Great. Now I was worrying because of Nate. No, if I was honest with myself, it wasn’t only Nate. But I honestly didn’t want to be too honest with myself right then. As if we had conjured her by just talking about her, my phone buzzed. I looked down at the readout.
“Hey there, my lovely,” I said, and Nate rolled his eyes before going back to helping me set up our dinner.
“Hey, I have some bad news.”
I wasn’t surprised. Allison rarely came to family meals, and I didn’t know how to take that. She didn’t have any siblings, so she didn’t get the whole hanging-out-as-a-group thing. I got that in a way, but this was the fourth time she had canceled in a row. I didn’t know how to feel about that.
“Oh?”
“Don’t get that tone with me.”
“I didn’t know I was getting any kind of tone with you, Allison.” I started to leave the room when Nate glared at me. I flipped him off, and he grinned before leaving the room.
I took a breath. “I didn’t have a tone, Allison.”
“I have to work.”
“Now?”
“You know, not all of us have a beautiful nine-to-five job.”
I was not going to touch that with a ten-foot pole. I didn’t want to fight, mainly because the others would be here at any minute, but also, frankly, I was too tired for this crap.
“I’m sorry,” Alison said after a moment. “I’ll make it up to you,” she purred.
I held back a sigh because while the sex between us was great, nothing else seemed to be good. Maybe I was overthinking things, or perhaps everybody telling me I should be in a serious relationship by now was seeping into the rest of my thoughts. I let out a sigh and tried to figure out exactly what I was thinking.
“It’s fine. Get back to work. You can come to the next one. It might not be at my house, though. It might be at one of my brother’s or my sister’s. Is that okay?”
She was silent for a moment, and I wondered what the hell was going on.
“Of course. I can’t wait to see you again. Have fun.” And then she hung up before I could even say anything.
“You want to tell me what that was about?” Nate asked when he came back into the room, and I shook my head.
“Allison’s not coming.”
“Figured that. You guys okay?”
“Don’t know about that either,” I said honestly. “And I don’t have time to get into a deep psychological conversation about my relationship with Allison. People are going to be here any minute, and I need to check on the grill.”
“The pork’s on the smoker, right?” Nate asked, practically licking his lips.
“What do you take me for? I know how to barbecue.”
“Famous last words,” Nate said with a laugh, and I shook my head and went back out to my deck so I could work on turning some of the meat.
The smell went straight to my gut, and I growled, my mouth watering. I could not wait to dig in. We were going full-on barbecue with ribs, pulled pork, and grilled chicken. Whatever we didn’t eat, we’d have for leftovers for the next week. Plus, everyone was going to bring sides and desserts and whatever else they wanted. I wasn’t a huge fan of potlucks, but when it came to my family, I trusted them.
Mostly.
I walked back into the house and tilted my head at Cross as he walked into the house.
“Smells amazing,” Cross said, his hands full. Hazel was by his side, her hands full, as well. I laughed.
“I made way too much food already, and you guys are seriously packing. What did you guys bring?” I asked, licking my lips.
“I made this bean dip thing that I think you’re going to like, and brought some chips. I don’t know how to make chips, but I bet Dakota does.”
“True. Though I could probably eat that whole bag of chips on my own.”
“We brought four bags,” Cross said, and I snorted.
“Okay, then. Good to know.”
“We also brought fixings for a salad,” Cross said. He sighed. “I don’t know when we started letting salads into our barbecue, but that’s what happens when I bring women.”
“You’re fortunate that your hands are full because I would hit you right now,” Hazel said with a laugh.
“Sorry, babe.” He leaned down and kissed her hard on the mouth, and I just shook my head and took everything from Hazel’s hands.
“Arden likes salads, too. It’s like Cross forgets we grew up with a little sister.”
“Believe me, no one can ever forget Arden, but we never used to have salads this big.”
“Well, now that I know we have salad, I guess somebody will have to eat these vegetables,” Dakota said from the door, her son Joshua at her side.
“Not vegetables,” Joshua pouted, his hands full.
“Yes, vegetables. However, we brought dessert, too,” Dakota said, and I pumped my fists in the air.
“Yes, now that’s what I’m talking about.”
“You’re going to have to eat your vegetables, too,” she said, going up on her tiptoes to kiss me on the cheek. I grinned, fist-bumped Joshua, and then took some of the trays from her hand.
“How much food did you bring?” I asked, straining a bit from the load. The woman was strong.
“There’re four of you, four of us, plus Joshua here is going through a growth spurt.”
“I’m getting big,” Joshua said, puffing out his chest a bit.
Nate reached out and took the plate from Joshua’s hand so the boy could flex a bit, and we all grinned, making sure that he knew that yes, he was getting big.
“Nice muscles, big man,” I said appreciatively.
“Thanks. Macon taught me how to do pull-ups on the bar at the park.”
My gaze met my brother’s as we both turned to see Macon standing behind them, his hands full of bakery trays, as well.
“I was at the park jogging, saw them, figured I could teach the kid a thing or two about pull-ups.”
“I would’ve gotten to it eventually,” Dakota said through gritted teeth.
Well, that was interesting.
“Come on in, let’s bring everything in and see what we have.”
“Are we late?” Myra asked, her arms full of a case—an actual case—of wine. Paris was behind her, two big trays in her hands. “I have yummy little canape appetizers, but Myra has the important stuff. Let her through. She has the wine!”
Everyone laughed and helped each other, and then soon, the food was out, with the doors open so people could easily move from the kitchen and staging area to the outdoor deck that I had built a couple of years ago. Even with all the space available, we had way too much fucking food.
“We’re never going to even come close to finishing all of this,” I said with a laugh, my arm around Hazel’s shoulders. She hugged me tightly before pulling away so she could reach out for a little canape.
“I don’t know. Look at the way Nate and Joshua and Macon are diving into my bean dip.”
“I thought that’s the seven-layer dip,” I said, narrowing my eyes at it.
“There are actually nine layers, and Cross called it a bean dip, so that’s now what we’re calling it.”