Page 28 of The Sexy Part
“They just let guests sleep in a teen-boy guest room.”
“Ah.”
“Dinner will be ready in a couple of minutes. Come on.” He offers me his arm.
I stare at his arm, but don’t take it. “I don’t want your parents to get the wrong idea about us.”
“Mom knows your deal,” he says. “Dad’s the one who taught me to be a gentleman. His dad insisted on it with him and his brothers after his dad’s mom was treated poorly by her husband. Her second marriage was to a man who had gentleman manners, and that’s all it took to start a legendary family tradition.”
“So if I don’t take your arm, your dad will be mad at you?”
“Exactly.”
“Hmmm…”
“You can walk in on my arm,” Finn calls from the living room.
“She barely knows you,” Cooper says, walking over to argue with his brother.
I walk into the dining room with Mackenzie. We share a smile. It’s sweet but unnecessary to have an escort into the dining room.
Cooper’s dad, Josh, sets a platter of ribs on the table. “Hope you’re hungry, Rowan.”
“I am. Thanks for having me.”
“Course.” He walks around the table and offers his hand to me. Like Cooper, he has brown hair and warm brown eyes, which crinkle at the corners when he smiles. “I’m Josh. Seems you met everyone in the family except me. Sorry you’re going through a rough patch. You’ve landed in a good spot.”
I shake his hand. “Thanks. I feel fortunate. Your kids are wonderful. They’ve all been so helpful.”
His chest puffs out. “That’s how we raised ’em.”
Mackenzie hugs him. “How’s your tennis elbow?”
“Bah, fine. I’m doing my exercises.” He turns to me. “I don’t even play tennis.”
Mackenzie squeezes his arm. “It’s from yard work.”
Hailey hustles in with side dishes and gestures to Mackenzie with her head. Mackenzie goes to the kitchen and brings in extra napkins and more side dishes. There’s corn bread, green beans with almonds, coleslaw, baked beans, and fries.
My stomach growls.
Cooper takes the seat next to me. “Someone’s hungry.”
I press a hand to my stomach. “Everything looks so good.”
“The fries are from Happy Endings,” Hailey says.
“So’s everything else,” Josh says.
“Not true,” Hailey protests. “I made the coleslaw, and you made the ribs.” She lifts the rib platter and passes it to me first. “Take what you like and pass it along.”
The passing of plates works like clockwork around the table. I take a little bit of everything.
“Do you often have a big Sunday family dinner?” I ask.
“Every Sunday,” Cooper says. “We don’t all make it every Sunday, but we try.”
Everyone starts to eat. I try to be neat with my ribs, but the sauce makes it impossible. After a while I just give up and go for it. Seems like that’s what everyone’s doing anyway, even Hailey, who always looks so put together.
