Scott laughed. He could see why everyone had gone quiet. It wasn’t the kind of thing that people normally said during polite, family-lunch conversation. He was starting to get Riley, though. He wasn’t the kind of man who held back.
Scott liked that. Even if it was a little embarrassing to be called hot in front of everyone.
The sudden tension melted away, as though everyone had been waiting for Scott’s reaction. Maybe they had.
He was trying to make a good impression on them, but they were probably trying to make a good impression on him, too.
“I saw him first,” Charlie said, a tiny smile turning up the corner of his lips.
“And I saw him second, so you get in line,” Mrs. Jules said.
Scott looked up, unsure he’d heard right for a moment, and then realized he definitely had. His ears burned with embarrassment, but thankfully, everyone was looking at her this time.
“What? I have eyes,” Mrs. Jules defended.
“And if I hadn’t met Charlie first, I’d be bringingyouflowers instead, ma’am,” Scott said.
Charlie laughed at that, which set off the rest of the table, including Mrs. Jules. Scott breathed a sigh of relief that he’d said the right thing.
Maybe it had been a little awkward, but he felt accepted here. Wanted, even. Like he could have just slipped into this family and no one would have made him feel like he was an outsider. Jude had clearly done exactly that.
“So, we were talking about kid-friendly dogs,” Owen said, cutting up potatoes for Kayla.
Beside him, Jude let out a tiny squeal of excitement.
Scott grinned.That, he could definitely talk about.
“Well, I’ve got a few dogs who’ve been kid-tested. But you’re always welcome to bring Kayla over to my place and see how she gets on with everyone. And I can arrange that kind of thing with a lot of other places, so you’ve actually got a lot of choice. Depends on what kind of dog would suit you. And, uh. I can help you figure that out, too.”
Owen smiled over at him. “Sounds awesome. We’ll talk about it and see you for drinks on Friday?”
“Absolutely,” Scott said, squirming in his chair.Thatwas acceptance. Love, even. Owen just expected that he’d be there, because he was one of them now.
Scott glanced at Charlie, who was taking advantage of the distraction to load his plate, and smiled.
He could get used to this family.
Thankfully, the conversation turned away from him and onto Riley’s latest adventures, which were actually interesting. He was a good storyteller, and Scott could imagine sitting around at Thanksgiving and Christmas listening to his travelling tales.
If Hope Springs felt like home, this felt like family. It wasn’t his, but there was a part of him that thought maybe it could be.
Sometimes, people found themselves in the right place at the right time, and everything worked out. Scott was starting to think this was his right place, his right time. It had been so easy to accept the way he felt about Charlie, felt so natural to fall for him, even if he’d never felt like that before.
Fall for him?
Had he done that?
Scott wasn’t sure, but the thought felt natural, too. Comfortable. Like if it happened, it wouldn’t be a bad or scary thing. It’d be nice.
Hewantedto fall for Charlie. He wanted this comfortable life, full of people he liked being around, with someone as kind and good as Charlie beside him.
Right now, he couldn’t imagine wanting anything else. This was what the world had always promised him would happen. One day, he’d find his people, and everything would be okay from that moment onward.
Charlie’s family, his friends, the whole of Hope Springs felt like that. Like they were his people. Like this was where he belonged.
After dinner, when the table had been cleared and Scott was too full to move, Charlie sat back down next to him and took Scott’s hand, moving it into his own lap and wrapping both of his hands around it.
“Thank you for coming,” he said. “Sorry about Riley.”
