“Yeah, no, for sure.” The dog chose that moment to stick her muzzle in Anne’s crotch. “Honey, lie down,” he ordered.
“Why don’t you join us for dinner,” his mother suggested.
“Oh, I…I’m sure you weren’t expecting company,” Anne said. “I should go.”
“It’s spaghetti,” Nicole said. “I’ll just add a little more pasta to the pot.”
“Stay,” Joe said.
Her gaze met his. Her smile loosened something inside him. “Lie down. Stay. Any other commands?”
A smile tugged his mouth. “Please.”
“You can fill that pot with water,” Nicole said.
“Sure.” Anne moved to obey. “But I should warn you, I can’t cook.”
“Of course you can. You can read, you can follow a recipe. Here.” Nicole thrust a fistful of flatware at Joe. “Make yourself useful.”
He set the table, listening to the lilt of women’s voices behind him. He couldn’t really make out what they were saying, but he heard his mother laugh. Honey, having figured out she was not being fed, collapsed with a sigh under the table. The scent of garlic and simmering red sauce filled the air as Hailey burst through the back door, chattering with Liv.
It was nice, Joe thought, Anne being here. Not for sex—though he spared a moment’s regret, thinking of her between the clean sheets of his bed—but simply here, putting together a salad with his mom, teasing with his sister.
This was what home was supposed to feel like. Messy. Noisy. Full.
He poured drinks, pop for the girls, wine for his mother and Anne. Got a beer for himself. He handed Anne a glass, resting his hand lightly on her hip, unable to resist touching her, enjoying her closeness and the smell of her hair. When he let her go, his mother was watching. She raised her brows slightly and smiled.
Busted.
Eventually they settled around the table, two or three conversations going at once, his sister slipping food to Honey under the table. Nicole was telling Anne about some wedding she’d catered. Hailey and Liv were talking about that series they were bingeing at Liv’s house.
“Gilbert is such a snack,” Liv said. “Yum yum.”
“I can’t believe Anne doesn’t forgive him,” Hailey said.
“But she does,” Anne said from across the table.
“After he gives up his teaching job for her. And then she wants to be ‘friends.’ ” Hailey hooked air quotes around the word.
“Sometimes it’s hard to acknowledge your feelings have changed,” Anne said. She didn’t look at Joe. “Your cake sounds amazing, Mrs.Miller.”
“It was. Until the chocolate ganache melted in the heat and the whole tier started to slide. That’s the problem with outdoor weddings. One of the problems,” she added, with a significant look at Joe.
He and Britt had married in the garden of the Grand Hotel with most of the island and two hundred of her parents’ closest friends in attendance. Not the church wedding his mom had dreamed of.
He cleared his throat. “More wine?”
Anne’s smile flashed. “Thanks.”
Hailey was going on about that TikTok challenge. “…do location shoots,” she said through a mouthful of pasta. “Only instead of Prince Edward Island, everything would be on Mackinac. Like the Haunted Wood.”
“The Lake of Shining Waters?” Anne suggested.
“Too easy. Unless…” Hailey’s eyes brightened. “We could use the Drowning Pool!”
“No more drowning,” Joe said. “I don’t want to see you anywhere near water.”
“Right. Because it’s not like we live on an island or anything.”
