No, I want to blurt out. But instead, I say, “Let’s see how he’s doing before we say anything.”
A loud shout comes from the other side of the dining room door. “You ready to face the lion’s den?”
Magnolia holds out a hand to me. “Come on, lion tamer.”
I grasp her hand in mine and swing the door open. For the first time, I’m not dreading interacting with the family. Not with Magnolia at my side.
CHAPTER 19
Magnolia
“Who are you?”A man with a wannabe mustache stops in front of us as we walk in. He’s frowning.
“Kevin, this is my fiancée,” Nash says.
Kevin glares at me but doesn’t say anything. He turns back to Nash. “You better be getting a prenup.”
Nash snorts and squeezes my hand. “Come on, let’s find a seat.”
There are at least twenty people in the room. And there’s a dining room table that’s actually long enough to seat everyone. I’ve never seen a table so big.
Nash stops walking and leans down to whisper in my ear, “It’s a little ridiculous, isn’t it?”
His breath tickles my ear, and a tingle runs down my spine. “I think my apartment could fit in in here. But this room feels colder, if that’s possible.”
“It’s the overall chill of everyone’s attitude. Their fortune slipped away the minute that Grandpa recovered.”
I take the time to look at everyone in the room. No one is smiling. Conversation is a quiet hum. For it being a room full of people, it’s painfully quiet.
The only spot of color is a girl around early college age, or maybe late high school, wearing a quilt style sweater with reds, oranges, and greens in a scattered pattern. She’s sitting in a plush chair in the corner, reading a book.
“Who’s that?” I ask him.
Nash follows my eyes. “That’s Harper. She’s a cousin.”
“Do we like her?”
“Yes, she’s the most likable of the bunch and does her best to stay out of the family drama.” Nash starts walking to the end of the table closest to Harper. There are platters of food filling the table that smell divine.
“Who cooked dinner?”
“Grandpa had Sid cater it,” he replies.
“And no one’s eating? It smells delicious.”
“They’re too busy gossiping,” Nash muttered.
That’s the exact moment I realize all the eyes in the room are trained on me. I guess that makes me the fresh meat in the room.
“Harper,” Nash says as he pulls a chair out for me, and I sit down.
Harper looks up from her book. “Oh good. Somebody normal.” She closes her book and comes to sit in a dining chair next to me.
Nash sinks into the chair on my other side. “How have things been?”
Harper shrugs. “I’m sure you can imagine. No one knows what to do with themselves. No one wants to be here.”
“Then why are we?” I ask.
