Page 61 of #Awestruck

“Everything looks wonderful, Mrs.Bailey.”

“Thank you. And please, we’re just Brian and Stacy.”

The one saving grace was that she hadn’t invited him to call them Mom and Dad. Although I was sure that was coming at some point.

Our seats had been labeled with name cards, and my mom had put Evan on my left, right next to my dad at the head of the table. Rory was on the other side of me with Aubrey’s family across from us. I went to sit down, and Evan was there, helping to pull out my chair for me.

Aubrey elbowed Justin and said, “Why don’t you do that?”

I thanked him as I scooted back in, not missing the knowing glances between the women of my family.

My father said grace, and then everyone started serving themselves.

“So, how long have you two been married, Brian?” Evan asked.

Dad patted his stomach. “I’d say for about forty or forty-five pounds.”

That made Evan laugh, but he was the only one. It was not the first time we’d heard that joke.

“They’ve been married for almost thirty years,” I told him. “They’re actually going on a Disney cruise with Aubrey’s family in a couple of weeks to celebrate their anniversary.”

“I’m going to see the real Alice!” Charlotte announced, standing up in her chair. Aubrey got her to sit back down, telling her to stay put and eat.

“I’d rather talk about last week’s game, if you don’t mind,” my dad said. “That final run of yours at the end, that was amazing!”

As the two men started talking football, I felt Rory nudge me.

My hope that the sisterly interference portion of the evening was over had been misplaced.

“Did you see your fiancé in there with Charlotte and herAlice in Wonderlandtea set?”

When my heart had melted into a million tiny puddles? “Yes. It was very cute.”

Rory let out a slight gasp. “Is the world ending? You just called Evan Dawson cute, and I’m pretty sure that’s one of the signs of the apocalypse.”

“Oh, ha.”

I took the green bean casserole from her and turned to offer it to Evan. He smiled as he accepted it, brushing my fingers with his, and I nearly dropped the whole bowl due to the electric shock of his touch.

Rory, who never missed anything, saw it but thankfully said nothing about it. “So, what did you two crazy kidsnotdo last night? Aubrey sent me the clip. Talk about steam.”

“I didn’t see him last night.”

She picked up her napkin and wiped some gravy off her lip. “I don’t know how you keep your hands off him. When he walked in tonight, I was all ‘Mother, may I?’”

“Gross. Don’t bring Mom into this.” I glanced up at the woman in question, and she was busy helping Joey cut his turkey into smaller bites.

“Aubrey also told me he doesn’t take any of your crap. Which is good. For you to have someone who stands up to you. What was the name of that last idiot you dated? Brett? Anyway, he let you walk over him, and you didn’t respect him.”

“Thanks for the random observation.” Which may or may not have been true, in regard to both Evan and Brett.

“Here’s another one. Thanks for bringing Evan tonight. You’ve seriously taken the heat off me this year. Mom hasn’t asked me a single question about my love life, and I had so many great responses prepared, but I’m happy to not have to talk about it.”

“Like what?”

“That I’m not single but in a long-distance relationship with my boyfriend, who lives in the future.”

“It might confuse her for a minute, but she’d regroup.”

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