From what would be his new backyard soon, you could just make out the lighthouse in the distance. It was one of the reasons he’d picked the lot for himself.
“Thank you.” He set the painting down and walked over to wrap his arms around his mother.
“I’ve made you some meals,” his father signed from across the room. “They’re in the freezer.”
Conner chuckled and signed back. “I’m not moving across the state. I’m only going three miles away. Not to mention I’ll be living above a grocery store.”
“Yeah,” his dad signed back, “but you know how your mother is.” His father smiled sweetly as his mother narrowed her eyes at him.
“I’ve put them in a paper bag in the freezer.” His mother turned her attention back to him and said. “You can grab it on your way out.”
He stopped short of rolling his eyes at his parents coddling. But since he wanted the free home-cooked meals, he placed a kiss on his mother’s cheek, grabbed his new painting, and headed out.
“Don’t forget dinner at your sister’s this weekend,” his mother called after him.
“Right,” he called back.
Both Riley and Lilly had texted everyone in the family last week with a formal invitation to dinner over at Riley and Carter’s place. Carter had purchased a classic Victorian home that sat on one of the small cliffs that overlooked the town shortly after moving to Pride. The home was big enough to easily host every single one of the Jordan clan.
“Oh, and Conner?” His mother stopped him as he was halfway out the garage door, his hand still on the door handle.
“Yeah?”
“Bring Kara,” she called out.
“Right,” he said and shut the door in case his mother had any more instructions.
Driving back to his own place, he couldn’t help but smile. If his family was expecting him to bring Kara, that meant that they already liked her.
How many girls had he tried to inaugurate into his family over the years? The Jordans got along great with anyone and everyone, except when it was a girl that he’d brought home as a date. Then they’d turned into a pack of hyenas, which, he knew, was ironically called a clan, like his family.
Not that they were rude to his dates. Hell, most of the girls he’d dated in high school still lived in Pride and dealt with his family on a regular basis. Some of them were even still friends with his cousins.
As he settled down later on his queen-sized air mattress in the middle of his new bedroom floor, he thought about how Kara already fit in with his family members. After all, she’d organized two of their weddings, not to mention several of the family’s other events as well.
His mind must have been on Kara as he fell asleep since his dreams were filled with her and images of the perfect wedding he’d described to her earlier. But when a dark shadow fell over the crowd at the event and lightning struck, he jolted in his sleep as his mind tried to warn him that something was coming.
Chapter Seventeen
The next few days, Kara busied herself with her normal daily routines. Prep work for the upcoming events was slightly hindered by the fresh foot of snow. She’d have to drive the old truck to and from the flower shop the evening before their next event.
The new heater was working overtime in the massive barn, as was the large gas fireplace, in order to heat up the space for the middle school dance they were hosting Friday night.
As she walked around, watching the awkward kids asking one another to dance or avoiding asking each other, she thought about Conner.
Each night after he’d gotten off work, he’d either stopped by to see her or he’d called and talked to her for as long as he could. He’d helped them pull up the carpet in the rest of the house and had replaced the rest of the cabinet doors in the kitchen. Now every room in the cottage looked and felt like home.
He’d even invited her to a family dinner on Sunday night up at his sister and Carter’s place. Which had to mean something. Didn’t it?
She’d been over to Riley and Carter’s beautiful home several times already, but this would be her first official Jordan clan dinner invite. She needed to make a good impression. Not that she hadn’t already been around his family plenty of times before, but this was just… different. This would be the first event since she’d officially started dating Conner.
She remembered how nice Allison had been to her that day on the beach and how she’d gone out of her way to let her pick out the furniture she wanted from the barn.
Then again, everyone in Pride knew how wonderful and generous Allison Jordan was. Rumors were that she’d given more than a million dollars of her art income last year to a charity that helped deaf children. Of course, with the subject being so close to her heart, everyone automatically assumed the rumors were true.
Everyone knew that Allison’s paintings easily sold for those high figures. Kara could imagine the woman giving even more than that to help out someone in need. She was just that generous of a person.
She’d only met Conner’s father a few times. She hadn’t spoken to him directly since she didn’t know sign language very well. Outside of the basic ABCs she’d learned in summer camp one year, she also knew a few other words like mother, father, and sister.
Still, she’d heard enough about the man to know that he was just as kind as the rest of the family. It was obvious that Conner got his looks from his father. He was tall like Iian Jordan and had similar features. Still, Kara could see a lot of Allison in him as well. Conner’s dark curly hair had come from his mother, as well as his blue eyes.
She was thankful that her sister had taken the hint every time Conner had showed up and had disappeared with her laptop to work.
Kara had met Conner at Baked, the local pizza shop, one evening for dinner. Corey and Carter Miller, twin brothers who had married cousins Riley and Lilly, owned the pizzeria.
Most everyone in town could tell the identical brothers apart at this point. Kara could usually guess who was who as long as they didn’t switch jobs on her. Corey worked the counter while Carter was usually hanging out in the back, overseeing the kitchen.
She knew that Conner’s brother and sister, Riley and Jacob, were fraternal twins, but the pair were as different as day and night. Riley was shorter and had flyaway bleached blonde hair with a bubbly personality while Jacob… Well, the best way Kara could describe him was dark, brooding, and outdoorsy.
Speaking of brooding, Kara was in a funk herself. Since last weekend, she’d been hoping for another night with Conner. Whenever they were around one another, she just couldn’t keep that night out of her mind.
She understood that he had very early mornings on the days that he worked and couldn’t stay up late. She was very thankful for the time she did get with him during the week and was looking forward to seeing more of him that weekend. She was even planning on trying to convince him to let her stay at his place after the family dinner.
She knew that he was moving the rest of his things into the apartment that night after he got off work. She’d thought about sneaking out of the dance to go help him move, but then she’d caught several of the boys trying to spike the juice with a small bottle of rum and knew that she was needed at the dance instead.