Page 9 of His for the Holiday

5

HAWK

Sitting around the dinner table that night, Logan and Duncan were telling Emery about our afternoon. They sat side by side, effortlessly finishing each other’s sentences with big, goofy grins on their faces.

“Can you believe it?” Logan said.

“Sawyer thought Uncle Hawk was there to kidnap him,” Duncan supplied.

“It was so funny, Mom,” Logan chimed in.

“Hilarious,” Duncan agreed. “This little girl just started screaming.”

“And then her mom ran over to help,” Logan added. “She even asked Uncle Hawk if he was there to kidnap Sawyer.”

“I said no,” I volunteered, giving Sawyer, now happily sitting between his mom and his grandpa, a friendly smile. “We’re okay now though, right, bud?”

He dipped his chin in a nod but didn’t say anything, evidently still shy of me. That was okay, though. I would work on it.

Emery reached out to ruffle his hair and sent me a bit of a glare. “It serves you right since you haven’t been back to visit in so long that he has no idea who you even are.”

I inhaled a deep breath through my nostrils. “I’m here now. Let’s just leave it at that.”

She rolled her eyes, still not particularly pleased about having me home despite having begged me to come, but I also really didn’t blame her. Having spent some time with the boys around the house this afternoon, I’d learned that she not only took care of all of them and ran our father’s business, but she also did all the maintenance on the property by herself, did all the cooking, cleaning, and household admin, and had even fixed the roof last month.

Later, she and I would talk about why she hadn’t called when it had needed fixing. Or when any of the other maintenance had to be done. She knew damn well I would have paid someone to come do it for her, but this wasn’t the time or place for that conversation.

“I’m glad that little girl stood up for you,” Emery was saying to Sawyer when I refocused on their conversation. “Is she your friend?”

The boy shrugged before he nodded. “She’s a new friend. Her name is Winnie.”

“Her mommy said she knows you,” Duncan told her, his head tilting slightly. “She also said her daddy is friends with Grandpa.”

“Oh?” Emery frowned. “What’s her name?”

“Sutton,” Logan said, and immediately, my sister shot me a look that made me want to leave the table.

Of course, Emery knew all about Sutton and me. All through our childhood, we’d been best friends, but our relationship had changed in high school. I still couldn’t pinpoint the exact moment I’d realized that she was a girl, and a hot one at that, but it hadn’t taken me long to start seeing her as a lot more than just a friend.

It turned out that she had developed those same feelings for me, and our friendship had quickly become a secret relationship. Or a not-so-secret one since Emery had caught us kissing a time or two.

As she looked at me now, I knew she was wondering what had happened in the end. I’d never told her why Sutton had stopped speaking to me, but I didn’t intend on telling her now either. Emery was pissed enough at me as it was. I wasn’t about to give her even more ammunition.

“Sutton, huh?” she finally said, giving me one final warning of a look before smiling at her boys. “Uncle Hawk and I both know her. We grew up with her. She used to live right down the street. I think she’s living there again now.”

As she shared some of our antics from back in the day with her boys, I finished the meal she’d prepared, then waited for the rest of them to finish as well before I started collecting the dishes. Emery rose to help me, but I shook my head at her.

“Sit,” I insisted. “I’ll do it.”

She arched an eyebrow at me, but then a grateful smile spread on her lips and she settled back in. After dinner though, it was like all hell broke loose in the house for an hour. The sudden burst of activity confused me at first while I did the dishes, but then I realized this was normal for them at this time of day.

“I want everyone’s shoes in their bedrooms,” Emery yelled as the boys thundered upstairs. “I’m not spending twenty minutes tomorrow morning looking for them. Also, Dunc! It’s Logan’s turn in the shower first tonight.”

Laughter filtered down the stairs, but I could still hear them running around up there, their footsteps as hard as if a herd of wild buffalo had been released into our home. “Sawyer, remember that you’ve got music at school tomorrow, so Mommy’s only going to pick you up after that. Duncan, it’s baseball day. Please remember your bat this time. And Dad?”

Our father didn’t answer and I heard Emery sigh. “Daddy?”

“Yes?” he finally called from his study.