Page 37 of Hearts of Fairlake

Which was the precise moment the door to the back opened up and Adam appeared. Sawdust coated the front of his shirt, and there were marks on his face from safety goggles, which now sat on his head. He looked more tired than usual, which wasn't surprising considering he was trying to keep up with the workload while taking care of his family.

"Ayla," he said warmly. "Pleasant surprise. Chase send you on another lunch mission because he wants to ensure people are eating?"

"You know it," she said with a grin. "There's not much work at the shop anyway, so I might as well earn my money somehow."

"Well, come on in and ask around," he said with a sweep of his hand. "And you."

I blinked. “Me?"

"Weren't you supposed to be taking half a day?" Adam asked, raising a brow.

"Well, I...there's a lot going on around here," I protested weakly. "I was going to call and put off the?—"

"Don't," he said, tilting his head to stare at me intensely. "I know Luke is not working today, so you need not be here. Go."

I sighed. “And how would you know that?"

"Because he's been spotted by Isaiah, who, of course, popped into the precinct to ask Bennett why Luke was out shopping instead of in Denver where he should be, and of course, he had to report that to me because he wanted to and knew you were here."

"Jesus. Is this the kind of thing I'm missing by not being in the inner circle of your friends?"

"Yes."

"I'm really glad I'm on the outskirts."

"I don't blame you, now get."

"Fine," I said, almost turning to walk off when the door rang again, and my brow shot up at the sight of a certain sexy man walking in. "Well, if it isn't my husband. What remarkably coincidental timing you have."

"I was instructed to come get you," Luke said dryly. I didn't need him to glance at Adam to know where that particular order originated.

"Amazing," I said with a sigh. "Is there a chance that I could scoot a little further out of that circle?"

"Go," Adam repeated sternly, but it was ruined by his fighting to smile.

"C'mon," Luke said with a shake of his head.

"Fine," I sighed, following Luke into the bright sunlight. "This is almost as bad as all the interfering Grant’s tried to do over the years."

"Hey, Grant didn't interfere half as much as he could have, trust me. My sisters? Busybodies, all of them."

"I remember all too well how they kept trying to find ways to 'trick' us into marrying each other."

"And they're still convinced their interference made it happen," Luke said, wrapping an arm around my shoulders as we walked down the sidewalk. "We'll just let them believe it...mostly because nothing we say or do will convince them otherwise."

There was no arguing there. His sisters were as stubborn as they were determined. In truth, his whole family was...a lot. Growing up, all I'd had resembling family had been Grant. Not that he wasn't family or that I didn't love him, but Grant...well, he and I weren't good for each other most of the time. We'd handled our parents' abuse and neglect in very different ways into our adult years. My brother had always been dependable and had done his best to look out for me, even when I fought him tooth and nail.

Luke's family, though? The only black mark was that his dad had left them, leaving their mother while she was pregnant with Luke. Yet despite growing up pretty damn poor, Luke and his sisters had never suffered a lack of love or attention. They were fiercely protective of one another and showered one another with love, and every single one of them looked to their mother with stars in their eyes, and she was always there for them when they needed it.

That alone was terrifying at times and unnerving because, Jesus, that wasnormal,and nothing about family and my life had ever been close to normal. Add the fact that they had all pretty much adopted me like I’d been a part of the family for years, and they were pretty much the scariest thing I could imagine. It didn't help that they liked to smother me in thatsame love and affection, including interfering in my life, something I was notoriously bad at handling.

Luke and his mother were the best, though, and they did their best to push me to accept what I was given and reminded the rest of the family that they couldn't smother me like they could one another. Distance helped to ease things, but just the persistence of his family and the acceptance they gave without thought went a long way. It wasn't completely fixed, but at least now, I could go to a family function without feeling like I was going to lose my mind.

Plus, his mom made the best goddamn minestrone and bolognese I'd ever tasted.

We stopped when we reached Luke's car, and I shook my head when he insisted, as he liked to do, on opening the door for me. I didn't know if it was a holdover from him being straight or if it was just him, but I tried not to let little things like that get on my nerves. We both knew I could open my own doors just fine, but he did it simply because he liked taking care of me.

"Quit," he said without looking at me, a smirk on his face.

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