“Spencer tagged along for my dinner with Gideon.”
She spins. “Really? How’d that happen?”
I reach down to give Emo a pet. She gives me an aggravated meow and smacks my arm with her tail. If I had to guess, I’d translate it as, “look lady, I’m trying to eat here.”
“I invited him.”
She moves past me to get a bottle of wine and two glasses. “Tell me everything.”
“There’s nothing to tell.”
Still, she has wine so I follow her into the living room.
She’s a pro at uncorking it, her eyes never leaving mine. “Say that again while looking me right in the eyes.”
Maybe I should call her out on her working late bullshit. “There’s nothing to tell.”
I slowly enunciate each word as I hold out my hand.
She passes me a glass while squinting at me. “I think you like him.”
Grateful for the wine, I take a very unladylike gulp of it and slump back against the couch cushions. “You’d be wrong.”
Her couch is soft and comfortable. There’s a decent chance I’ll be sleeping on it tonight since I’m too tired to get up and go to the spare room.
“Why am I wrong? According to you he’s gotten hot and I think you’ve enjoyed hanging out with him.”
He wore a turtleneck tonight. Never in a million years would I think that was sexy but damn if he didn’t make it look good.
“I like him as a friend.”
She snorts. “A friend you want to bone.”
“Oh my God. I do not want to bone Spencer Hill.”
“Why, because he was all nerdy in high school?”
I glare at her, well, I’m tired so it’s more of a half glare. “I’m not that shallow.”
“Exactly, so what’s stopping you?”
I see what she did there. “If I liked him like that, which I don’t, now is also not the right time to start anything with anyone.”
Emo settles herself next to me and stares at me in a way that says, “You may pet me now.”
“Not the right time is such an excuse. Babe, you were saying that before anything ever happened to your house and if you let yourself, you’ll still be saying it years from now.”
“Well, ignore the whole timing thing. What should I do, throw myself at him? Slip a pair of my panties into his pocket? Oh yeah, and the fact that I’ve spent all of a handful of hours in his presence in the last decade.”
“Are you attracted to him?”
I drink some more wine. “I have eyes.”
She sets her glass down and crosses her arms over her chest. “Then what is stopping you?”
“So what if I think he’s attractive. He hasn’t hit on me so maybe I’m not his type.”
She makes a face at me. “Yeah, gorgeous knock out who is a sweetheart isn’t his type. Right.”
“He’s basically a rocket scientist Sam. Seriously, what do I have to offer a guy like that? Sure, he could be interested in me physically for a while but what would keep him interested in me? I’m not like Gideon, I’m not going to throw myself at anyone just because I think he’s hot.”
Sam stands so fast, she bumps the table, knocking over her glass. “Shit.”
Emo goes airborne at the commotion and races out of the room so fast you’d think the hounds of hell were nipping at her heels. I jump up as well and dash to the kitchen for paper towels.
Sam reaches for them as soon as I’m near and manages to mop up the spill before any of it hits her rug.
“Are you okay?” I ask.
She makes a pile of the used towels before she pierces me with her gaze. “If I ever hear you imply you might not be intelligent enough to hold the attention of some fucking dude ever again, and I don’t care if it’s Stephen-fucking-Hawking, I will kick your ass.”
6
Spencer
Gripping the handles of the gift bag in one hand, I press the doorbell. With three trucks and two SUVs parked in front of it, I knew which house was Abby’s parents’ before my GPS told me. I’ve been here before. Though, the years erased my memory of how to get here.
The door swings open and Abby’s mom smiles brightly. “Welcome Spencer. We’re so happy you could join us.”
I offer her the bag. “Thank you for having me, Mrs. Thompson.”
She shakes her finger at me while she ushers me inside and out of the cold. “None of that Mrs. or Mr. Thompson noise, I’m Daisy and he’s Dennis or Denny to you.”
She accepts the bag and peers into it. “You are so sweet for bringing something. Thank you.”
Gideon comes up behind her. “Hey Spencer. Good to see you again.”
Daisy turns to him. “Now take his coat and bring him to the den. I need to get back to the kitchen.”
Gideon does as she bid, hanging my coat in a hall closet already brimming with them.
“Did you find the place okay?”
“GPS did all the work,” I admit.
As I follow him farther into the house, my gaze travels over the living time capsule that is the Thompson’s home.
Class pictures and professional group family photos cover the walls. Abby, Asher, Gideon and I have to assume her oldest brothers Eli and Noah age in pictures the farther I move into the house.
I’ve studied genes but not to the point where I could easily define what was at work to create five siblings so physically attractive. None of my school pictures were worthy of framing and hanging on a wall in the house for all to see. Though, if my parents were the type to display school pictures, I’m sure they would have.
They do have somewhat of a shrine to all of my science fair awards. I was undefeated.
The room that Gideon leads me to is brimming with people.
I spot Abby making her approach right away. “Hey Spencer.”
Her hair falls in thick waves, framing her face. She’s wearing a fitted maroon dress, the same shade on her expressive lips.
“Hi Abby, how are you?”
Her infectious smile is at full wattage. “Never better. I’m happy you came.”
