“The hell he did. That’s mine,” her dad said. “A man only turns sixty years old once.”
He took Taylor’s bag from Jamar and led them inside.
A couple of years ago, her parents undertook a massive renovation, tearing down walls and going with an open-concept design that left the living room, dining room, and much of the kitchen visible from the foyer. Taylor spotted her mother sitting at the dining room table with her niece, Fredericka.
They were tying gold ribbons around little black boxes, which Taylor surmised were the party favors for tomorrow night. The fact that they were making the favors out in the open also meant that her father knew about the party. There was no need to pretend that she’d flown all the way from Austin for a small family get-together.
Taylor went straight to her mother and gave her a hug. She turned to Fredericka and signedHello, Beautiful.I’ve missed you.Her niece signed backI’ve missed you too.I like your hair.
“Don’t you dare offer to dye her hair,” her mother told Taylor. “You know your brother won’t let you.”
“It won’t matter if we do it before he finds out.” Taylor signed the words as she spoke them.
She motioned Jamar over and made introductions, and then spent ten minutes relaying questions Freddie had about football and how many cities he’d traveled to while playing. Her niece suffered from a severe case of wanderlust and didn’t hold back when it came to her displeasure at never having left the United States. She maintained that the one time she visited her grandparents and aunt in Germany didn’t count since she was still a baby at the time.
“There are finger foods in the kitchen,” her mother said. “I’m sure you two are hungry after traveling all day.”
Taylor guided Jamar to the kitchen and took down two plates. When she turned back to him, he was staring at her with a mixture of wonder and appreciation in his eyes.
“What?” Taylor asked.
“You never mentioned you’re fluent in sign language,” he said.
“It’s not as if it ever came up in conversation,” she said.
“I don’t understand how you ever thought you weren’t college material, Taylor. Every day I learn something even more remarkable about you.”
An infusion of warmth filled her chest and then spread throughout the rest of her. Taylor closed the distance between them, cupped his face in her hands, and placed a kiss on the tip of his nose.
“Do you know those are, by far, the nicest words that have ever been said about me while standing in this particular kitchen? If my parents weren’t just a few yards away, I would strip your clothes off and do all kinds of nasty things to you right this second.”
Jamar closed his eyes and released a guttural sound from deep in his throat. “Please don’t say things like that while we’re here. I want your dad to like me. That will never happen if he notices me walking around his house with a hard-on.”
“Hmm, no, I don’t suspect the Colonel would take too kindly to that,” Taylor said. She slipped one hand from his jaw and trailed it down his chest and torso. “But you have to admit there’s something exciting about the thought of getting caught.”
He sucked in a breath. “Don’t.”
Just then, the front door opened and Darwin, along with his wife, Rebecca, entered the house. At the exact same time, Jesamyn and Chester came through the side door that led to the backyard. The volume of the chatter in the house quadrupled. It also put an end to any clandestine sexy times in her parents’ kitchen. That was probably a good thing.
They all flocked to the great room, and for the first time in ages, Taylor didn’t feel an overwhelming urge to escape. The finger sandwiches, chips and dip, and cocktail wieners her mom had prepared lasted all of ten minutes, so the Colonel ordered pizza, which they ate while relaxing on the sofa and in the comfortable armchairs Taylor instantly declared were the best pieces of furniture in the house.
Jamar fell right in with her family, charming her mother and sister-in-law, and as Taylor had predicted, going toe-to-toe with Jesamyn on every topic, from politics to climate change to the winner of the best picture at the Oscars this year. He cemented his place in the Powell family when he joined Freddie in learning a new dance on TikTok, then convinced her dad to join them.
Taylor laughed so hard she could barely catch her breath. But as she observed the jovial scene from the comfort of her plush armchair, she became increasingly uncomfortable with the sense of envy that began to take root. Was she . . . jealous?
Don’t be ridiculous.
The idea that she was anything but happy to see Jamar getting along so well with her family was laughable.
And yet . . .
Taylor couldn’t understand how he could seem so at ease with people he just met, while she walked around in a constant state of self-doubt whenever she was near them. Then again, it wasn’t all that difficult to understand how he was able to fit in. He’d matched wits with her sister and talked sports with her dad and brother. He fit in better with her family than she did.
She reminded herself that her family welcoming Jamar into the fold was a good thing. She wanted them to like him. Taylor forced a smile that she wasn’t really feeling and tried her hardest to suppress her resentment.
As the evening progressed, her dad made a pot of his famous hot chocolate and directed everyone to carry their mugs outside to the stone fire pit he’d had installed. When Jesamyn brought a bag of marshmallows for toasting, Taylor had to take a mental step back to make sure she was at the right house. Everything seemedtooperfect.
And then her brother ruined it all.
