“We have about two minutes before they glue their faces to the window,” I said, and he glanced up at the house. “They’re going to love you. I promise. But—” I waited until he looked at me. “In the end, I love you and that’s what matters.”
“But… if they don’t like me—”
“That’s not going to change my feelings about you, baby. But they will. Stay there. Mom’s looking out, and if I don’t open your door, she’ll serve me for dinner instead of the ham.”
He laughed, which I was going for, and I climbed out. I saw her look of approval when I opened Kyle’s car door, but I did my best not to show I’d seen. It was a game she liked to play: she pretended she didn’t watch and I pretended I didn’t see her.
I took Kyle’s hand and led him to the steps. “Remember, I love you.”
“I love you too, Mal,” he said as we stepped onto the porch. He gripped my hand hard as I opened the door.
Chapter 14
Kyle
AS I followed Mal into the house, I rubbed my free hand on my jeans to get rid of the sweat, then touched my collar to make sure the lock was still to the back. I tried to calm my pounding heart, sure the entire neighborhood could hear it. Hell, I was pretty sure my parents on the other side of town could hear it.
We made it about three steps into the entryway before we were swarmed. A lady who could only be Mal’s mother—judging by the dark hair, dark eyes, and facial structure—hurried out of the room to our right and wrapped Mal in her arms. A few seconds behind her, an older man that I had no doubt was Mal’s father joined us. Mal was the spitting image of his dad, who, while older and not quite as muscular, still made an imposing figure despite the gray hair.
I tried to hide behind Master, but he wouldn’t let me. He let go of his mom and turned to me. “Mom, this is Kyle,” he said, smiling at me. “Kyle, this is my mom and dad.” He waved at each of them.
I focused on Mal’s smile and his hand, letting them calm me. “It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Tate,” I managed, then turned to his dad. “Mr. Tate.”
“Oh no, no, please, I’m Jane,” she said, and before I realized her intent, she’d hugged me.
I returned it, though I wasn’t used to a demonstrative family by any means. Hugs were things you did in the air. Touch simply wasn’t tolerated. “Uh, okay…, Jane,” I mumbled. That felt wrong in all sorts of ways, but I tried not to let it show.
She let me go and, thankfully, Mal’s dad held a hand out. “Nice to meet you, son. Call me Jesse.”
I had to let go of Mal’s hand to shake, but he put it on the small of my back when I did. “Nice to meet you, sir,” I said and he shook his head.
“Not sir either. Still think my dad’s around if you say that,” he said, and I laughed.
“All right, Jesse,” I said, feeling a little better.
They stepped back and that’s when I noted three more men and three women had come out. I found Mal’s siblings immediately. To a one, they had dark curly hair like he did and matching dark eyes. Two of the guys in front of me were as tall as Mal, though only one was quite as bulky. The other was leaner but still obviously took care of himself.
His sister, on the other hand, was a tiny thing. If she came up to my chin, I’d be surprised. Same dark curly hair, same dark eyes, though, so she was definitely unmistakable.
“Stop staring at him as if he’s a zoo animal,” Mal grumbled from beside me.
The assembled group laughed. “Sorry, man, just still surprised someone finally caught you,” the first guy said, holding his hand out. “I’m Ford, and this is Madison,” he said, tilting his head to the woman next to him. Her tall, slim frame and bright hair made me think of a fall tree. She smiled and shook my hand but didn’t say anything.
“Sorry, Mal,” the second guy, who I assumed was Simon, said. “Simon, and this is Katy, my wife.” The woman to his right didn’t look like she had a kid, but I certainly didn’t know much about that. She came in somewhere under Simon’s shoulder, with blue eyes, short brown hair, and a nice smile. Simon turned to the living room. “Jeff’s sleeping or I’d introduce you. I promise that’s a good thing.”
I smiled. “He’s the baby?”
Simon nodded. “Yup. Though… not much of a baby anymore.”
