I fight the overwhelming urge to reach out and cup his cheek. Instead, I offer him a soft smile. “Tell me about her tonight?” I ask, needing more subtle assurance that there will be an us at the end of the day.
“Okay,” he agrees. “Tonight.”
I puff out a relieved sigh. The relief I feel is short-lived, however, when I take a seat at the table. Evan and Brooks both level me withnarrowed-eyed looks. Then, in unison, their gazes flit to Gordy as he sits next to me.
Gordy scowls at them. “What?”
“You both were using the bathroom at the same time?” Evan notes.
“Yeah, I mean, there’s more than one urinal in there. Stalls too, because this place is bougie like that,” Gordy rebuts sarcastically. More than anything, I want to reach out and unfurl the fist he’s got balled on his thigh.
Brooks chides my brother, “Ev, babe, not right here.”
“Whynotright here? If all they were doing was hanging out shittin’ together, I guess they’ve got nothing to hide, right?”
“That’s a bad word, Uncle Evan,” Tati scolds.
“Tati an’ I use da baffroom togeder all da time at school,” Terra chimes in.
“If the government has its way, Iwon’tbe able to share the same bathroom as my baby daddy soon, which is total BS, if you ask me,” Colton pipes up, unhelpfully. I know he’s trying to create a diversion by sparking a political debate here, but—it’s not really landing.
“I highly doubt they were justinnocentlytaking a leak in tandem,” Evan hisses.
Morgan bites her lip. I don’t have to have a solid grasp on ASL to know that Caleb just signed something like, “oh, shit” to Marcus. Ma reaches for my hand, squeezing it under the table.
“Evan,” Dad says in that no-nonsense tone of his. “There are children at the table, and this is not the time nor is it the place to start picking fights with your brother. You’re grown ups. Act like it.”
I shrink in my chair upon the glare Evan shoots at me.
“Uh-oh,” Tally chirps. “Papamad.”
“No,” Brooks says, addressing their daughter. “Papa is just a little confused right now. As is Daddy. No one is mad. Right, Evan?” Hepeers up at his husband. “Because there’s absolutely no reason to be mad. I didn’t mention my discovery to you to cause trouble here; I only said it because I wasconfused.”
“Sure.” My brother clears his throat, seeming to think better of having this outburst now that his husband has reined him in. Thank god his hubby is a shrink.
“Well, uh, the food sure does look great,” I stammer, trying to dispel some of the awkwardness. “Better than anything I could have created.”
“Dat’s ‘cuz youburneverything, Daddy,” Terra huffs, causing the whole table to laugh.
“Is that right?” Ma hums, and I relax a little with the subject change. “It appears he didn’t get his cooking skills from me.”
Tati scowls. “He didn’t burn the last pancakes he made for us and Mr. Gordy!”
Evan’s brows practically merge with his hairline—which is obnoxiously not receding despite the four years he has on me. And… oh, fuck.Here we go again.
Gordy grumbles something under his breath before addressing my brother, “You know what? Fine. Yes, Gannett and I? We’ve been together for a couple of months now—”
“Longer dan dat!” Terra interrupts, and I resist the urge to clap my hand over both my girls’ well-meaning—albeit slightly tattle-taleish—mouths. Love them to pieces, but dang, throw me a frickin’ bone here. Evan looks to be all of two-point-five seconds away from launching himself over this table and throttling me.
I suck in a deep breath. “Evan, can we just, I don’t know, maybe go outside or something? I feel like this is perhaps not the setting for a big, ole’ screaming match.”
“I don’t scream,” he rebuts, the coolness in his tone borderline arctic.
Brooks hand shoots over to Evan under the table. “Yeah, well we don’t exactly use our fists either. Weshouldn’tanyway.” His gaze flits around the crowded dining area. “This is Taryn’s big day. Let’s not cause a scene here. It’s really not that big of an issue.”
“It’s totally not, Evster,” Morgan agrees.
“Youknewabout this?” Evan growls.
