Authors: Amelia Whitmore
I wave nervously as everybody’s attention gets turned to me.
“Okay, let’s get the introductions out of the way,” Brayden says, standing
forward. “Guys, this is Anna. Anna, meet my mom, Adrienne; my dad, Paul; my
sister-in-law, Evie; then you know Landon and Zander. There’s also their
daughter, Nora.” He points to a small child on her mother’s hip. She’s the only
blonde in the room and absolutely adorable.
“It’s nice to meet you all,” I murmur awkwardly.
“Oh, Honey, it’s so great to finally meet you!” Adrienne
exclaims from where she’s stirring incredible smelling spaghetti sauce.
“Brayden, Zander, and Landon have been talking about you nonstop since that
carnival!”
“Mom!” Brayden whines, embarrassed. I giggle.
“So I’ve heard,” I say, staring Brayden down. As flattering
as it was to have people talking about me, after what happened last year, I
couldn’t be sure it was a good thing.
“Well, come on over here and tell me all about yourself,”
Adrienne invites me, signaling to the counter beside her.
Brayden senses how unsure I feel and he pushes me gently. I
glare at him. He just wiggles his fingers a little before smugly leaving the
room with Landon and his father. I watch in confusion and shock as he walks
away. How could he abandon me?
“So, Anna, my boy tells me you turned him down. Why is
that?”
Adrienne’s question leaves me speechless and hating Brayden
as I stumble over my own tongue for an answer. Way to put me on the spot.
“I-I uh, I’m, I, well, I, uh,” I stutter. I literally can’t
spit anything out.
Adrienne laughs and pats my shoulder. “I’m sorry, Hon, I
couldn’t resist. Don’t worry, Brayden comes off a bit strong sometimes, I don’t
blame you for saying no,” she says, still laughing.
I sigh in relief. Thankfully, I’m not the only one who feels
overwhelmed by him.
After a few minutes of small talk, Evie begins speaking
Spanish to Nora. I’m kind of mesmerized by her. She’s got amazing curves and
long, flowing black hair that goes perfectly with her naturally tanned skin. If
I were even half as beautiful as she is, I’d be happy. I completely understand
how Landon fell for her as soon as she breaks into a smile for her daughter.
She sees me staring and I blush a little.
“So, Anna, how old are you?” she asks, still playing with
the little girl.
“I’m eighteen.”
“Ah, that explains it, then.” She grins knowingly.
“Explains what?” I ask, completely confused.
“Your insecurity. You’re just blossoming, Chica. Soon,
you’ll embrace your curves and no man will stand a chance against you,” she
informs me.
I let a harsh laugh leave my chest. I feel a mixture of
embarrassment, flattery, and something else I can’t quite identify with. “Yeah
right,” I grumble.
“You will see, Chica. The same happened for me. Then I met
Landon and, well, look at me now.” She laughs, picks the little one up, and
walks to the other room, leaving me to think about what she just said.
I watch as Evie leaves the kitchen, still a little shocked
by what she said. She isn’t serious, is she? Okay, maybe I am “curvy,” as she
put it, but guys are never interested in me like that. Well, apparently Brayden
likes me, but it’s only a matter of time before he comes to his senses too. The
thought of Brayden figuring out that I’m not worth it makes me sad.
Adrienne chuckling beside me brings me back to reality.
“Is she always so outspoken?” I ask.
“Always. You get used to it after a few years, though,” she
says, still laughing.
“Only a few years?” I joke. And just like that, I’m
comfortable with Adrienne already.
We go back and forth with each other, talking and laughing.
Finally, I ask if she needs any help with dinner. At my house, I’ve learned not
to offer. If my dad is cooking, it’s always a flat out “No.” He likes his
kitchen time. Mom will let me “help” and then completely disappear, leaving me
to do the rest on my own.
Adrienne’s face brightens and she nods. “I know it’s rude to
let guests work while they’re visiting, but I’d be an idiot if I turned down
that offer.” We both laugh and continue getting to know each other as we finish
dinner. “All right, I’m going to go call the others to the dining room while
you go find somewhere to sit,” she informs me before walking away, leaving me
to find the dining room on my own.
