Page 129 of Riding the High

There’s a large, loud group outside, and Cole greets everyone after changing into his civilian clothes. He carries out the meat ready to be grilled, and it’s in this moment that he realizes not only did I decorate the whole house in Reds paraphernaliaanddress our three kids in Reds jerseys, but I decorated the entire backyard too, and made the whole family wear their Reds gear.

“Motherfucker,” he mutters under his breath.

“I got you, Dad,” Mabel says, coming out behind him with Wayne, Lisa and Max.

All four of them are wearing Yankees jerseys or t-shirts, and they stick out like sore thumbs in the crowd of red. Cole’s grin spreads across his face as he shakes Wayne’s hand.

“You’re the only ones I trust,” he says. “The rest of these assholes are traitors.”

“Hey, I’ve always been a Reds fan,” Nash calls out. “It’s the one thing in sports that your dad and I ever agreed on.”

“I was forced into this,” Wade adds with a shrug as Ivy nods, bouncing little Wyatt on her knee.

Cole and I make our way to the grill.

“I’m liking Max a little more now,” he says.

He starts cooking up a storm and the smell of food fills the yard. The chatter is loud around us, accompanied by the sound of laughter and water splashing as the kids jump in and out of the pool.

Papa Dean prepares buns for Cole to toast as I talk withGlenda while rocking baby Rex in my arms to give CeCe a break.

“Does he have any idea?” CeCe asks me in a whisper as Glenda heads off to talk to Olivia and her man.

I grin. “I don’t think so.”

“This is going to be fun,” she giggles.

Cole calls everyone to eat with a whistle and we all seat ourselves around the giant outdoor harvest tables he built three summers ago. They each seat sixteen people, and Ivy says that, at the rate we’re all going producing offspring, he’ll need to add to it within a year. She might not be wrong.

“Who wants presents?” my mother calls from the patio door. I turn to see her holding a giant stack of gifts, way more than warranted for Luca, which tells me she’s done it again.

“You don’t need to bring presents for all of the children every time someone has a birthday!” I say as I get up to give her a squeeze.

“I keep telling her we’re on a budget now that I’m retired,” my father jokes, carrying his own stack of gifts. He kisses the top of my head. Things have been so much better between us during the last few years. He’s been enjoying tinkering on a project car and spending every winter in Florida with my mother. I finally feel that, after years of not really knowing my father, I now understand him as a person. I’m grateful every day for the relationship we’ve developed.

“And he still supports me,” my still-vibrant nonna says with a giggle, turning to give Papa Dean a squeeze.

“They forget we supported them their whole lives. It’s about time they give something back,” he jokes.

“We really are just a trio of freeloaders, aren’t we?” she says to him and my granny with a wink.

I hug my nonna before turning to pull Granny Dan close.

“Don’t think you’re going to keep the only eligible man inthis place to yourself,” she says to Nonna, wagging a finger with a grin as she gives Dean a hug after me. We’re all used to the friendly flirting between them.

“Alright ladies, no need to fight over me. I’ve got a chair on either side of mine. Let’s get a drink and give these grandkids presents and way too much candy,” Papa Dean says with a mischievous grin.

“Pop …” Cole warns. “They’ll be up all night.”

“Payback, son.” Pop winks and Cole rolls his eyes.

“Let’s eat, before the kids have no appetite left …” Cole says to me, loud enough for the grandparents to hear, before turning to shake my dad’s hand and help my mom with all the gifts.

“We’ve got bookings every weekend for the entire summer,” Wade tells us as we eat.

“He’s going to have to hire someone to either run the ranch while he handles the hospitality side or vice versa. It’s getting too much,” Ivy adds.

“I’ve offered multiple times!” Liv pipes up. “The moment I can find a buyer for my shop, I’m all yours.”

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