The question came so out of left field I didn't understand it at first. "No, I don't think so. I don't know where I picked it up. Why? Will you sit while I open my presents if I remember?"
Nash gave me a double-take. He looked to Nana, his mother, and back to me, and his face fell.
Though I'd put the space between us, I couldn't stay away from him while he looked so crestfallen.
"I'm sorry," he murmured, not seeming to care that everyone could hear us. "I didn't know she'd be here."
"I didn't either. But we've been talking. She's been telling me about your childhood. It's been nice, Nash." I kissed him softly. "Please don't make us stop."
He groaned and stepped back. "I won't, or at least, I don't want to. But I've got to check on something. A hunch, and I want to do it sooner rather than later." He sighed loudly, the sound he made when he came to a decision that he didn't all the way enjoy. "Come by tonight, for dinner," he said, and though he never addressed her, Julie bobbed her head emphatically.
"I can. I'm free," she agreed softly.
He didn't acknowledge he'd heard her. "We'll have dinner tonight. Best to get it over with. Can you open your presents then?" His gaze turned pleading. Clearly, there was something he needed to do, but he wouldn't leave me behind to do it.
"We got you diapers," Denise said from the table.
"I got you sausages," Mrs. Boxer added.
"I'll bring the rest of the presents when I come for dinner. What time, boy?" Nana asked, never minding the fact that she hadn't been expressly invited.
"Whenever," Nash said, waving his hand in the air. He threw out a number. "Seven. Doesn't make a difference. The others are going to kill me no matter what time it is at."
I frowned. This hadn't been a battle I'd thought I would wage today. The next big fight I'd expected us to have was supposed to be about my chat friends, but here I was, all but demanding Nash let his mother back into his life because she'd come to my party and knew about Nash as a baby. There'd been a time when she'd asked her sons to do something truly heinous. Something only a bad woman would do. I trusted Nana enough to not set me up for failure, but it wasn't like I'd truly won this argument. Nash had just remembered he needed to do something more than he hated the idea of his mother coming over.
And really, that was about the best outcome I could have hoped for.
Chapter Nineteen
Nash
My phone rang, and I pushed my foot on the gas. I'd dropped Phineas off at the house, and he'd protested being left behind, asking why he couldn't have stayed if I was going to leave him anyway. It was a valid question.
I had a lot to make up to my Phineas after today. But, hopefully, I'd have answers too. First, I had to drop by the firehouse to check our personnel files. I'd sent over the information to an investigator we'd worked with before, and he said he would let me know as soon as he found anything.
But until I knew, I wasn't going to say anything. We'd had a couple false alarms in the weeks prior, and I couldn't forget the whole Paul fiasco. I'd been so quick to assume the fires had been his fault. I knew they weren't now. And hopefully when I got the call, I'd know who was really to blame.
However, the person on the other end of my call wasn't the investigator—it was my brother. I didn't need to answer to know he was pissed. I'd be livid if our tables were turned. And there'd be no way he would escape a beat down.
I was already almost home, but it was better to get this over with. Maybe he'd lose some steam by the time we came head to head, and I wouldn't have to mark up that pretty face of his. I winked at that same face in the rearview mirror and picked up the phone. "This is Nash."
"I fucking know it is Nash. What the hell am I hearing?" Wyatt seethed.
"Me? My voice? Right now? This feels like a trick question."
I was pretty sure I heard his head explode. "This is funny to you? Is it? You let that viper into our home? That monster? The woman who wanted me to kill you, Nash—you want me to eat food next to her like none of that mattered?"
I squeezed my eyes closed and then remembered I was driving. "No. I mean, yes! Wyatt, man, Phineas—"
"You're hiding behind your mate?"
"No," I snarled. "But you don't understand Phineas. He sees this world like no one else can. You should look at his face when he looks at Alpha Walker. It pinches like he inhaled a captured fart. He isn't a bad judge of character."
"So now you forgive our mother and want to be her sweet little boy again?" You could cut the sarcasm with a knife.
"No, and you do know I am driving within punching distance of you right now, right? My mind hasn't changed at all. Sometimes Phineas and I disagree, and that's okay. This time will be one of those times, but I won't shut him down, Wyatt. I won't snap off whatever tenuous olive branch he extends. I love him too much to do that."
Wyatt barked out a few more choice words, none of them directed at Phin, all of them directed at me, and when my tires rolled to a stop in front of home, my ears were ringing, and he finally stopped.
"I'll give you a five-minute head start," I growled into the phone before hanging up. Ambling to the door, I pushed it open, hit instantly by a plume of delicious food smells. Damn it, I'd told the guys they didn't need to cook. I'd planned on ordering pizza or something simple. And quickly consumed.
Phin met me in the kitchen doorway. He was so fucking beautiful with that big fat stomach. I'd never call it fat to his face—he'd probably place negatives feelings to that word—but when I used it, it was with love. That extra tub meant my child was growing inside there. I didn't like the uncertainty that came with pregnancy, but I loved the way it changed his body.
I loved his not-pregnant body too. I just loved him. But, the last time we'd talked, we'd fought. And before that, I'd been a Grade-A dick, so I wasn't sure what I'd find when I bent down to kiss him.
He turned his face up to me with a soft smile. "Did you get your errand done?"
"Something like that," I said.
Phin raised his eyebrow. "I shouldn't trust you when you say that, should I?"
I waved at Riley, pulling something out of the fridge.
"You should always trust me." Sliding my arms around him, I cupped my hands together below his ass. "I'm sorry, Phineas. Truly. About my behavior at Nana's. I don't want to take back what I said, but how I said it. You were having a good time. I ruined it."
Phin formed his hand into a fist and bounced it softly over my heart. "Apology accepted. I know your reasons, and I don't want to be heartless here. I just wanted to talk a little longer with her. We never have to ask her over again."
Our foreheads met, and I inhaled his sweet scent. "How did I get so lucky with such an understanding mate?"
"I don't know if it's luck or if seeing Wyatt's reaction convinced me you were the tame one." Phin laughed, but the sound shook slightly.
I glared out the back patio door, still open a crack. "Did he yell at you?"