Parker and Dad pulled in right after him. They must have all met up at the shop to check the alarm together. Denver ducked back in and sat next to me. “I never had anything like this as a kid. You’re so lucky.”
“We had some good times up here.”
There was a unicorn sleeping bag on the floor, and Denver leaped down and stretched out on it, laying one arm across his face to block the sunlight shining in through the window. “I was up until four last night playing X-Box in my cousin’s tournament. Do you mind if I rest my eyes for a little bit, you know, as long as we’re hiding out from your relatives?”
I smiled. “Sure thing.”
He turned, trying to get comfortable. “And yeah, your family’s weird.”
“You’ve only met half of them.”
He gave me a thumbs up in return and was snoring within a minute.
9
___________
Clay
It wouldn’t be a Harwood family event if I didn’t get spit-up on me at some point, and apparently today would be no exception.
“Burp him, please.” Melissa handed Jax to me no less than four seconds after I walked in before following her mother-in-law to the kitchen to deal with a baking emergency. I possessed some sort of baby magic that had started with Raelyn. For a while, I was one of the few people who could hold her without causing her to cry.
“Hey, buddy.” I sat on the edge of the couch and balanced Jax on my knee, gently patting his back until he burped like a trucker. He smiled big before a trail of milk leaked out of his mouth and onto the burp cloth below him. I thought I was in the clear until he waved one of his chubby arms around and managed to pick up a handful of spit-up from the burp cloth and glom it on the arm I was holding him with.
“Thanks, dude. Much appreciated.”
Parker and John walked in and shook their heads at the sight of me. They both loved Jax, but neither were great with babies except to make faces at them and hand them off the second they yelled or smelled.
“Where’s everyone else?” John asked me. “Lauren’s truck is here.”
“I’ve only seen Melissa and Charlotte. I assume Connor’s at the grill. He’s much better at not burning stuff than the rest of us.”
Parker made a face. “Lauren’s probably off making out with her boyfriend somewhere. She always gets out of cooking.”
The thought of her off making out with some guy who I knew wasn’t her boyfriend caused my head to pulse, so I focused on the second part of what Parker had said. “She gets out of cooking because she can’t cook.”
“And why do you think that is?” Parker waved his arms out like a prosecutor making his case. “She does it on purpose. The same way she used to get out of taking out the garbage because she said the neighbor’s dog growled at her through the fence.”
John, looking bored with our argument, walked into the kitchen. Charlotte squealed, and John’s chuckle followed, along with his deep baritone serenading her with his off-key version of an Elvis love song.
I couldn’t help but smile. John and Charlotte were never shy about their exuberance in seeing each other.
Parker collapsed on the couch next to me. “I don’t know why they have to make such a production of it.”
“That’s because you’ve never known someone you wanted in your arms every time you saw her.”
“Um, what?”
I continued to pat Jax, reminding myself my secret was safe. If Parker hadn’t figured out I’d been desperately pining for his sister for the past seven years, today would make no difference. Even so, I had an answer ready to throw him off the trail. “You forget I didn’t grow up with that. I’m still not sure if my grandparents even like each other.”
Parker sniffed. “I’m sure they do. They’ve spent fifty years together.”
“They have common goals and a mutual distrust of strangers. That’s not love, that’s being practical.”
I could tell Parker didn’t agree with me, but then, I didn’t agree with his assessment of his parents either. It was better to leave each other to our biases.
Melissa hurried back in, arms outstretched to take Jax from me. “I’m sorry, Clay. I didn’t mean to leave him with you for so long. Oh, and Connor is asking for you two. He said if he has to sweat all over a grill, you should too.”