It seems like a simple task, but finding the dining room in
a huge house that I’ve never been in is difficult. I expected it to be attached
to the kitchen, but it wasn’t. The only reason I found it at all was that I
heard chairs scraping the floor down the hall. I peek my head in and see a
beautiful wooden table with harvest colors decorating it. Brayden pulls me
toward two empty spots and forces me down between him and Landon.
“How’d you like my mom?” he asks, his signature grin
appearing on those lips.
“She’s really great, but if you ever leave me alone like
that again, I’m going to kill you,” I say sweetly with a huge fake smile on my
face. I meant the first part, but the second part was mostly exaggeration. I’d
never kill him; blood makes me queasy.
He frowns when Landon barks out laughter. When he’s finally
finished wiping the tears from his eyes, he reaches behind me and pats Brayden
on the back. “I like her,” he affirms simply, making me blush and Brayden
brighten up.
When everybody begins eating, Brayden gives my hand a small
squeeze under the table.
“I’m sorry I left you alone.”
It almost makes me feel bad for being irritated with him.
Plus, it’s not like Adrienne’s awful or anything. “It’s okay, I just don’t like
strangers and you put me in an awkward situation,” I say softly.
He nods and jerks his head forward a little before blinking
and pulling away, slipping his hand from mine in the process. It looks odd, but
I don’t question it. The conversations at the table begins turning to me,
making me feel a little on the spot.
“So, how old are you again?” Adrienne asks.
“I’m eighteen,” I respond, feeling a bit proud of myself.
Eighteen feels like a big accomplishment to me.
“Ah, so are you a senior, or a freshman?” Paul asks,
basically questioning if I’m in college or high school.
“I’m a freshman.” The pride is evident in my voice again.
Being a freshman is a big accomplishment too.
“Where are you going?” he asks.
“Just community college for now.” I shrug. “I love so many
things. I can’t imagine making my mind up about a future career without taking
classes in everything I’m interested in first. I’m starting with an open major
and focusing on my generals, and then hopefully by sophomore year, I’ll be able
to narrow it down to one,” I explain. It’s something I’ve been thinking about
for a really long time.
“That’s so smart, a very mature thing to do,” Adrienne
praises. It’s so sweet that this woman, whom I’ve only just met, is taking pride
in my future. It makes me a bit emotional, actually, but I swallow back tears
and answer the next question, which comes from Zander.
“Do you like pwanes?” he asks, trying to shovel a huge
mouthful of pasta into his mouth at the same time.
“I love planes,” I tell him enthusiastically.
“Cool,” he says, sounding like it’s truly the coolest thing
he’s ever heard. I laugh at that, finding it really hard not to be happy around
him.
“I like planes too, Zander,” Brayden says with false
jealousy.
Zander pins him with a bored expression. “I aweady know that,
Uncle Bway.” He looks just like Brayden does when he’s being cocky. Zander
truly is a mini Bray.
Brayden pouts a little and looks at me with playful eyes.
“Can you believe that? I’ve always been his favorite—then you come along and
suddenly I’m boring!” He sounds appalled.
I shake my head. “I really can’t believe it. How on earth
did it take him nearly five years to find somebody more interesting than you?”
I mock him with wide, innocent eyes.
Brayden’s jaw drops as everybody begins laughing.
“Well, that’s rude.” Brayden huffs, turning back to his
pasta.
I run my fingers through his disheveled hair and coo, “It’s
okay, you’re not totally boring all the time.”
He laughs and quickly turns toward me. I watch in horror as
his hand jabs out, his fingers suddenly tickling my side. After only a few
moments, I’m gasping out “okay, okay, okay!” I’ve managed to hug myself to
Landon’s side for refuge. He’s too busy laughing to mind.
“Am I boring you now, Anna?” Brayden asks, adding his other
hand to my other side, making me sink down in my chair, kicking wildly to get
away.
“Nooo!” I yowl.
As suddenly as he started, he pulls away. “Good.”
Then he goes back to eating as if nothing ever happened
while I’m still shaking with laughter.
“That was not very nice,” I pout, trying to sound upset.
Unfortunately, my lingering case of the giggles ruins it. I
realize that I can’t even be mad at him or embarrassed that he just had his
fingers digging into my flab. I can only feel happy. I haven’t laughed like
that since I was little.
***
“Thank you so much for having me over,” I say sincerely as
Brayden and I walk away from the house.
