Sean cleared his throat. "Yeah, we’re ready. I thought Lainey and I’d go in my car . . . in case we want to leave early. There’d also be more room if we went in two cars."
Jarrod hid his smile at the transparent excuses to be alone with Lainey, and replied, "That’s a good idea. You can follow us over." It would also give him more time with Nikki. Not alone, because Briana would be there, but it would be better than to share her with two additional people. It would be bad enough with his entire family around all day.
Not that he didn’t want her to meet his family, just that he’d rather spend some time alone with her. Just the two of them . . . all by themselves . . .
He looked up suddenly to find Lainey and Sean eyed him knowingly. They made small talk until Briana and Nikki joined them a few minutes later. Nikki now wore slip-on sandals and carried her monstrous purse. Briana had been entrusted to carry the big bowl of chocolate mousse and walked very slowly and carefully.
"Nana’s gonna take care of Bunc while we’re gone," Briana announced. "That’s in case we’re not back in time and he gets hungry. It’s a good thing she came back from ‘cation. Else we’d have to bring Nikki back early."
"Nana?" Jarrod questioned.
"The next door neighbor. Everyone calls her Nana. She’s a real sweetheart," Nikki replied fondly. "She’s a big fan of my chocolate mousse."
A wave of relief washed over Jarrod and he struggled not to show it. "Who wouldn’t be? That stuff’s absolutely fantastic. Is everybody ready? Let’s go then."
Chapter 12
Nikki didn’t seem too surprised that Lainey and Sean wanted to go in a separate vehicle. They piled into the Jeep, Briana insisted that the mousse ride with her in the back seat. Jarrod seemed unsure until Nikki pointed out that it was in a plastic bowl with a tight lid. Even if it tipped over, it wouldn’t spill.
She had no time to be nervous on the trip over to Peter and Tasha’s house. Briana plied Nikki with questions and talked about her relatives the whole way there.
When they had parked and unloaded themselves and their belongings out of the car, they started for the house. Peter met them halfway down the sidewalk. "Boy am I glad you’re here. The women are driving me crazy. They wonder if they’ve thought of everything. Now it’s too late. They’ll have to be happy with what’s done and relax."
He shook Nikki’s hand and inquired about her health. Nikki said she was fine and introduced him to Lainey and Sean who had pulled in right behind them. Briana bounced from foot to foot in impatience. "I wanna go in now. I wanna see Gramma and Grampa."
They all headed for the house and went inside. The place was huge and beautifully decorated. They went straight to the kitchen to deposit the mousse and introduce the ladies in the kitchen to their guests. Tasha accepted the bowl and asked curiously, "Jarrod said you made great desserts. What did you decide to bring?"
"Chocolate mousse . . ."
". . . with little chocolate chips!" Briana finished for her. "It tastes really yummy!"
Tasha raised her eyebrows. "I better hide this in the fridge until it’s time for dessert. Otherwise there won’t be any left by the time we eat."
An older woman, obviously Jarrod’s mother, held out her hand and introduced herself. "Hello, I’m Joan McKay. It’s nice to finally meet you. Everyone’s talked about you . . . all good things, of course." She smiled. "I hope you have fun today. It gets kind of zooish around here sometimes."
Joan was in her early-fifties, about five feet eight inches tall and very trim. Her short, curly brown hair was the exact shade of Briana’s hair, with some gray sprinkled liberally throughout. Her dark brown eyes looked exactly like Jarrod’s and Briana’s. She had a firm handshake and a very direct way about her.
Erika was introduced next. Erika was the youngest McKay, in her early twenties, and the only daughter. She was taller than her mother by several inches and had straight, almost black hair down to her waist. She had a generous figure, blue eyes like Peter’s, and a brilliant smile.
Two boys of two and four ran through the kitchen just then, breathless with excitement. Tasha scooped up one and Peter the other. Both boys had Tasha’s blonde hair and Peter’s blue eyes.
"Mama, mama, Uncle Steve’s gonna get us!" The older one said excitedly. "He said he was gonna toss us in the pool!"
"Well, Todd, you’ve been in the pool all morning. What’s wrong with that?" Tasha asked reasonably.
