Page 6 of A Little Bit Whiskey
It was compounded by the way Tamsyn tended to avoid his family. She was a whiskey girl, so she didn’t purchase much wine. If she did, it wasn’t from his family’s winery. She rarely attended functions at the vineyard. When she did, it was because she was there in uniform, working officially, as security.
He squared his shoulders and made his way up the steps, a little surprised his mom wasn’t there to greet him. He pushed open the door.
Dax paced in the family room with his newborn in his arms, while Chablis sat on the floor, playing with River.
TJ jumped from his seat on the sofa. “Uncle Noir.” He raced across the room. “I scored the winning goal yesterday.” The boy had grown at least three inches in the last year and stood close to five foot ten. He was scrawny, but his muscles would soon fill out, just like his father.
“That’s awesome, kid.” He pounded TJ’s fist. “Sorry I wasn’t there to see it.”
Zinny waved from the rocking chair. She held one of the latest additions to the family, her little girl, Crystal. The baby smiled and giggled at the sight of her uncle.
His siblings were pumping out babies left and right. He couldn’t be happier for them. He loved his nieces and nephews. They brought everyone enormous joy, including him.
“Hey, Noir. Hi, Tamsyn,” Zinny said as if having Tamsyn on his arm was a normal thing. “Nice to see you and not when you’re writing me a parking ticket.”
Tamsyn laughed. “You’re never going to forget that, are you?”
“Nope,” Zinny said. “Neither is my husband. He’s still pissed at you over that one.”
“I most certainly am not. She’s not the one who illegally parked. You are.” Toby strolled across the room, stretching out his arm. “Where’s your twin?”
Noir shook Toby’s hand. “I’ll explain later. Where are my folks?”
“In the kitchen,” Toby said.
“I’ll be back in a few.” He kissed Tamsyn’s cheek. “I expect all of you to be nice to my date.”
“Date?” Chablis asked. “Oh no, little brother. You don’t get to toss that word around and then ditch. You have to explain a little more.” She handed a toy to River before standing, smoothing down her slacks. “Sorry, Tamsyn. Nothing personal here, but Noir hasn’t brought a date to any family function ever, and while I have nothing against him bringing you, you have to understand why it might raise a few eyebrows. I want to know what exactly is going on. When did this happen? How long have you been dating? And are you prepared for the—”
“Chablis, that’s enough.” Noir inched closer. It had taken him a long time to gain his voice with his older siblings. He rarely gave any of them a hard time about anything, unless it was winery business. But he wasn’t going to stand there and have his girlfriend be given the third degree.
“I’m just asking for clarification.” Chablis raised her hands. “It’s not like we all haven’t been talking about this for the last month, wondering when you two were going to come clean.”
“Excuse me?” Tamsyn said.
“What my sister means, but isn’t saying very well, is that it’s about time the two of you are out in the open,” Zinny said. “We all know. She’s just giving him a hard time about keeping it a secret. As if we’d all care he’s dating you, because we don’t.”
“If you don’t care, then don’t hassle us. We’ll get enough shit from people in town. We don’t need it from family.” Noir glared at his sisters. “I’m serious.”
“Relax,” Chablis said. “I’m sorry if I offended you, Tamsyn. That wasn’t about you. Just harassing my little brother a little for keeping secrets about his dating life. That never goes over well in this family and my little brother tends to be aloof, even with us.”
“I’m not aloof. I’m private. There’s a difference,” he said.
Toby laughed. “Of all the siblings, you and Nebbiolo are the hardest to get to know.”
“I have to second that one, and I’ve known you your entire life.” Dax lowered his chin. “Personally, I think you two make for a nice couple and I’ll do my best to keep my wife from giving you a hard time.” He smiled. “Maybe you guys could come over for dinner one night. That would be nice.”
“I’d like that.” Chablis inched closer. She rested her hand on Tamsyn’s forearm. “Winning over Noir’s siblings will be easy, but our mother will be hard.”
“I owe her a pretty big apology,” Tamsyn said. “But today probably isn’t the time to do that.”
“I disagree.” Zinny patted Crystal’s back. “Knowing my mom, she’ll demand it if you want to stay for the wedding.”
“There’s a bigger issue that’s going to piss off Mother. It’s going to send both her and Dad through the roof. Wait until you hear the yelling that’s going to come from our mom’s mouth when I go into that kitchen,” Noir muttered. “No more razzing my girlfriend while I’m gone, got it?”
“You’re seriously going to drop that teaser and leave us hanging?” Dax asked.
“Trust me, you’ll hear it all soon enough.” Noir sucked in a deep breath and made his way down the short hallway to the kitchen where he found his father leaning against the sink, drinking a cup of coffee. His mother sat at the table in front of her laptop and a notebook.