Everybody else is waving at us from the door. Tonight was
the best night of my life. I know it seems silly, but I really love Brayden’s
family. They’re such great people and they made me feel so welcome.
After dinner, we all ended up playing Monopoly. Apparently,
I’ve been playing it wrong my entire life, so Brayden had to teach me their
way. I didn’t realize you could play Monopoly incorrectly. I also got to see
the play room that Adrienne and Paul made for Zander. Since both Evie and
Landon have jobs, Adrienne acts as a day care service for Nora, and for Zander
after his half day at school is over.
In the truck, I sigh with contentment, causing Brayden to
chuckle quietly. It sounds like he’s breathing out of his nose, but there’s a
low rumble from his chest that accompanies it. It’s the sexiest sound ever, but
I can’t tell him that. Not only would his ego swell until it pushed me out of
the truck, it wouldn’t be fair to act as if I’m attracted to him as more than a
friend . . . even though we both know that I am.
“So, how was meeting the family?” Ro asks me when we meet up
for work.
I hadn’t had the chance to call Ro and dish about it yet.
“It was great,” I tell her with a smile sneaking across my
lips.
“I knew it!” she exclaims, as though I’ve just admitted to
something monumental.
“Knew what?” I ask with a sigh.
“I knew that you were madly in love with Brayden,” she
informs me in a singsong tone.
I stop walking and stutter a little. “I-I’m not . . .”
I pause for a moment, trying to get it out. When I do, it’s only a whisper. “I’m
not in love with Brayden.”
“What? Of course you are!” Ro exclaims, as though it's the
most obvious thing in the world.
“No, I’m not! I’m not in love with anybody,” I tell her
seriously. I'm 100 percent positive that I’m serious. Well, maybe more like 95 percent,
but I wasn’t about to admit that.
“Oh,” she grumbles sullenly.
“Yeah, oh,” I mumble back, pulling open the door to
Starbucks. Tonight, we’re on a shift with Chance and Liz.
The beginning of the evening is really busy and I feel like
it’ll never slow down. But after the one millionth customer, it slows all the
way down until all the place needs is a tumbleweed. You really can’t win with
me.
After practically falling asleep on the job for an hour and
a half, it’s going on closing time. Chance and I are bickering back and forth
about how amazing dill pickles are. Well, I’m saying how amazing they are;
Chance likes sweet ones. I've decided that he's completely disgusting.
“How can you like sweet pickles?” I exclaim, throwing my
hands in the air. “They taste like caca.”
“Caca?” He raises an eyebrow.
“It means icky,” I growl in the matter-of-fact tone that I
sometimes get when I don’t want to explain things.
“Well, in that case, no they don’t,” he huffs, sticking his
tongue out at me.
“Ro!” I whine, pointing at Chance, “Tell him not to do that!
And tell him sweet pickles are gross.” We all crack up. It’s really the first
time that I’ve truly been myself in front of my coworkers, and it’s nice to let
loose.
“Chance, don’t pick on my BFF,” Ro chides, rolling her eyes.
I grin in satisfaction.
“Now tell him I’m right.” I nod encouragingly, acting like a
five-year-old.
“No!” Chance whines, “Dill pickles are ewie!” “Nuh-uh!” I
yell back.
“You’re such a pain in the ass!” he huffs, pretending to be
irritated.
“Well you’re a . . . a . . . You’re
a butthead!” I retort brilliantly.
Everybody stops and just stares at me, amazed at my
cleverness. I blush. “I don’t want to hurt his feelings,” I explain innocently,
making them all chuckle.
“Aww,” Chance coos before walking over to me and pulling me
to his chest in the tightest hug ever. “You’re such a sweetie pie.” He sounds
like a proud father.
I laugh and push him away. I’m about to tell him about the
cooties I’ve been infected with, but a polite cough interrupts me. To my
surprise, Carlos and Brayden are standing by the door. Carlos has one eyebrow
raised while Brayden doesn’t look happy at all.
“Hey guys!” Ro gushes. I never realized before I started
working here, but she’s got a crush on Carlos. Since I’d never met him, I’d
never have known. Now that I do, though, it’s my official mission to set them
up, and tonight is the initiation of plan A, which I’ve been helping set in
motion.
Carlos was supposed to turn up, alone, and surprise Aurora
with a date. Looks like he chickened out, though, since Brayden’s with him.