Indy gave me a tight smile as I pulled out the chair next to her at the far end of the table. Our shoulders rubbed against each other as I sat down. We exchanged tense smiles.
This was awkward as fuck.
At the other end of the table, Aunt Wendy stood and carved the turkey. No macho shit here about men doing the job. Aunt Wendy was more than capable of breaking down the turkey she’d slaved over for hours. Soon, plates and bowls of food were passed around as everyone took their fill.
I passed the rolls to Indy. “So, how’s the apartment working out? You like Sabrina’s old place?”
Indy nodded stiffly but didn’t otherwise answer as she took the basket of rolls from me.
Okaaaay. Swing and a miss.
I don’t know why I expected this to be easier.
I jumped as someone kicked my shin. Glaring across the table, I scowled at Maddie and her pointy shoes.What?I mouthed at her.
Her eyes darted between me and Indy who was currently engrossed in selecting her cut of turkey.
“Try harder,” Maddie hissed under her breath.
Oh great. I glanced down the table and found most of my siblings and their partners watching us out the corner of their eyes.
I dropped my head and sighed deeply. Nice to know everyone was deeply involved in what was going on with me and Indy.
I glared at the lot of them then turned back to my dinner and my own business.
“Dylan?” I jerked back to the present at Indy’s soft voice.
“What’s that, sweetheart?”
She visibly flinched at the endearment. I didn’t know it was possible to feel any lower, but here I was.
“Turkey?” She held the platter out to me.
“Thanks,” I muttered as I took it from her. I stabbed blindly at the meat and loaded up my plate.
I knew I’d fucked things up with her, but at the moment it felt like there wasn’t anything I could do to even start building back the trust.
Everyone was wrong. I fucked up, and she wasn’t interested in giving me a second chance. Ever.
Sighing, I pushed the food around my plate. I wasn’t all that hungry anymore.
“Everything okay?” Indy asked in a soft voice as Nathan and Austin argued loudly at the other end of the table about mufflers and RPMs. I got enough of that shit at work, why they wanted to talk about it now was a mystery to me.
“Yeah. I’m good.” I gave her a weak ass smile and turned back to my plate.
I thought this would be easier given the way she’d come up to me outside earlier.
But maybe she just wanted to be friends and was feeling awkward as fuck given how obvious my family was being.
“So, Indy,” Aunt Wendy’s voice called out loudly over my brother’s stupid work convo. “I hear you’re something of an artist?”
I glared at Austin.
He turned to Nathan and pointed at him with his fork. “I think we should go with a Reinhardt for our next build. They have the best sound.”
“I’m working on it,” Indy answered Aunt Wendy.
“I’d like to see that sometime. This one here.” She jerked her fork in my direction. “Is so secretive about his work. Unless it’s on the side of a bike, we don’t get to see it.”
