Page 7 of Derecho

Ma: Just wanted to check, family dinner at the main house tonight, or at your place, honey?

I sighed, closing my eyes as I tipped my face toward the porch roof. Mom had always held out such hope that one day, I’d magically be able to walk up to her house again. That I’d be able to leave and sit around her dinner table like I had before my accident.

For a while, I’d gotten away with hiding in my house. Family dinners passed by without me as I sent out excuse after excuse for why I wouldn’t be there. Eventually, my brothers caught on, and now, well, family dinner takes place at my house, so I can’t wiggle my way out of it.

Still on the porch so…my place for sure, Ma.

My siblings and I all still live on our family’s ranch, and Ma loves to have us all together in the same place.

Ma: You know we all don’t mind coming over there. Your dad and I will be down around 5:30 to start getting things cooking. Is that okay with you?

That’s fine. I’m just waiting on Lainey to drop off my meals. I don’t have anything planned after, so come on down whenever.

Ma: You should invite her!

Let’s let Birdie handle that.

I slipped my phone back into my pocket, knowing Ma would agree. Birdie and Lainey didn’t have the easiest relationship, and I wasn’t about to step in between that. Besides…it wasn’t like Lainey and I were friends. We exchanged a few words here and there when she dropped off the food, and that was it.

I eyed the edge of the porch, but before I could take another step closer to my goal, Lainey’s car came rattling to a stop in front of my house. There were at least six things she needed to get checked out immediately on that hunk of junk before she drove it again. What the fuck was Greg thinking?

Her belly was the first thing I saw as she hoisted herself from the driver’s seat. Lainey Calloway was practically family, in a weird, roundabout way. Her older sister was engaged to my older brother, Beau. And my little sister was good friends with Lainey growing up…until they weren’t.

Birdie pitched getting these meals from Lainey as a way to help her sister out. But really, I knew she thought it’d help me, too. To have someone other than my family to talk to. And as much as I hated to admit it, Birdie had been right.

“Hey, Lach.”

“Hey,” I called back. Okay, at least seven things needed to get fixed, because she was bright red and her hair was plastered to her temples. That asshole was letting his pregnant fiancé drive around in a car with no AC in the middle of the Texas summer heat.

She pulled two aluminum trays out from the backseat of her car, bumping the door shut with her hip as she made her way up to the porch. I took a few steps closer, shoving down the rolling sensation in my stomach as the stairs came into view.

“The trays are still a little warm. I meant to bake them last night, but this bowling ball attached to me isn’t a fan of letting me stay up late. I made the macaroni and cheese like you asked, but I had to swap out the salmon and rice this week for chicken. He doesn’t like fish.”

I knew she meant the baby, but I couldn’t resist. “Greg?”

“Yeah. Like father, like son.”

“Let’s hope not,” I grumbled. Her eyes ran over me, the line between her furrowed brows growing deeper the closer she got.

“How far’d you make it today?” she asked. I held out my hand and waited for her to put the two containers into my outstretched arm.

“To right here,” I grumbled, ready for the quick comment I knew she’d make about my lack of progress. But she didn’t say anything. Not until she was past me, heading toward the bench.

“Where do you want these?” Her voice trailed over her shoulder back to me.

“In my hand.”

Lainey turned around, her eyes rolling. “I can set them down for you.”

I ground my molars. “I know you’re trying to be nice, but I’m not incapable of carrying things because I’ve got one hand on my cane.”

Her face didn’t move, except for the tiniest, almost imperceptible tightening of the small muscles around her eyes. “Fine. Have at it.”

I scooped the trays from her hands and took the five steps over to the bench, turning to make sure I could give her hell before she bolted.

“What’s going on with your car?”

Her hand came up and poked against the top of her belly. I wasn’t even sure she realized she was doing it, because her eyes focused on my driveway while her face stayed a little too flushed for my liking. “Don’t even get me started. Greg was supposed to take it to the shop in Bell Ridge, but he decided to buy himself a new truck instead. So, I get to ride around in a car older than you, sweating my ass off making deliveries, and he gets a fancy new toy.”