Page 61 of The Moment He Saw Her

Ryder watched Libby as his family pounced on the food like it was the first meal they’d eaten in four days.

“We have a guest who is not used to you lot. Don’t be heathens,” Uncle Asher said.

“Get in, Libby, or there will be nothing left,” Ryder urged her. He then watched as she tentatively took a bread roll. Sawyer took charge then and filled her plate.

“I can’t eat that much.”

“Well, you need to. You’re too skinny,” the eldest Duke said.

“You do know it’s as rude to call a woman skinny as it is to call one fat, don’t you, Sawyer?” Libby said and then seemed surprised she’d spoken that way.

“You go, girl,” Phoebe said. “This lot needs putting in place occasionally.”

The family then ate, laughed, and caught up on news, even though some had seen each other earlier that day. It was their way. Every experience was shared, and any issue gnawed over like a bone.

“I saw the Keller team practicing their relay on the way here,” Ryder said when he’d eaten enough that he had to undo the top button of his jeans. Food always tasted better at his mom’s house.

“Those f—damned rodents,” Sawyer snarled, looking at Ally.

“John Bistow called Bailey Harper a fuck weasel today,” his niece said.

What followed those words was absolute silence around the table, and all eyes went to Brody and Phoebe.

“Now that she’s about to be eleven, Ally apparently thinks swearing is acceptable and that she can speak like that in front of the people who helped raised her. The people she should have a whole lot more respect for,” Brody said.

“Sorry,” Ally said and then sighed. “It just slips out sometimes. Bobby says it’s a Duke thing.”

Bobby had been Ally’s best friend since first grade.

“Because we all swear,” Brody said, eyeballing the table’s occupants.

“So, on that note,” Phoebe added, “there will now be a penalty for swearing in front of our kid. One dollar for every cuss word.”

“I thought you discussed this with her, and she knew adults could swear but not kids,” Dan protested. “How come we’re being punished when it’s her who should know better?” He glared at Ally, but his eyes were crossed, making her giggle.

“All that’s changed now that I was hauled into the principal’s office again,” Brody said. “Apparently, she told Ms. Calvin her sneakers were the shit. So you have to pay up. Tonight is your last night of freedom.”

Libby laughed at that.

“Think that’s funny, do you?” Ryder asked.

She shouldn’t fit here surrounded by his family seeing as he was sure she was from a different world, but she did, and that should be a very scary thing for him because she was leaving soon and not his type of woman.

“I don’t swear and never have, so I applaud this action,” Libby said.

“I second that,” both his mom and Birdie added.

“Are you one of those good-girl types?” Sawyer asked Libby. “The kind that never got into trouble and was an A student all through school?”

“Yes… well, I was until lately,” she added, frowning.

Chapter18

Ryder had always thought he’d have this one day. He’d find someone who fit into his life, and they’d end up with a home, kids, and build a world together. He’d never thought about what his life partner would look like, but that he’d have one was never in doubt.

He could imagine cooking a big meal for his family in the house he’d just bought, but he’d not invited them yet, telling himself he needed to get more set up. Get more plates and other things… but maybe he should do it. Why wait for a woman to complete the picture he saw for his life?

He looked at Libby and saw that her eyes were shiny. Was she holding back tears?

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