Todd had just opened his mouth to explain when a large man in a bathing suit ran into the kitchen. He came to an abrupt halt and looked sheepishly at the three strangers who gaped at him.
"Sorry, I didn’t know the company was here yet. I’m Steve McKay." He shook hands with and was introduced to the guests.
Steve was shorter than Jarrod but taller than Peter. He had medium brown hair and hazel eyes. He was a real charmer and he knew it.
Steve threw his arm around Tasha’s shoulders and tweaked Todd’s nose. "I’ll get you yet, squirt." He turned to look at the little boy in Peter’s arms. "You too, Paul." He leaned forward to tickle the fat tummy. The little boy giggled and buried his head in his father’s shoulder.
He gave Tasha an affectionate hug then scooped Briana up in his arms. She squealed gleefully when he tickled her ribs. "Well, come on. Let’s go outside. Dad and Gina are by the pool. We’d better get out there before they come to blows."
Steve flung a casual arm over Nikki’s shoulder and drew her outside with him and Briana, and talked nonstop the entire time. Sean and Lainey followed, with smiles on their faces as they held hands. Nikki grinned. She knew where Briana got her chattiness from. Both of them missed the black look Jarrod shot after them, but the three McKay women noticed.
Joan raised her brows questioningly at Tasha and Erika. "Did you see that?" she asked softly.
"Yeah," Tasha said with a smile. "It’s about time. I’m going to enjoy this!"
Erika grinned. "Nikki looks as if she won’t make it too easy on him either."
* * * * *
An older man looked with poorly concealed disgust at a sullen woman in her early twenties. She had brassy, bleached blonde hair, blue eyes that were obviously colored contacts, a too thin body, topped by a pouty, spoiled face. When she saw Steve with his arm around Nikki’s shoulders, her eyes narrowed in anger.
"Dad, Gina, this is Nikki. Behind her are Lainey and Sean. Everyone, this is my dad, John McKay, and my latest girlfriend, Gina."
Gina got up from her seat and glared sullenly at Nikki. She obviously blamed Nikki for Steve’s arm being around her shoulders. Since she didn’t want to cause any problems, Nikki slid out from under his arm and held out her hand to John. "It’s a pleasure to meet you, John."
John took her hand in his and held it firmly. "The pleasure’s all mine, I assure you. I know Jarrod told us to lay off, so I’ll say this just once. Thank you. From the bottom of our hearts." John was in his mid-fifties, about Steve’s height and trim like his wife. He had startlingly blue eyes, and black hair liberally streaked with gray.
Nikki flushed slightly. "You’re welcome." She stepped aside so she could introduce Lainey and Sean to John then said hello to the unresponsive Gina.
She turned to see Briana and the two boys dash around the pool area, all of them whooping it up like little savages. Gina had insinuated herself into Steve’s embrace and glared at Nikki spitefully. Jarrod, who had hung back a few steps, looked at Nikki with a narrowed, angry look.
Nikki held back a sigh. She had a bad feeling about this. Maybe it would have been better if she’d stayed home. She smiled at Joan and started up a conversation with her. The group gradually dispersed as everyone found something to do. Snacks were available on a nearby table and a huge ice chest contained sodas and beer.
She felt a prickly sensation on the nape of her neck more than once and after she turned the first time, knew that Gina still gave her the evil eye at every opportunity. Lainey and Sean now talked to John and Joan. Tasha had gone into the house
to take Paul to the bathroom.
She sat alone for the first time since they’d arrived and sighed in relief. A shadow blocked the sun and she looked up. Jarrod stood above her, a glass of ice and soda in one hand. "You looked like you needed a drink." He handed it to her and sat down in the chair next to hers. "This family will talk your ear off if you let them. They’ll also make you hoarse from too much conversation."
He smiled. "They all seem to like you." He had changed into swim trunks with multi-colored sharks on them and removed his shirt. Nikki took a drink, but she tried not to stare; she didn’t want to get caught again. And she thought his chest looked good in a shirt!