There’s a fire crackling in the fireplace, a room full of happy people, and a gentle hum of Christmas carols in the background. It’s the opposite of the cold and empty basement I left.
“I didn’t want to force your mother to come hunt me down.”
She motions for me to follow her. “We all appreciate that. Now, come on, let me introduce you to everyone.”
Once she’s made her way to the center of the room, she whistles to get everyone’s attention. “Hey guys, this is Spencer, a friend from high school.”
“Is he your boyfriend?” A young girl loudly asks.
Grinning, Abby plants her hands on her hips and leans toward the questioner. “Did Nana tell you to ask that?”
The young girl covers her mouth as she giggles and shakes her head no.
Abby relaxes her arms. “He’s just a friend I’m helping find a house. Any more questions Connie?”
When Connie shakes her head again Abby turns to me. “That’s Connie, she’s Eli and Brooke’s youngest. They have two other kids but they’re probably playing ping pong in the basement.”
“Ping pong?”
She doesn’t miss the excitement in my voice. “You play?”
Sports weren’t my thing growing up, but I could play a mean game of ping pong. “I do.”
Gideon overhears us. “You’ll have to play against Abby. She’s the family champ.”
Abby shrugs, confidence making her stand a little taller. “Maybe after dinner. There is Eli, try not to sit next to him at dinner because he’s grouchy.”
“Am not,” he all but growls in response.
“Told you so,” she replies. “Next to him is his wife Brooke. And, that’s Asher and his fiancée Paige. Her mom used to get his mail and do some light cleaning for him but broke her leg. Paige filled in for her and that’s how they met and fell in love. There’s Noah. His fiancée Finley is an amazing cook so sh
e’s the only one allowed in the kitchen with mom. I sold her a house and sent him over to introduce himself since it needed a ton of work. He took one look at her and was a goner. That’s my dad. Hey dad, wave to Spencer.”
Her father gives me a jaunty wave before sticking his tongue out at Abby.
She ignores him and pats my arm to get me to turn with her. “That’s Samantha, and those are Finley’s parents, Georgie and Tom. They flew up from Texas. And, I didn’t save the best for last, you already know Gideon. Don’t worry if you forgot anyone’s names, there’s one of you and a bunch of us.”
“I remember their names.”
She cocks her head to the side. “You do?”
“Connie, Eli, Brooke, Asher, Paige, Noah, Finley’s in the kitchen with your mom Daisy, your dad Dennis or Denny, Samantha, Georgie, Tom, and Gideon. You didn’t tell me your nephews’ names.”
“Wow. Do you have a photographic type memory but for things you’ve heard?”
Everyone in the room is looking at me.
Maybe I shouldn’t have shown off. “Yes, it’s called echoic memory.”
“That is so cool,” she whispers.
“Thanks.”
Gideon lifts a platter. “Cheese?”
Abby looks around him. “Where’d all the crackers go?”
He looks away and she takes the platter from him. “I can’t believe you ate them all.”
He swipes a slice of Swiss before she’s out of reach. “I’m a growing boy.”
Rolling her eyes before she walks away, she says, “You’re almost thirty.”
Once she’s gone he waves Samantha over. “Sam is like a sister to me but sometimes better when I need a wing woman.”
“You called?”
He drapes his arm around her shoulders and motions to me. “Have any friends that would go out with Spencer?”
The fact that I heard and vividly remember his question doesn’t stop me from asking, “What?”
He ignores me, his attention on Samantha. “This guy was going to work today. Can you believe that? I think he needs a lady to distract him.”
Samantha’s eyes move to my shoes, then slowly travel up to my face before she wets her lips. “Damn, Abby said you looked hot but not that you should come with a heat advisory warning. If he wanted a distraction like that, I don’t think he’d have a problem finding one all on his own.”
There were multiple cliques at our high school. Both Abby and Samantha were members of the hot nice girls one. I was part of the invisible nerdy guys one. During college and throughout my post-grad schooling and now work, I’ve met many people who had similar, if not worse experiences growing up.
Sure, I was the class nerd, but I was never beat up or had my head shoved into a toilet.
That doesn’t mean it’s not surreal to have one of the hot nice girls casually say I wouldn’t need help finding a date. “Thank you.”
She twirls a strand of her pale blonde hair around her finger. “You could always ask Abby out.”
Yeah right, like the girl I had a crush on in high school would be interested in me. “Is that a joke?”
“Why would I be joking?” Samantha asks, dropping her hair.
“Real funny,” Gideon laughs.
Someone coughs behind us, drawing all of our eyes to where Abby stands, platter in hand.
She passes it to Gideon, her eyes on Samantha. “Can I borrow you for a minute?”
Gideon lifts the platter toward me. “Have a cracker and cheese man.”
Distractedly, I take one of each as I watch Abby and Samantha walk out of the den. Their heads are close together as Abby furiously whispers something I can’t hear.
She was fine when she went in search of crackers. I wonder what could have happened between now and then to upset her.
“Do you think Abby is alright?”
Gideon shrugs, pushing a cheese laden cracker into his mouth.
My gaze moves back to the doorway she disappeared through.
“Don’t worry about her, it’s probably her time of the month or something.”
