“That’s not fair either. Doc here plays more golf than any of us.”
“Not anymore,” Eli said. “Between work and the kids, I don’t have time to even look at my clubs. I haven’t played a round of golf in over a month.” He clamped an arm around Harrison’s shoulder. “That said, I could still kick all your asses.”
Reid cupped his hand over his mouth and yelled, “Fightin’ words.”
Griffin chuckled as the trash talking moved from the basketball court to the miniature golf course. He’d been intimidated at the thought of hanging around the men in Indina’s family, especially now that the nature of their relationship was known to just about everyone. Instead of roughing up the guy who was sleeping with their sister, Indina’s brothers had embraced him. It had been so damn long since he’d felt the camaraderie and brotherhood he’d experienced today.
An ache grew in his chest as he thought about his own brother and how they used to engage in the same good-natured ribbing he’d witnessed today between Indina’s siblings and cousins. They’d had their share of skirmishes while growing up, but he and Garland had been thick as thieves. These days they barely said two words to each other.
Griffin’s throat tightened as the sad reality of what had become of his relationship with Garland settled into his bones. He missed his brother. And he knew no amount of time he spent encroaching on Indina’s family would make up for what he’d lost with his own flesh and blood.
At least he had these Holmes men for the weekend. He would shamelessly glom on to this feeling of brotherhood for as long as he could.
Their golf game ended with Indina’s cousins still beating the pants off of him and her brothers, but Griffin figured this butt whipping wasn’t nearly as bad as the one they would have gotten if they’d continued the basketball game.
“Remember, dinner is at seven-fifteen tonight,” Harrison said. He pointed to Jonathan. “Try to make this one.”
“Can’t make any promises,” he replied. “Kristy wants a candlelit dinner for two.”
“It’s probably better if you didn’t bring her to dinner anyway,” Toby said. “I don’t think Sienna is comfortable being around that Kristy chick.”
“Would you stop referring to her as that Kristy chick?” Jonathan said. “And maybe you should remind Sienna that I have a right to see whoever I want. Her sister is the one who left me, not the other way around.”
Griffin looked back and forth between the two men, trying to figure out just what in the hell was happening here.
“Don’t ask,” Ezra said as he came up to him and clamped an arm around Griffin’s shoulder. “Step over here with me. I want to talk to you for a minute.”
“Uh, sure,” Griffin said. He hooked a thumb toward Toby and Jonathan, who were still going at it.
“Didn’t I just say don’t ask?” Ezra said. He blew out a sigh. “Very, veeery long story short, Jonathan used to be engaged to Sienna’s sister, Ivana. She got cold feet and left the country a few days before their wedding.”
“She left the country?”
Ezra nodded. “Pretty drastic, if you asked me. Jonathan didn’t take it well. He then proceeded to sleep with half the single women in New Orleans to prove to everybody that he’s over Ivana.” Ezra shook his head. “He’s not. Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about Indina.”
Griffin’s steps halted. “What about her?”
Ezra cocked his head toward the locker that stored the basketball and tennis gear. He sat and rested his elbows on his thighs.
“I don’t want to sound like the overprotective brother here,” he started.
Griffin folded his arms across his chest and rocked slightly on the balls of his feet. This was the conversation he’d been expecting from the get-go.
“But?” Griffin asked.
“Hear me out.” Ezra held up his hands. “I don’t want to get all up in your business or anything. I just want to know what your intentions are. It’s been a while since Deenie brought anyone to meet the family.”
Griffin stopped rocking. It was on the tip of his tongue to ask Ezra just how long it had been since she’d introduced a guy to the family. Instead, he asked, “So, what exactly do you want to know?”
“I just want to know if this is serious? And if it isn’t serious, does Indina know that?”
“I’m not playing your sister, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“No, I don’t think you’re playing her, but I had to ask. You get that, right? I don’t want her to get hurt,” Ezra said.
He pressed his lips together. Griffin knew someone had hurt her. No one adopted such a negative attitude toward relationships as the one Indina held without good reason.
“This is about that Timothy guy Reid mentioned at dinner last night, isn’t it?” Griffin asked.
“In a way,” Ezra said. “Timothy pulled a fast one on us. The entire family liked him, but he turned out to be the worst kind of asshole. She wasted seven years on that guy. I had to stop Reid from kicking his ass the last time we saw him.”
“Maybe you should have let him,” Griffin said.
Ezra huffed out a laugh. “The only reason I didn’t is because I knew Indina would have been upset about it. She doesn’t like anyone else fighting her battles. By the way,” Ezra continued. “Don’t mention this conversation to her. There would be hell to pay if she knew we’d talked about this.”
“Yet you still did, even though you know she wouldn’t want you telling me any of this.”
“I’d rather deal with the fallout than see Indina get hurt.” Ezra’s eyes turned earnest. “I worry about her. I’ve seen my sister with a broken heart, and I don’t like it.”
“I’m not going to break her heart,” Griffin assured him.
He’d have to own a piece of her heart in order to break it.
Ezra stood and held his hand out. Griffin clasped his palm and gave
