Danielle’s eyes widen.
“Tanner told me,” I tell her. “He was the one who made the call to Riley to get Winnie into the Y.”
Danielle and Mayben exchange a glance. Then it’s Mayben who speaks. “So, he told you about the two of them?”
“Yeah.” I nod. “I got the rundown.” Not sure what else there was to say. The topic still seems so heavy, yet Tanner seems so moved on from it. I don’t know how you can move on from something like that.
“He was kinder to her than anyone else would have been. The only reason Bernie and Pia are friends with her still is because Tanner insisted that not everyone could abandon her after everything went down. I think the baby thing broke his heart the most. At his preschool graduation, when they asked what he wanted to be when he grew up, he said a dad.” Danielle laughs and turns back to the stove.
“Hey Mom.” Jackie comes in now, kisses Danielle on the cheek and then wraps his arms around Mayben, his palms resting against her belly. “How’re things going in here?”
“Well, your wife hasn’t lifted a finger since getting here,” Danielle chides.
“I am with child, Mom.”
Danielle gives her a look that only a mother could give. “I’ll get out both yours and your brother’s baby pictures if you aren’t careful. Naked ones and all.”
“Fine.” Mayben stands, goes to the sink and starts on the pile of dishes.
“On that note, what can I do?” Jackie laughs and Mayben tosses a towel at his head.
“Get drying, pretty boy.”
And Jackie Atwood is a pretty boy. He’s more slender than Rhett, with sharper angles, but he has all that dark beauty the Atwoods share. While Rhett looks like he is in a perpetual state of consideration, Jackie seems to be always on the verge of a joke. A tilt to his lips, squinting of his green eyes. He’s cute and his world orbits around Mayben.
Once I finish the veggies, Danielle asks if I can go check on the guys out back. She smirks and I know exactly what she’sdoing but I slip out the back door without protest. I find Tanner manning the grill while his dad and Winnie pet Lemon.
“Hey you.” Tanner smiles and I slip right into his side, my arm circling his waist. “My mom didn’t scare you off, did she?”
“Well, she was mentioning your naked baby pictures…”
He looks down at me with no hint of embarrassment and whispers, “My butt is even cuter now if you want to sneak off and take a look.”
“Tanner.” I elbow his side, and he only pulls me in tighter. We watch Winnie lay on the grass next to Lemon and honestly, it’s hard to tell the two apart.
For dinner, Danielle serves everything family style at the big wooden slat table out back in the grass where the sun glows through the tops of the trees. The table is filled with bowls and plates, pitchers of iced tea, and small dishes with lemons.
This family is boisterous and loud. They’re reaching over each other as they pass dishes and pass them back. They talk on top of each other and playfully argue with laughing tears in their eyes. Mayben and Tanner bicker over who broke their dad’s fake Rembrandt painting in his office back in elementary school. Then they’re laughing about crying over math homework at the kitchen table with their dad in middle school.
“The numbers are still engraved into the table.” Mayben laughs. “The first time Jackie came over for dinner he spotted a long division problem carved into it.”
Winnie watches in wide-eyed wonder at the volume and laughter. With each passing moment, and each time Tanner squeezes my knee under the table, I can’t imagine how I could ever leave this behind, how could I take Winnie from this?
“Hannah, did you and your sister fight like this growing up?” Dan asks and I shake my head.
“No. My parents were more the ones to fight. Besides, youguys know Lauren. She would be the one to win the fight anyway. She has a way with words.”
“Do you write?” Danielle questions while sipping her wine.
“Oh no, they had me in reading support groups when I was younger. Words were never my thing. I have a degree in finance.”
“Tanner almost failed all of his math classes in high school.” Mayben laughs and ducks at the incoming piece of zucchini.
“Tan.” Winnie giggles. “Mom said we have to be on our best behavior.”
“Yeah, Tanner.” Mayben sticks her tongue out at him.
“You’re right Fred,” he says, squeezing my thigh. “I’ll let Mayben know she needs to be on her best behavior.”
