to tell her. He was fairly certain it would only make her angrier.

  She made a frustrated noise in the back of her throat and raised her head up to the ceiling. When she looked back, her expression was more sad and hurt than anything else. "I thought we were friends. I don't understand why you guys would go out of your way to ruin my date like that. And sure, it might strictly be Kevin and Simon having their usual hate-fest, but you'd think him being on a date with me, and you guys actually liking me would counter some of that. Maybe it's purely a coincidence or it was an opportunity. Maybe it was a mistake and Simon really was standing too close and would cause problems. But for whatever reason it happened and even if it was an accident, I can't help but be ticked."

  Even though he hadn't had any more alcohol and he had been completely fine to drive he felt words bubbling up from his throat. Mentally he was grabbing on to them, but they kept sliding and then they were out in the air for everyone to hear. "Then maybe it's a sign you shouldn't be with Simon. He’s a jerk. You deserve better." As soon as he said the words, he regretted them.

  Anger flashed through her eyes again. "Oh, and who are you to make that decision for me? Who am I supposed to be with? If you see a line of men trying to date me, by all means pick one out and tell me who he is."