The Fourteen Day Soul Detox, Volume Two by Rita Stradling Read Free Book Online Page B

Would you mind coming and eating with me? You can
choose what I eat, if you want.”
    Sarah looked at Carrie with wide eyes.
I poised to catch her, in case she ran in the other direction, but
when Carrie offered her hand, Sarah accepted.
    They walked to the barbeque and
Patrick’s brother walked around the small wall to stand next to
Patrick. He cleared his throat, giving Patrick a pointed look.
    “Oh, sorry.” Patrick smiled
and gave an exaggerated exhale. “Jamie, Amy, Peter, I apologize
in advance for doing this to you, but allow me to introduce my
brother Derek.”
    “Nice to meet you people.”
Derek’s grin was all for me as he reached out a hand to shake
mine. “You go to that concert?” he asked, nodding to my
T-shirt.
    I turned around and pointed at my back.
“This one is from 1978, but the shirt is actually from the
concert though. I won it from our dad.”
    “Wow, tough break for your dad.
How’d you win it?”
    “An epic beer pong competition in
Belize. Amy and I were tied with our parents, three to three. My
stepmom and our dad are good, but Amy is the best.” I patted
Amy on the back as I spoke.
    Amy breathed in through her nose and
glared at me. She shook her head slightly, but I was sure only I
picked up on it.
    I shook my head right back at her and
rolling my eyes, I continued, “So we decided to make it more
interesting, if we won, they made Amy’s next car payment and I
got this shirt. If they won, Amy and I cleaned their house once a
week for the rest of the summer. We won.”
    Derek turned to Amy, and said, “We
should play. Oh, shit, we haven’t offered them beers yet, have
we?”
    “No, we didn’t,”
Patrick said, leaning down to a cooler.
    “I’ll take one,”
Peter said, accepting a beer from Patrick. He swung an arm around
Amy, squeezing her to him. He shook his head at the beer Patrick was
holding out to Amy. “Amy doesn’t drink beer anymore. The
story Jamie told was from when Amy was in college.”
    “We have wine, or I could go make
you a drink. Unless you want to make an exception,” Patrick
said, still holding out the beer.
    “Yeah, make an exception. I used
to be something of a beer pong champion myself. I’d love to
match skills,” Derek said, eyebrows raised.
    Amy’s gaze fixed on the beer, but
then she blinked and shook her head. “Wine would be wonderful,”
she said.
    “I’ll take it,” I
said, reaching for the beer before Patrick lowered his hand.
    “So, I guess your sister is out,
but are you up for an epic game of beer pong.” Derek gave me an
exaggerated wink.
    “Oh, no, I would fail miserably.
Amy definitely carried me, I suck at beer pong.” I took a sip
of beer, then added, “And I’m driving.”
    “You don’t have to drive.
My brother has plenty of bedrooms here.” Derek slapped Patrick
on the back and Patrick’s cheeks reddened slightly.
    “Thanks,” I said with a
small laugh, “but Sarah has school in the morning and I have
work.”
    “Doesn’t Sarah go to Kay’s
school? Patrick could take both of them and you could drive to work?”
    Patrick cleared his throat. “Derek,
seriously? They just arrived and you’re strong arming them into
staying the night?” He turned to us. “Any of you hungry
yet? The tri-tip isn’t quite done, but a couple of the steaks
look good to go.”
    “We all ate at the theater. We
can wait for the tri-tip,” Peter said.
    “Yeah,” Amy smiled.
    “I’ve been meaning to
challenge you to a tennis rematch, my pride’s been smarting
since the last time we played,” Peter said, taking a step
forward and just slightly in front of Amy and me.
    “I’d like that Peter, we
definitely should.” Patrick stepped back and looked over at me.
“How about you Jamie, are you hungry?” he asked.
    “You know, due to unforeseen
circumstances, I ate an entire large buttered popcorn by myself, so
I’m not that hungry yet.” I pause, looking away.
“Actually I take that back I am weirdly hungry. I’d love
a