Kennedy turned to face me with an easy smile and a confused expression. “Of course I am; why wouldn’t I be?”

I huffed softly and raised my eyebrows—like the answer to her question alone could have her panicking. “Well—”

“The question is, Liam, are you ready for this? I don’t have family here ready to embarrass me in front you. I’m hoping to get some juicy details about you tonight. Maybe your mom will even pull out baby pictures to show me. But don’t worry, since they probably won’t be playing twenty questions with Kira, I’m sure she’ll be on your side.” With that, she stepped out of the car laughing, and left me sitting there staring at where she’d just been, completely speechless.

I’d spent an entire day trying to figure out how to ask her and Kira to this dinner, and then had rehearsed the question a few dozen times before finally mentioning it casually, acting like it didn’t matter if they came or not. But given how she was acting right now, she knew exactly why this dinner was happening, and she seemed more than fine with it.

The girls waited by the front door of the house until I joined them and let us in. We’d barely made it past the entryway before Aunt Bree was in front of us.

“Hello, friends! I’m Bree, but you probably already knew that since I’m always snooping around the gym. Now—” She cut off quickly and looked between Kennedy and Kira a few times then up to me. “Which one?”

“This one,” I said, nodding toward the girl standing at my right.

“Right, right.”

“Aunt Bree—”

“No!” she said sharply, and held up a silencing finger at me. “You and I are not friends, you do not get to speak to me anymore. I’m going to busy myself with these two, and you can figure out how to beg me to forgive you.”

Uncle Konrad came up behind her and shrugged. “I told you she was mad. Can’t say I didn’t warn ya.”

Aunt Bree looked up at her husband and gave him her best glare. “You don’t talk to the enemy either unless you want to sleep on the dog’s bed for the second night in a row!” She grabbed both Kennedy’s and Kira’s hands and began walking away while still looking at them. “Now I have time to—wait, which one of you is the girl again?”

“Me, I’m Kennedy,” Kennedy said at the same time as Kira said, “She’s the girlfriend.”

I could just barely make out Kennedy’s grumbled “I’m not his girlfriend” before Aunt Bree had them seated on the couch with her on the coffee table so she could face them both.

As I looked at my uncle Konrad, my eyes narrowed. “Couldn’t you have at least told her to take it easy on them?”

“Why do you think she said I’d be sleeping on the dog bed for the second night?”

My lips pulled up at the corners, and I nodded once. “Figures. Thanks for trying.”

He grunted and slapped a hand on my shoulder as we began walking into the living room. “Don’t forget, your mom is still pissed. I’d be more worried about her than your aunt. You should probably get to her before the twins get away from Bree.”

Uncle Konrad had been right. Mom was beyond pissed, but it was hard to feel bad when she barely came up to my chest and was trying to talk down to me. I hadn’t been able to handle being scolded without laughing since I was twelve. She started getting even madder when my neutral expression began breaking and my mouth kept twitching, so I finally picked her up in a big hug for a few seconds, then set her down. And like every time I’d ever done it before, she melted and her anger was gone by the time she was on her feet again.

“Okay, okay. Let’s go talk to them,” she said as she walked away from me. I followed her out of the kitchen and into the living room until she was standing close to where Aunt Bree was sitting. “Oh my word, we just need to make you two wear name tags all the time. This is so confusing.”

The girls laughed and Kennedy said, “I’ll make it as easy as I can for you. Kira has a scar just above her top lip.”

My head jerked back for a second, then I was leaning forward to find the faint scar. “Why haven’t I ever been told that?”

Kennedy’s eyebrows rose, and I knew she was enjoying the fact that she’d helped my family and not me. “You’ve never had trouble figuring us out except for that very first meeting. There was never any reason to tell you.”

“Still would have been helpful,” I mumbled at the same time as my mom finally saw the scar.

“Oh, you can barely even see it! But I guess it will have to do. How did you get it, sweet girl?”

Kira laughed and glanced at Kennedy. “I hid Kennedy’s stuffed bear when we were four, and she threw a Barbie car at me. She’s a little violent.”

“Oh, I’m the violent one? You chased me with a knife when we were ten. I was just trying to scare you, it’s not my fault I have bad aim and it ended up hitting you in the face.”

Kira’s laugh got louder and she shrugged unapologetically. “You deserved it, you—”

“Anyway,” Kennedy said, cutting off Kira. “That’s the easiest way to tell. We have different tattoos, but that usually doesn’t help people. Sorry, we’ve probably scared you all off now.”

Mom snorted. “Not even close. Liam tried to melt Kristi’s dolls in the oven, cut her hair off while she was sleeping, and put her in a headlock when she was three. Nothing can scare me after raising a boy.” She rolled her eyes and looked up at me, but gave me a little wink as she nodded toward the girls—and I knew right then that she already approved of Kennedy and Kira. “Well, I wanted to introduce myself. I’m—”

“Mom, they already know who you are.”

She smacked me in the stomach, her smile never faltering. “Like I was saying. I’m Harper, Liam’s mother, and I’m so happy you both agreed to come to dinner. Brandon and Kristi talk about you two so much, I couldn’t wait to get to spend more time with you.”

Kennedy gave me a soft smile before looking back up at my mom. “Well, we really appreciate this, thank you so much for having us. Liam’s told me a lot about you, it’ll be really nice to get to sit and talk with you instead of just saying hello and good-bye at the gym. Besides, I told Liam in the car that I’m really hoping to get some juicy stories about him while we’re here.”

Aunt Bree laughed and stood up from the table. “I like her. We can keep them both.” Walking up to me, she tilted her head back like Mom did when she was about to get mad at me, and poked me in the chest with each word she spoke. “And we’re still not friends! It better be an epic groveling I get from you!”

“I’m sure it will be,” I called after her as she walked into the kitchen with Mom not far behind her. Looking back at the girls, who had just stood up from the couch, I released a heavy breath. “So that’s Mom and Aunt Bree. I think they’re the worst you’ll get.”

“I like them,” Kira said as she turned to go to the kitchen.

Kennedy walked up to me until she was pressed against my chest. “I like them too. So,” she said huskily, and gave me an amused look. “You tried to melt your sister’s dolls in the oven, huh? I’m sure that’s somewhere in a book on the makings of a serial killer.”