His biceps and pecs were huge, his stomach looked like a washboard. There were a few hairs scattered here and there across the broad chest, and a strip surrounded his belly button then disappeared into his trunks. His torso was tanned to a light golden color, the same as his legs.
"Everyone except Gina you mean. Everyone else has been very nice." Nikki took a sip of her cold soda.
"Gina is . . . well, none of us have quite figured out what Steve sees in her. We hope he’ll outgrow it." Jarrod frowned slightly and looked at her. "Your voice is still a little husky, is that from . . ." he cleared his throat, "him?"
"No. It’s back to normal. I just have a husky voice." She stared at the ice cubes in her glass to hide her embarrassment.
"I didn’t mean to embarrass you. I just wanted to know if your throat still hurt or if your voice was still affected. I hoped that this was your normal voice." Jarrod’s voice lowered so only she could hear, and his gaze met hers. "It sends shivers down my spine."
Nikki was more than slightly embarrassed. She also couldn’t seem to pull her eyes away from Jarrod’s no matter how much she wanted to.
Briana, who’d changed into a multi-colored one-piece suit, ran up and threw a glass of cold water on her father, which narrowly missed Nikki. Jarrod bellowed in shock and mock rage, then chased his small daughter around the pool. When he finally caught her, he jumped into the pool with her in his arms.
Joan came over and sat down beside Nikki and kept her occupied for the next hour. Lainey and Sean still talked with great animation to John. Erika, Steve, Tasha, Peter, and Jarrod all played with the kids in the pool. Gina laid on a lounge chair; she looked bored and hateful. Her tasteless swimsuit showed off a too-thin almost anorexic body.
Tasha finally got out of the pool and padded over to where Joan and Nikki sat. "I’m going to start the food before the natives get too restless."
Joan immediately stood. "I’ll help you, dear." Nikki set her glass down and stood up too. "Oh no, dear, you’re our guest. Stay out here and relax," Joan protested.
"Your guest is going to be a crispy critter if she doesn’t get in out of the sun." Nikki glanced ruefully at her pale skin. "I never tan and I hate sunscreen, even though I always carry it with me, so I try to stay out of the sun for the most part."
The three women went into the kitchen to make the final preparations for the barbecue, Joan hollered at John to fire up the gas grill.
In the kitchen, the women made hamburger patties and placed them on platters with hot dogs to be barbecued. They got out the buns and condiments while Joan took the meat out for John to barbecue. At the last minute, they got out the assortment of salads and called the crowd in for lunch.
Everyone talked and laughed as they loaded up their plates and ate their fill. When they were done, everybody helped clean up the mess that had been made. Tasha then brought out the chocolate mousse that she’d placed in a crystal serving bowl. Everyone raved about the wonderful dessert.
The men all had seconds and scraped the serving bowl clean. The women claimed they couldn’t possibly eat more than one serving because of the calories. Gina, the exception, had taken one bite and refused to take another. She claimed she didn’t want to ruin her complexion or her figure so Steve, without hesitation, finished her dessert.
Everyone ignored her, which served to irritate her further. Gina went out and sat on the patio alone, smoking a cigarette, while everyone else finished dessert then cleaned up.
After dessert, the adults retired to lounge chairs to relax. The children were asleep in the house. Tasha turned on the child monitor so she would be aware if one of the three little ones woke up.
Nikki roused herself from the lounge chair she’d collapsed in after she’d slathered her exposed skin with the hated sunscreen and wandered into the house to find the bathroom. She didn’t notice that Gina got up to follow her.
She looked in the mirror on her way out of the bathroom. She had turned a little pink; she should have put her sunscreen on a little earlier. Telling herself she knew better than to sit out in the sun without sunscreen, she didn’t see Gina in the hallway and almost ran into her.
"Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t see you there. The bathroom’s free now." Nikki tried to step around Gina to go back outside.
Gina stepped in front of her, deliberately blocked her way. "What do you think you’re doing?" she hissed vehemently.
Nikki took one step back in surprise at the other woman’s obvious anger. "I just finished in the bathroom and now I’m going outside."