“Way too much trouble for a baby,” the last woman said. “Zoe.” She held her hand out and I shook it. “And this dork is Paul.”
Paul, I was surprised to note, totally pinged my gaydar, despite the almost stereotypical nerd look, with thick glasses, button-down oxford shirt, and khaki pants. I was guessing he was bisexual, based on the look he shot Zoe. I shook his hand, hoping my recognition of his sexuality didn’t show. “Nice to meet you,” he said, smiling.
“Uh, nice to meet everyone,” I said, trying not to let the overwhelmed feeling show on my face.
“All right, everyone out!” Jane called. “We’ve scared him enough.”
“Aw, Mom!” Zoe said, winking at me.
I smiled, watching them herd back into the living room.
“Enough, Zoe Michelle!” She turned back to Mal and me. “Dinner will be in about an hour.”
I glanced at Mal. “I’d, uh, offer to help, but I think there’s a law against me being in a kitchen, considering what I do with food.”
She laughed. “I like him,” she said to Mal, turning to me. “All the more reason to help. Come on, sweetie. Let’s see what I can teach you.” She put her arm around me and I sent a semipanicked look toward Mal, but he just winked and nodded at me.
I swallowed and went with her, following her through the living room and a dining room before stepping into the kitchen. This was quite obviously built for someone who cooks. I saw stainless steel appliances—some of which I couldn’t even name—marble countertops, warm wood cabinets, an island, and a hanging rack with pots and pans. “Wow,” I murmured, looking around.
“Thank you,” she said, beaming. “Would you like something to drink? We’ve got coffee brewed, Coke in the fridge, and water in the door.”
“Uh, coffee, thanks.” I probably shouldn’t have the caffeine—it would only make me more jittery—but I wanted the comfort of the taste.
“Sure thing, sweetie. Cups are over there,” she said, pointing at a cabinet above the microwave, the one appliance besides the coffeemaker I absolutely knew. “Help yourself.”
I felt a little weird just opening someone’s cabinets, but I took out a mug and poured some coffee. It smelled divine, dark and rich, and I inhaled before taking a sip. I looked up to see her smiling at me. I blushed.
“Good stuff, isn’t it?”
I nodded, too embarrassed to speak.
“My sister sends it to me from Hawai’i.”
“Oh, it is good.”
She turned to the stove, picked up a spoon, and stirred something in a pot. “So, not much for cooking?”
“Uh, not really. I never got to learn.”
She tsked. “I taught all my kids before they left. They didn’t all want to, especially Simon, but I made sure they could eat more than Ramen and macaroni and cheese.”
I chuckled. “Uh, Ramen is a staple in my kitchen.”
She shook her head. “Not if I have anything to say about it.” She gave me a look that I recognized as one universal to almost all moms, except mine. I blushed again.
“Uh, yes, Jane,” I said and she nodded once.
“Good. Your mother didn’t teach you?” she asked, setting the spoon down and moving over to one of the two ovens set into the wall.
I shook my head. “No, uh, she doesn’t cook either. The housekeeper didn’t let her in the kitchen.”
She looked up at me, raising her eyebrows. “Well, no wonder. Come over here, dear, and let me show you a few things.”
MAL CHECKED in on me about half an hour later. Jane had gone through the ingredients for the glaze she’d put on the ham, discussed the pros and cons of oven bags, and had me helping her with the sweet potato casserole before he came in.
All of this, of course, was peppered with questions about myself, my childhood, my work, and a myriad of other things.
“Are you torturing my boyfriend, Mom?” he asked, coming up behind me and kissing me on the top of my head.
“No, I am not.”
He reached out to take a mini marshmallow, and she rapped his hand with the cooking spoon.
“Hands off,” she said, mildly, like she was used to saying it. I guessed she probably was. “I’m teaching him to cook.”
“I hardly think Christmas dinner is the place to start,” he pointed out.
