Menu for Romance

turquoise cashmere twinset with a little beading around the neck. She stepped into her favorite loafer-style black pumps and turned to admire the look in the antique cheval mirror. Knowing Mom, she’d be dressed similarly.

“No, no, no!” She pushed the puppy away with one foot as he pounced on the hem of her pant leg. “If you’re going to stay with me, you’re going to have to learn better manners than that!”

Unabashed, he sat and hunched over to scratch at his new collar.

“Get used to it, bubba. Come on. We’d better take you out before it’s time to go.”

Pleased with his performance outside, she took him back into the bathroom, where she picked up the rug and draped it over the shower curtain rod. In its place, she put down a triple layer of newspaper and an old towel for him to sleep on.

As soon as she closed the door, he cried and whined his displeasure. She ignored him.

With the lint roller in hand and balancing on one foot so she could get the dog hair off the hem of her pant leg, she buzzed the intercom to Jenn’s apartment.

“What?” Her sister’s voice crackled through the speaker.

“You about ready to go?”

“It’s only—crimenetly. I didn’t realize it was already six. I’ll be down in five minutes.”

“Jenn. You know how I hate—”

“Being late. I know. But everyone will blame me, not you.”

Eight minutes later, Jenn clattered downstairs and entered without knocking. “Wow, Mere, you’re awfully dressed up.” Jenn, of course, looked fabulously stylish in her dark indigo jeans with penny loafers and a bright green turtleneck sweater.

Meredith quirked the corner of her mouth in a grimace. “You know how it is with Mom.”

“Yeah, I know. She gives you a hard time. But that’s only when you show up in the rattiest stuff you own—” Jenn cocked her head. “What in the—Is that a dog I hear?”

“A puppy. Come on—I’ll tell you about him in the car.”

“I want to see him.” Jenn barreled through the apartment and opened the bathroom door before Meredith could stop her.

“He’s so cute!” Jenn’s voice reached the extreme high pitch usually brought on by a baby sighting. She crouched and scooped up the puppy. “Let’s take him over to Mama and Daddy’s.”

“No. Jenn, look—you already have fur all over your sweater. Can you imagine how Mom would react if he had an accident in the house?”

Jenn’s expression shouted incredulity. She stood and tucked the squirming pup under her arm. “Mom loves dogs. She’s the one who kept Daddy from getting rid of Jax, even after Jax completely lost control of his bladder. He’s coming.” Jenn marched past. “Why you’ve gotten it in your head that they’re going to disapprove of everything you do or say...”

Because I’m the only sap who went into the family business. Well, that wasn’t true. Rafe had worked for their parents for a couple of years, flying one of the corporate jets. But he didn’t have to work with them day in and day out—and he’d left the company late last year to work for a charter airline.

The only reason Meredith had seven siblings was because her parents thought that all of them would run B-G so they could retire early. With a master’s degree in art history, Meredith hadn’t really had any job options other than going to work as an assistant event planner ten years ago.

Sometimes she wished she’d been brave enough to pursue her dream of working in home design, but as that had not been deemed a viable job choice by her parents—

“Hey! We going or what?” Jenn stepped back into the apartment. “Coming.” Meredith grabbed her keys and wallet off the table and followed her sister outside.

“Can we take your car?” Jenn asked, walking around to the passenger side of the SUV. “The ’Stang’s top is still leaking.”

Meredith rounded the tail end of Jenn’s classic Mustang, already expecting to be the one driving. She climbed into the Volvo and started the engine.

“So, how’d you end up with this little guy?” Jen nuzzled the puppy, who joyously licked her chin.

Meredith buckled her seat belt and pulled out of the driveway, relating what had happened. By the time she parked under one of the centuries-old oak trees in front of their parents’ house, she’d gotten to the part about taking the pup to the quick clinic at the pet store.

“Yeah? Well I think I’d be kinda wiggly, too, if someone was trying to stick a thermometer there.” Jenn cooed gibberish at the dog and climbed out of the vehicle, tucking the puppy under her raincoat for the dash to the front porch.

Sighing, Meredith popped open her umbrella and followed her sister up the sidewalk.

With the exception of all the furniture still being shoved up against the walls in the front rooms, little evidence remained of the hundreds of people who’d likely crowded the house for most of the day.

The front door opened behind her, and she turned. Forbes closed his umbrella and stowed it in the rack beside the door. She waited for him; he hooked his arm around her neck and kissed her temple.

“Did you have a good day?” He eased the headlock and settled his arm across her shoulders as they strolled down the hall.

“Yep—well, for the most part. My stupid brother provoked me into an argument this morning.”

He squeezed his arm tightly around her neck again. “I apologized.” She nudged his side with her knuckles; he released her and danced away, squirming. “I know. And you were right—it was better for me to find out ahead of time instead of being blindsided by it. Did you forewarn Jenn, too?”

“Uh ... no. You know she can’t keep a secret to save her life.”

Meredith wrinkled her nose. “She might not take it as well as I did.”

“I know. But we’ll cross that bridge—”

“There you two are.” Mom greeted them as soon as Meredith and Forbes entered the kitchen. She looked Meredith over from head to toe. “Do you have a date after this or something?”

Meredith glanced at Forbes, in his form-fitting black turtleneck and jeans, then back at their mother—also in jeans. She plastered on a smile. “Oh, I thought I’d try to make everyone else feel completely underdressed for a change.” Would she ever be able to do anything right when it came to her parents?

“Well, come on and get some food.”

As in years past, almost every inch of counter space in the generously sized kitchen was covered with trays and pans of food. Growing up, Meredith and her siblings had always looked forward to dinner on New Year’s Day because they got to eat the leftovers from the open house—including as much dessert as they wanted.

Family members milled about, filling plates, while some had already migrated into the great room beyond the kitchen’s breakfast bar.

Rafe vacated the rocking chair and offered it to Meredith. “Don’t want you getting your fancy duds messed up.” Though his voice lilted with teasing humor, his eyes held sympathy and understanding.

“Thanks.”

At her youngest sisters’ high-pitched voices, she looked across the room and saw them feeding bits of Aunt Maggie’s gourmet food to the puppy. Her brothers were more interested in the football game on the flat-panel TV mounted above the crackling fireplace—even Forbes seemed to be getting involved in the game between two teams from faraway colleges no one in this family had ever cared about before.

Finally, at eight o’clock, Meredith’s father turned off the TV. “Well, here we are, at the start of another year. This time we have a new face with us.” He motioned toward Marci’s boyfriend with an outstretched hand. “Welcome, Shaun. I’m not sure if Marci explained exactly what it is that we do here on New Year’s.”

“Yes, sir, sort of like what most families do at Thanksgiving.”

“Right—except we’re giving our goal for the upcoming year and what we intend to do to reach it. Last year I believe Forbes went first?” Lawson shot a raised-brow glance at his oldest son.

“Yes, sir.”

“Then it’s youngest to oldest this year. Tiffani, take it away.”

As her youngest sister started talking about her upcoming semester at college and grades and school projects, Meredith mentally rehearsed her goal: finishing renovations on the house and getting moved and settled in. No, it wasn’t creative or soul-searching, but really, what else did she have in her life?