“I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation,” Tom, Finley’s father interrupts. “But, learn this lesson from an old man so you won’t get your butt kicked by any of the women in your lives, don’t ever imply anything mood or otherwise is caused by a ladies’ period. Trust me.”
Behind him, his wife Georgie nods in agreement.
“Yes Sir,” Gideon replies with a cringe.
He motions to me. “Stick with this fella and maybe his brains will rub off on you.”
Gideon nods.
Tom shifts his gaze to me. “Heard you’re some rocket scientist. I always wondered what exactly they did.”
I push my hands into my pockets. “I hate to disappoint you, but technically, I’m an astrophysicist. I don’t build or design rockets.”
He deflates. “Well what do you do?”
“I study supernova activity. We are able to research and track the matter that is expelled when a star explodes. I identify stars that are going supernova so we can dedicate resources to monitoring it.”
Georgie moves closer to us. “There are so many stars out there. How do you know which ones are about to explode?”
My gaze moves to the right as Asher and Paige join our group. “A star emits more light before it explodes. We track the appearance of multiple galaxies daily and search for changes versus the last image we have.”
“Oh, so if you have images of the same galaxy and one spot is brighter on one image than it is on the other, it is a supernova?” Georgie asks.
“Not always but it gives us an excuse to look closer so we can find out why the images were different.”
I don’t go into detail about the telescopes we use and the system that allows us to capture images and sort all of the data we receive. Science, and in my personal opinion, astrophysics is fun until it becomes overly confusing. More times than I can count, I watched people’s eyes glaze over when they stopped understanding what I was talking about.
Deciding to change the subject, I turn to Asher and Paige. “Abby mentioned you live on a lake.”
“They don’t just live on it. They own the whole thing,” Tom replies.
Asher quietly dips his head.
Paige tucks herself close to his side, her palm coming to rest flat on his stomach. “We do. It’s a great spot for looking at stars, especially on the dock so the trees aren’t blocking it.”
That peaks my interest. “How far away is your closest neighbor?”
Paige looks up at Asher. “Something like three miles.”
He smiles down at her. “Yes.”
“How long is your driveway?”
“Why does that matter?” Gideon asks.
“Light coming from houses or headlights can impact what you’re trying to look at.”
“It gets dark. I have a generator now, but when I first moved there I lost power a few times.”
“You should have Abby bring you up some time,” Paige offers.
“I’d like that.”
“I could bring him up,” Gideon adds.
Asher looks up at the ceiling while Paige laughs. “Come up with one of them or all by yourself. Either way, you’re welcome.”
“Thank you.”
A striking dark-haired woman who must be Finley enters the room. “Dinner is served. Come and get it while it’s hot.”
Connie races past her. “I’ll get Ethan and Aidan.”
“Don’t be bossy,” Brooke calls after her.
I follow the group into the dining room.
Dennis taps the back of a chair. “You can sit by me.”
“Thank you,” I reply, moving to stand behind it.
The kids loudly make their entrance, the boys making a beeline for me.
“Have you ever been in space?” The older asks.
I shake my head.
“Told you so,” he snaps at Connie.
Brooke’s brows go straight up. “
Ethan Thompson, get your butt over here right now.”
Frowning, he makes his way over to her.
The shorter boy looks at me in confusion. “If you’re an astronaut, how come you’ve never been in space mister?”
“I’m not an astronaut.”
He wheels toward his mother. “Mom, Connie lied. She told us Abby’s friend was an astronaut.”
Ethan’s brows come together and he looks up at his mom. “See.”
Maybe I need to step in. “Maybe Connie got confused because my job has the word astro in it too.”
“It does?” Aidan asks.
“Yep, I’m an astrophysicist.”
Connie plants her hands on her hips. “I didn’t lie.”
Brooke rests her hand on Ethan’s shoulder and doesn’t stop him when he turns more fully to me. “What do astrophysicist do?”
“Mainly, we study the universe. What it’s made up of, how it makes stuff happen here on earth and what’s happening in our galaxy and other galaxies.”
Both Ethan and Aidan look mesmerized while Connie looks vindicated.
Dennis sits. “Now that that’s all settled. Let’s eat.”
Once we’re all seated, Daisy lifts her glass and one by one the rest of us follow suit. “Before we dive in, I wanted to take a moment to thank each and every one of you for being here so we can all spend time together and share this meal. You are my greatest blessings and I am so thankful for all of you. Happy Christmas Eve.”
Dennis lifts his glass even higher. “Here, here.”
After dinner, we reassemble in the den to let our stomachs rest before dessert where Abby is notably absent. Her family seemed to be pushing us together earlier, did that or something I did irritate her?
“Want to play ping-pong?” Aidan asks.
Since learning my job, he’s become my shadow.
“Yeah, wanna?” Ethan pleads.
I stand making them both jump up in excitement. “I haven’t played in a long time.”
Neither seems that concerned.
Ethan spins when he notices Abby walking in the room. “Aunt Abby, will you come play ping pong with us?”
“What word did you forget?” Eli asks.
Ethan’s eyes shift to his dad before moving back to Abby. “Please?”
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