Page 54 of Wild About You
“P. Vaughn!” Ash calls. “You’re just in time.”
“Time for what?” I ask with a hesitant smile.
“Family dinner. We’ve got burgers, hot dogs, steak, or chicken.”
I scan the island where plates of food are piled up. In addition to the meat there are several side dishes and even dessert.
“I’m okay. I have some leftovers in the fridge.” I move to get it, and Ash steps in the way.
Tyler appears beside me. He hands me an empty plate. “Resistance is futile.”
“I tried to get out of it too.” Everly hops down from the chair where she was sitting in front of the island.
“I said River could stay,” Tyler says.
“Yeah, right, like he would want to sit around while you guys glare at him any time he breathes too close.”
The corner of Tyler’s mouth twitches with amusement.
“Ladies first,” Jack says. He extends a plate to Everly, and she starts us off.
Leo gets in line behind me.
“Where’s Scarlett?” I ask.
“Still at work.”
It would be nice to have another girl here to talk to. Not that the guys aren’t all nice, but holy flock of hockey players. This is intense.
Once we all have food, we sit around the dining room table. It sits twelve comfortably, but they’ve pulled more chairs up to accommodate everyone. The guys all fall quiet as they dig in. Tyler takes the seat next to me and catches me staring at this odd yet very homey-vibe family dinner.
“It’s a lot, right?”
“Yeah. The last time I gathered around a table with this many people was…never mind, I don’t think I ever have.”
“I thought the same when I joined the team. Even with extended family at holidays, our gatherings were half this.”
I nod my agreement.
“How’s your family doing?” he asks, and then takes a bite of his chicken sandwich.
“They’re okay. My parents moved upstate. Do you still keep in touch with Uncle Tim?”
“Oh yeah. Luke too.”
I smile at the mention of my cousin Luke. “He’s getting married this summer.”
“I heard.”
We fall quiet after that, and I feel out of place again. The rest of the table has finally started to talk between bites, too, and the noise around us puts me and Tyler in our own little bubble since neither of us are talking to anyone else.
His body is angled toward me slightly, and when I glance over at him for reassurance, he smiles. “Are you enjoying teaching?”
“Depends on the day.”
He chuckles and my nerves dissipate. This is Tyler. I can do this. We have never had a problem communicating. We used to talk on the phone for hours, but I’m all too aware of how close he is. If I moved my leg a fraction, it’d be flush against his.
We find safe topics to talk about. I tell him about student teaching and then ask him about hockey. Before I know it, the guys are pushing back from the table for seconds or dessert, then they trickle out to the game room.
