A Quartet of Desire

Chapter 24: Outnumbered

*Saoirse's POV*

I couldn't believe that Kathy thought to bring us to Maria and Justin's home. Although, if we were to be hidden away from the rest of the world, at least there would be someone fun to spend time with. I was also excited to get to know my future sister-in-law a bit better. Spending the Thanksgiving weekend with her had been a blast, and it made me feel better about who she really was when I watched her stand up for Claire at the bridal boutique.

Justin and Maria greeted us at the door, giving us all a round of hugs. Justin shook his head as he closed and locked the front door after retrieving our bags from the trunk of the car. "I guess I'm really outnumbered now."

Kathy laughed at him and patted his cheek. "Now you know how I felt raising you and your brothers."

While I limped into the living room, Justin brought our duffle bags up to the spare rooms upstairs. Maria slipped away to the kitchen to make tea and lunch for everyone with Claire following quickly behind her. We were told that we would be sharing the bedroom across the hall from Justin and Maria, while Kathy was to stay in the room at the top of the stairs. Not thrilled with the fact that I'd have to climb the stairs to get to bed in the evening, I sat quietly by myself in the living room while everyone dispersed to their own projects.

Kathy went to help Maria in the kitchen, while Claire returned from the kitchen to help me prop up my foot on a couch pillow on top of the coffee table. She left me only for a moment to fetch a bag of ice for my ankle before returning to the living room. I could tell she was nervous when she finally sat down next to me and began fidgeting with her fingers.

"I'm sorry I slept the whole way here," she whispered to me, avoiding eye contact.

I smiled at her and patted her twitching hands. "Relax, Claire, it's fine. Kathy and I talked a little and the rest of it was just a quiet trip."

After quickly looking over her shoulder, she leaned in closer and whispered, "Are you nervous about being here? I don't want to seem like an inconvenience to them."

"Yeah," I admitted nodding my head, "but I don't think they'll view it that way. I'm actually looking forward to getting to know Maria better. Justin and I had gone to elementary school together, but we never really talked until after I beat Sean up in middle school."

"Wait! You did what?" Claire asked in disbelief. Her blue eyes widened as her mouth dropped open.

I laughed at her surprised face. "Yeah, he said I was stupid, so I coldcocked him right in the face."

"No wonder you guys don't see eye to eye," she said through a quiet laugh.

"Sean talked about that for years after you did that," Justin said suddenly appearing from upstairs with a chuckle of his own.

"He did?" I asked, a bit embarrassed that I had been caught sharing such an awkward childhood moment with Claire.

Justin nodded and flopped down on the sofa across from us. He propped his feet up on the edge of the coffee table and relaxed into the couch. "Yeah, he was obsessed with figuring out how to get back at you. Did you never notice how often you two would run into each other at school? I mean, I know you didn't speak to each other, but Ryan always caught him staring at you whenever you went by. He never could come up with anything that our parents wouldn't trace back to him though."

"I guess he finally got the last laugh," I said rolling my eyes.

"What do you mean?" Justin asked bunching his eyebrows.