“Oh my God, you’ve gotten so big since the last time I saw you,” she exclaimed as she backed up to grip my biceps in her hands and give a squeeze. “And got even more handsome than before.”
“I’m not sure there was much handsome there to begin with,” I told her.
“Ah, well, you were a twiggy little thing, I’ll give you that. But that’s not really fair when I’ve had sons like Dom and Mason to compare to everyone else,” she said with a grin. “But youarehandsome. Oh, and so well dressed too, it’s nice to see you got out of those baggy clothes.”
“Not really my thing anymore,” I said in a tight voice. “It’s...good to see you again, Matilda.”
She beamed up at me. “You would have seen me a lot more if you bothered to come around.”
“Well, I?—”
“But you’re here now, and that’s what matters, doesn’t it?”
“I suppose it does,” I said, then frowned at the dark mark on her face. “What is...what happened to you?”
She blinked before scoffing and waving a hand at me. “Oh, just a little excitement. Enough to last me a lifetime. But do me a favor, sweetheart?”
“Of course,” I said immediately because I didn’t think I had it in me to deny her anything.
“Don’t go mentioning this little boo boo around Arlo and Ward, alright?” she said, and I could see the way her eyes narrowed. She was being sweet, but she was also mentally reaching for the knives she always had at the ready when someone pissed her off. Moira had gotten it from somewhere after all.
“Who’s Ward?” I wondered.
Dom reappeared, handing me my glass. “Arlo went and found himself a boyfriend.”
I blinked. “No shit?”
“No shit,” Matilda repeated. “Ward is sweet...a little fancy, and a lot fancier than I pictured for any of my kids, even Arlo. But they’re sweet together, and I can tell you that man loves Arlo to the moon and back.”
“I’m not going to argue when you sound so sure,” I said, glancing at Dom, who winced.
“I forgot to tell you,” he said softly. “It’s a story that I’ll get into later, okay? Not around them.”
“Sure,” I said, confused but realizing the bruise on Matilda’s face was probably connected to whatever it was Dom wasn’t telling me about Arlo and Ward.
“Good,” Matilda said, gesturing. “Now come on, sit, sit. I made sure it was extra special this time because I knew you were coming.”
“Sure,” I repeated, and something clicked in my head. It only clicked because, so far, everything I had relearned about this family meant the weird and wonderful followed them everywhere like a happy dog. “I uh...this Ward, he wouldn’t happen to be the governor of Oregon’s son, would he?”
Dom snorted. “Only you would be able to put that together from a simple name.”
“Mmm, no. I put it together because that’s exactly the sort of thing I’d expect from your family,” I said with a laugh.
Dom stepped in front of me, blocking my view of his family and me from them. Smiling, he reached up and used the corner of his nice shirt to dab at my eyes. “There. Wouldn’t want the family to know you have sentimental feelings about them or something.”
“Thank you,” I said, realizing I hadn’t even been thinking about being on display for them.
So far, not one of them had batted an eye at my presence. Oh sure, they’d been told I was coming, and there had been a couple of comments about my absence and about sticking around, but no one had seemed mad or upset. In fact, all of them had taken my absence as if I had been on a business trip rather than gone fifteen years because I’d made a decision that impacted my life and Dom’s.
From behind him came a soft voice. “I hope I’m not interrupting.”
“Marcus,” I exclaimed, wincing when I realized how loud it was. “God, have you aged at all?”
“Only on the inside, kids will do that to you,” he said with a chuckle, and I reached out to take his hand. “It’s good to see you again, Levi. No one wants to say it, but you had us all worried for a while there. Disappearing without a trace.”
“I—”
“Don’t,” he said quickly. “Don’t apologize. It’s not necessary. You were a kid, doing the best he could with what he had, alright? But...it would have been nice to know every once in a while that you were okay.”