She rolled her eyes. “Gotta start somewhere.”
“But sweet potato casserole?” he asked, lips twitching.
“Do you have a better idea?”
“How about… bacon and eggs?”
“I burned the bacon,” I reminded him.
He laughed. “Yes, but you did wonderfully on the eggs.”
Jane shook her head. “Shoo. I’m having quality time with Kyle.” She waved her spoon threateningly.
Mal looked at me, lips twitching. “I’ll distract her if you want to make a run for it.”
I grinned. Truthfully, I didn’t mind his mom so much. It was better than trying to deal with a whole group of people. I knew I’d have to soon enough, but for now, this was a lot easier. “I’m okay,” I assured him. “Though… you might want to avoid the sweet potato casserole.” I frowned down at it.
He kissed my temple. “I’m sure it’s fine. I swear, she’s as magical as Molly Weasley in the kitchen.”
“Flatterer. Now get out. We’ll call you in soon,” Jane said, shooing him again.
He held his hands up but leaned in to kiss me quickly, and I blushed bright red. “I’m going!”
I watched him leave, then turned back to the casserole, hoping to cool my cheeks. “Uh…. Is there anything else to do to it?”
I could tell she was trying not to laugh. “No, just goes in the oven, now.”
I picked it up and carried it to the one not occupied by the ham. She showed me how to set the timer after I put it in. As we worked through the mashed potatoes, she told me stories of Mal when he was little, and I soaked it up, listening to all the little bits of him getting into trouble.
“He loves you,” she said abruptly as I was dumping the potatoes into a serving bowl.
I blinked at her. “Mal?” I could feel my face coloring again.
“Yup. I’ve never seen him look at anyone the way he looks at you.”
I frowned, not sure how to take her tone. I focused instead on scraping the mashed remnants. “We haven’t been together very long,” I finally said softly, voicing the worst of my worry.
She snorted, not exactly the answer I’d expected. I looked at her and she smiled. “When I met Jesse, we were just out of college. I’d just started my first teaching job, and he’d just started working as a programmer for this utility company.” She shook her head. “He hated that job. Anyway, I met him on… let me think….” She paused and tilted her head. “Yeah, it was a Friday night. I’d gone to the bar with some friends of mine, and there he was, sitting with a group of his.” She smiled at me. “He asked me if he could buy me a drink, and I almost told him no. But something made me say yes instead.”
She took the bowl from me and carried it into the dining room. I followed her as she continued talking. “We talked all night. When the bar closed, we went to a diner down the street and talked there. Eventually, we went back to my apartment.” She winked at me and I blushed again. “And he never really left.” She laughed and shook her head. “I don’t know if it was love at first sight or maybe just lust at first sight. We didn’t get married at first—though my mother was horrified by that idea—but I knew, probably that night at the diner, that he was the one for me.”
I followed her back out to the kitchen, letting that settle in my head.
“So, it doesn’t matter, in my opinion. Sometimes, you just click and it works.” She wrapped an arm around me and hugged me, then waved at the oven. “The sweet potatoes are done.”
I blinked at her. “How do you know?”
She grinned. “They smell done. Go on and get them out for me.”
Sure enough, when I took them out, they looked perfect. “Wow,” I muttered, shaking my head. “That’s uncanny.”
With another laugh, she said, “That’s years of practice, sweetie. Why don’t you put that on the table, then call the others, hmm?”
NO ONE had even given me a funny look during dinner or after. I got praised for the sweet potatoes over and over again. I tried to argue that I hadn’t done much, but Jane insisted I did most of it, and apparently that was the end of the argument.
I’d answered questions about myself at the dinner table, but nothing had been even remotely uncomfortable. After a while, Mal guided the attention away from me, though, and I was grateful for it. I didn’t mind answering questions, but for one thing, I did want to actually eat.
