Suddenly raucous laughter carried from the office, and I snickered quietly. Clearly, the uniforms had been distributed. They returned to the front of the house and came into the kitchen to introduce themselves.
Kamon, who was sort of petite, immediately noticed Nick. He was half-Thai, and his small stature belied his wicked close combat skills. He was also unapologetically queer.
Judson, who sat at the table with his twin by his side, clocked the way Kamon looked at Nick. From Judson’s squinty eyes and the hard line of his mouth, he wasn’t a fan of Kamon’s perusal. But Judson didn’t say anything, didn’t move, and no one else seemed to notice his displeasure.
Well, okay then.
Luke appeared by my elbow. “Gimme that baby,” he said fondly.
“Is Phinn already down?”
“Yeah.” He extracted the sleeping kiddo. “I’m gonna put Em in with him.”
Abigail came to collect the trio to take them to tour the ranch. They’d studied the layout I’d sent them with all the details in text, but it was always different to see everything in person.
Wren stayed in the kitchen, chatting with everyone, so I held out my hand to Emery. Without question, he took it and let me tug him up and away.
We went to his room, and I pushed him on the bed, then took off his shoes and mine, before lying down next to him. Knowing he’d worry, I took out my phone, showed it to him, and set up an alarm for an hour from now.
Then I put it on the bedside table and gathered Emery in my arms. “A medium squish good?” I murmured, and he chuckled against my chest.
“Yeah, sounds perfect.”
The rehearsal dinner had everyone looking nice. Not as dressed up as they’d be on Saturday, but everyone had put in the effort to clean up. There was still a whole lot of chambray and denim, but it was clear I was looking at everyone’s dress up clothes.
It was more like a big pre-wedding party than an actual dinner. Two long tables were groaning under mounds of sides. I spotted at least three kinds of macaroni salad, two of potato salad, and at least three more dishes that were probably considered some other type of more traditional salad. And though those types of dishes dominated, there was plenty of other types of food too. Nick had set up the smoker yesterday and did both a brisket and a huge rack of ribs. The grill was going too.
Rico and James were on the edges of the crowd, closer to the driveway, just keeping an eye on everything. I didn’t think they were needed there, but they’d volunteered so why not? Kamon, however, had taken up residence on the porch where he could see everything. If said spot was close to the grill, it had to be accidental.
Everyone was socializing. There was a lot of laughter and the music playing in the background was really nice.
My gaze went to find Emery every now and then, because I couldn’t help it whatsoever. I knew what that meant, and it made me feel like shit knowing our time was coming to an end soon.
There were kids running around. Some of Demi and Luke’s friends had kids, and Aria’s shrieks were ringing in the space every now and then.
Suddenly there was a tug on my sleeve, and I looked down to see Payton there.
“Hey, Payton. What can I do for you?”
“Uh, Mr. Ville, can we take a walk?” There was something in his expression that let me know nothing bad was happening, but he was just overwhelmed.
I glanced around and saw all of his safe adults deep in conversation in various groups of people. “Of course. Let me just tell your dads, okay?”
He nodded and took my hand like he often did with his grandpa.
Since Crew was closest to me, I called out his name. He looked up, searching for me, and I nodded my head toward Payton and then toward left, indicating the more open side of the property.
Crew frowned, but read my expression and gave us a nod and a smile.
“Okay, lead the way,” I told Payton.
He tugged me past Juanpablo’s paddock, though the donkey had been moved for the evening, and as soon as we were past the fences and the noise died down, I felt the tension leave his body. He shuddered minutely.
“It’s a lot over there, huh?” I asked as he let go of my hand and walked over the boulders lining part of the drive to the Event Barn.
“Uh-huh,” he said as he carefully examined the rocks to see if they were dirty. He shrugged, then climbed on to sit on one and sighed. “It’s all the kids. Not my cousins, but the others.”
I had to search deep to not laugh at his exasperated tone. “Yeah. Kids can be a lot, for sure.”