Gina took a step forward, as she tried to intimidate the taller woman. "That’s not what I meant and you know it. Isn’t it enough that you have Jarrod going around in circles like an idiot? Now you’ve got to charm the rest of the family and go after my Steve." Her voice started to get louder.
"I’m just trying to be nice to the people that invited me over for a barbecue. I never met Steve before today and I have no interest in him personally." Nikki tried to reassure with her, without success.
"Yeah, right. I saw the way he had his arm around you, the way he looked at you." She took another step forward, which invaded what Nikki considered her personal space. Nikki started to get seriously annoyed.
"He had his arm around Tasha earlier. It’s just the way Steve is. It doesn’t mean anything. As for the way he looked at me, I can’t do anything about that. I’ve never encouraged him. I’m with Jarrod, not Steve."
Gina’s voice rose another octave into an unpleasant shrill. "You can’t have him! He’s mine."
"I don’t want him, Gina, really." Nikki wanted to back away but knew that with Gina, retreat would only make things worse.
"Steve’s much better looking than Jarrod! Besides, Steve doesn’t have any kids! Who’d want to put up with that brat all of the time?" Without any further warning Gina hauled off and slapped Nikki across the cheek.
"Gina! Knock it off right now!" Steve’s voice from right behind them made Nikki jump. Gina stumbled in surprise, shrieked and made a lunge for Nikki. Furious at being slapped, Nikki made a fist and prepared to defend herself.
Gina failed to meet Nikki’s clenched fist only because Steve grabbed Gina around the waist and yanked her away from Nikki. He dragged her, as she kicked and screamed, down the hall to one of the bedrooms and slammed the door behind them.
Nikki turned around to see the entire McKay family, along with Lainey and Sean, stood in the living room, open-mouthed. Embarrassed, her face on fire from the slap Gina had administered, her face closed into an unreadable mask. She walked through the middle of the crowd as if they weren’t even there and went out to the pool.
Chapter 13
She wanted to keep on walking. All the way home. But her purse, with her money and keys, was back in the house. She stripped off the scarf, untied her knotted shirt and ripped it off over her head without undoing the buttons, unbuttoned her shorts and stepped out of them as she walked. She didn’t pause at the side of the pool before she dove into the cool water.
She didn’t see Lainey’s hand on Jarrod’s arm, as she told him not to follow her yet. She didn’t hear everyone’s gasps of dismay as they saw the remains of the bruises on her neck, chest and ribcage.
She swam non-stop for almost twenty minutes before she paused and stood in the middle of the pool. Exhausted, her ribs throbbed
from the exercise, she closed her eyes at the thought of the scene that had just taken place. Was there anything she could have done to make the situation better? To prevent the scene that had taken place? She sighed. Gina had been out to make trouble and she had definitely found it.
She wiped the water out of her eyes, sighed again, and looked at the shallow end of the pool. Jarrod sat on the edge with his feet in the water. He met her gaze and tilted his head toward the towel that lay beside him, along with the clothes she’d left scattered across the patio.
Nikki sighed once more. She may as well get it over with. The rest of the family was obviously indoors as she and Jarrod were the only ones in the back yard. She walked slowly back to the shallow end of the pool and walked up the steps.
When she glanced at Jarrod, she couldn’t read his expression. He handed her the towel and looked away as she dried off. When she was done he cleared his throat and spoke for the first time. "Let’s go sit down."
He stood up and waited for her to lead the way then followed. They both sat down in the shade of an umbrella and glanced at each other uneasily. "Uh, how are your ribs doing. They still look pretty sore."
"They’re fine," she answered shortly. Several moments passed in an uncomfortable silence.
"I’m sorry," they both said in unison.
They looked at each other in surprise. Jarrod spoke first, "What do you have to be sorry about?"
Nikki laugh was full of disbelief. "You’re kidding, right?"
"No, I’m not. Did you start the argument?" She shook her head. "Did you try to defuse the argument and leave?" She nodded. "Then I repeat, what do you have to be sorry about?"
Nikki met his eyes, surprise and confusion evident in hers. "I should have handled it better. I should have just brushed past her and left. What a way to meet someone’s family." She sighed and brushed her wet hair back from her face.
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