I listened to Ford talk about his job at a chemical plant. He’d asked me more than a few questions about the data center I worked for, but again Mal guided things back to the others. Simon talked quite a bit about the trips he made to Japan, which made me a little jealous. It was one of the places I would have wanted to travel to if my parents hadn’t been more worried about making money than spending time with me.
Zoe, on the other hand, nearly put all of us to sleep. She and Paul had waxed philosophical over some new physics theory they were testing at school, and the whole thing went completely over my head. I loved sci-fi and read quite a bit of it, but this was beyond anything I could comprehend.
It wasn’t until little Jeff threw his potatoes at her that they stopped. She stared at him in outrage for a long minute before she started laughing. “I guess we know his opinion on the topic.”
“I think he speaks for all of us, Sis,” Ford said, completely deadpan.
She glared at him and picked up a spoon of her own potatoes.
“Is this the impression we want to make on Mal’s boyfriend?” Jane asked.
Zoe raised an eyebrow. “Why not? It’s us, isn’t it?”
Mal dropped his face into his hand. “We have manners, Kyle, I swear we do.”
I just grinned. “I like it. My family wouldn’t know what to do if someone threw potatoes at them. I think my mother would probably pass out in shock.” I tilted my head. “Maybe I’ll have to try that at our Christmas dinner.”
Mal laughed. “You let me know how that turns out.”
Jane snickered and shook her head. “I have a better idea. How about pie?”
TWO HOURS later I sat with Mal on the love seat, his arm around me as we watched Jeff running around, “feeding” everyone. I dutifully took my bites, much to Mal’s amusement, but otherwise kept quiet, watching and listening to the family.
Mal’s family was great, but it was nice to just take it in. I’d never been very comfortable as the center of attention, especially for people I really wanted to impress, so I appreciated being able to simply watch them.
I let Jane’s story turn over in my head and watched her and Jesse quite a bit. There was no doubt in my mind that more than thirty years after they’d met, they were still in love. They touched every time they passed each other. Jesse paused to kiss her often. When they sat on the couch, he had an arm around her or they held hands.
I wondered if Mal and I could have that. I didn’t know if he would or could wait until I could be sure I could handle telling my parents. We had to watch so carefully when we were out in public, and I knew that had to wear on him.
Would this family accept me? Fill in for my own, walking away?
Would that be enough?
My parents hadn’t been much through my life. I knew they didn’t really love me, certainly not the way Jesse and Jane loved their children. But they were the only family I had, and the thought of losing them still made me panic more than a little.
I looked up at Mal, taking in the handsome
face of this gorgeous man who wanted me, loved me. Could I give up a family who didn’t love me for a man who did?
Why was I even asking myself a question like that?
Because I could still scare him away. I could still do any of a million things that would make him want to walk away from me, and then I’d be alone. Then again, I hadn’t exactly had much with my family before Mal either.
Assuming I didn’t scare him away, I knew as soon as I could safely tell my family to go to hell, I’d do so. I didn’t want to give him any reason to change his mind about me, and I was sure having to hide us would get old sooner rather than later.
Mal looked over at me and smiled. “You okay?”
I nodded. “Yes. Just… thinking.”
He raised his eyebrows.
“I’ll tell you later? Not… not the right place for it.”
He considered that, then nodded. “I’ll accept that.” He leaned in and kissed my temple. “Love you, baby,” he whispered.
I closed my eyes, savoring the kiss and the words. I couldn’t say how many times he’d said it since Friday night, but I had a feeling I’d never get tired of hearing it. “I love you too,” I whispered back.
It wasn’t until I did that I realized the room had gone silent. I opened my eyes and blushed to the roots of my hair. Every one of them was staring at us, every one with huge smiles on their faces. I wondered if the floor would be gracious enough to open up and swallow me.
Mal pulled me closer, and I buried my face in his neck.
“Kill me,” I muttered into his skin.
He hummed. “No, sorry, kind of hard to love you if you’re dead.” Louder, he said, “Really, guys? Really?”
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