“Okay,” I said. “Come and meet the rest of my family.”
There was a gaggle of excited teenage girls in the living room, half of them enthralled by Gracie, who was showing Sam how to unwrap her birthday present, and the other half by Wilder, who was standing there looking like he did. He looked profoundly relieved to see us and immediately joined us as we headed for the kitchen.
Mom and Lola were working in there. Well, Lola was working. Mom was the support person keeping her wine glass topped up, but that was an important part of the process too.
“Lee!” Lola exclaimed when she saw me and hugged me. These days the top of her head barely came up to my chin. “Musta?”
“Mabuti naman,” I said.
“Are you working too hard?” She peered up at me. “You have bags under your eyes.”
“I’m fine, Lola.” I peeled her off me. “Where’s Lolo?”
“He’s in the basement checking the water heater,” Mom said with a grin. “I’m sure he’ll be up as soon as the food’s ready.”
Lola snorted at the accurate assessment. My grandfather was an incredibly gentle and loving man, but he wasn’t very sociable. He would have arrived with a list of odd jobs to do that would give him an excuse not to be in a room of chattering teenage girls, but he’d peek out from under his shell for sure when it was time to eat. And later, when Sam’s friends had gone home and everything was more low-key, he’d join us again.
I reached for Chase’s hand. “Lola, this is Chase, my boyfriend. Chase, this is my grandmother, Maria.”
“You call me Lola too,” Lola said decisively and hugged him.
Chase’s cheeks were pink by the time she released him. “Uh, hi.”
“Very handsome,” she told me approvingly and then clapped her hands together. “Kain tayo!”
“Let’s eat,” I translated for Chase and squeezed his hand.
He squeezed mine back, hard. “Sounds good.”
CHAPTER 13
CHASE
“So are you guys a thing?” Wilder asked me in an undertone as we stood around with paper plates piled high with tasty food we couldn’t name and watched Sam shriek with laughter at the ugly goose I’d bought her. “You and Lee?”
“I guess.” I shrugged. “We’re dating.”
“Good for you,” Wilder said. “Gracie, no. One slice at a time, sweet pea.”
Whatever Gracie was loading her plate up with did look amazing, though, so I couldn’t blame her for trying to build an entire tower of it.
I was glad Wilder was here, even if I wasn’t glad we were having this particular conversation. But with Wilder here, Lee got to take some time to talk to his family without having to feel like he had to babysit me. As it was, he kept throwing me glances across the room like he was checking in. It should have been annoying, but it was kind of nice to know he was thinking about me and making sure I was okay. Or checking that I wasn’t a millisecond away from yelling at everyone to fuck off. Whatever. But I liked to think it was the first one.
And it wasn’t as though I could get too annoyed anyway since I wouldn’t have known how often he was looking at me if I hadn’t been looking at him too.
To me, he was Lee the baker, Lee my boss, Lee my secret fuck, and now Lee my boyfriend. But he was different with his family, or at least he showed sides of himself that he didn’t those other times. He was Lee the big brother, the son, the grandson. And it was sorta funny watching his grandma fuss over him like he was a tiny baby instead of a man who could pick her up and snap her like a twig if he’d wanted. I almost expected her to get out a handkerchief, lick it, then scrub his face. He would have let it happen too probably.
Sam grabbed me after we’d had cake. “Holy shit. Chase! I love the goose! It’s sougly! And I mean that as a compliment, obviously.”
“Obviously,” I said, pleased I’d gotten something good.
“It’s just—” She shoved the goose in my face. “I can’t look away. It might be a legit cursed object and now I’m about to open a portal to hell or something.”
“Goose hell,” I said. “That’s worse than regular hell. They always go straight for the nuts. No easing you into the torture at all.”
Sam laughed, delighted.
Gracie flagged after the cake and candles, and Wilder took her home. Sam’s friends left pretty soon after, and Lindsay fussed over Sam for a bit, checking she wasn’t too tired.
