“All right!” I hear my daughter’s voice coming from above. “I did not need to see that. Are you guys gonna just stand there or are you helping?”
Gray ducks his head, but I catch the grin on his face as he pulls me along behind him and up the stairs.
An hour later, we’ve got the apartment the way Paige wants it, and tossed some of the furniture she no longer wants in the back of Kyle’s truck so the guys can run it to the dump. She and I have sorted the kitchen, put clean sheets on the bed, and are putting away her clothes. There are only a few boxes left with odds and ends she says she’ll go through tonight.
“Have you talked to Gram?” she asks, when I hand her a stack of folded T-shirts to put away.
“I was going to try and reach her tonight. Why? Did you talk to her?”
“She called me this morning when I was on the road. She said they might stay on another week or two.”
Mom was originally supposed to get back next weekend. I’ve missed her, but her wanting to stay longer means she’s having a good time and I’m happy for her. I can wait an extra few weeks to hug her.
“Good for her. It’ll probably have warmed up by then, so maybe we can have a barbecue at my place. See if we can get her to bring Ken for us to finally meet.”
My daughter’s dancing eyes meet mine.
“Can we invite Kyle?”
I only hesitate for a second, grinning when I think about Gray’s reaction to that.
“Sure. I’ll ask him.”
Gray
“I’ll get it.”
I watch Paige jump up from her seat on the steps and dart inside to answer the door.
She was keeping me company while I clean the grill. She and Robin have been cooking all morning. Enough damn food to feed all of Beaverton. Crazy if you ask me, since it’s only Robin’s mother and her boyfriend coming, but the two younger Bishop women seem intent on making an impression. I tried to steal a potato from the salad Paige was putting together earlier but almost got my fingers chopped off. I was banned after that.
Not a hardship, exactly. I enjoy sitting at the kitchen table with a book in front of me, listening to the two of them chatter in the kitchen. Something that’s happened a few times since Paige moved back. Two women, both fiercely independent, but still so tightly connected. I imagine Robin’s mom will be like that too. It seems to run in the family.
Family.
Hard to believe not that long ago, I didn’t know what that meant, or maybe I’d just forgotten. Either way, I’m learning quickly what family can be: uninvited smiles, warm touches, easy disagreements, comfortable silences, and food—lots and lots of food.
“Look who’s here?”
I turn away from the grill to find a smiling Paige coming through the sliding door, fucking Kyle right behind her.
“I don’t recall inviting you,” I snap, annoyed he’d have the gall to show up out of the blue.
“That’s because you didn’t. Robin did,” he answers, the shit-eating grin on his face starting to piss me off.
I’m about to give the little punk a piece of my mind when Robin steps outside, and I catch a sharp glare from her before she turns a bright smile on the kid as she sidles up to me.
“So glad you could make it, Kyle. Would you like a drink?”
“Wouldn’t mind a beer.”
I may have made a sound, because the next thing I know I have an elbow in my ribs.
“Coming right up.” She hooks her arm in mine. “Can I borrow you for a sec?”
I don’t get a chance to answer; she’s already dragging me to the door.
Inside she swings on me, fire in her eyes as she plants her hands on her hips.
“Do you think you could lose the attitude before my mom gets here?”
“What attitude?” I grumble.
“That one,” she snaps, poking her finger in my chest. “I haven’t seen Mom in months, it’s my first time meeting Ken, and I’d really like us to try and make a good impression.”
There’s a lot more I can hear her saying between the lines, and I immediately regret adding to her stress. All she wants is for everyone to like each other and get along, and right now there are already plenty of question marks in play. Last thing she needs is me adding to the tension.
It’s not that Kyle is a bad guy—he’s not, from what I can see he’s smart and a hard worker—but his cocky attitude gets to me sometimes. Maybe because he reminds me of me at that age, and God knows I was a punk.
I step toward her and slip my arms around her waist, tugging her close. I bend my head down and kiss the tip of her nose.
“I’m sorry. I’ll behave.”
“She could do worse, Gray,” Robin says, a plea in her eyes. “She already has.”
She’s referring to that little weasel. That guy ever shows his face here, he and I will have words. Of sorts.
“I know, Robin.”
“He’s a good man,” she insists, her lips a firm line.
I save myself from responding by kissing her. I tease her with my tongue, satisfied when I feel her mouth finally relax, letting me in. One of my hands tangles in her hair, tilting her head back. With her slim neck exposed, I slide my lips down until I find her heartbeat in the soft hollow at its base.
“Love you, Sunshine,” I mumble against her skin, before lifting my head and looking in her eyes.
“Me too,” she whispers.
“Hellooo!”
Robin’s eyes go wide at the sound of a woman’s voice from the front of the house, but before she can wrestle herself from my hold, a pretty woman, who could be Robin’s older sister, and a tough-looking guy walk into the kitchen. The resemblance between all the Bishop
