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“Dude.” Duncan slapped a hand on the table. “There werelima beansin the last one.”
Ma puffed up like a sparrow. “Eating together is better than eating alone, even if it’s just bread and milk.”
Rowan put down her plastic fork to raise her glass. “Regardless of what’s for dinner, I know the wine and company are always perfect.”
Everyone dropped plastic utensils to grab their own glasses, and Dad relinquished his sandwich to do the same. Alice and Grey lifted juice pouches, giggling. The family toasted to good wine. It seemed rather self-referential to Harry, toasting to wine with wine—but he joined in anyway, glad for the excuse to focus his full attention on Rowan. Even for a moment.
Dad swiped his mouth with a napkin and stood, raising his glass again. “Tonight is about harmony,” he said. “Wine is theharmony of humans and nature, and family is the harmony of love and friendship.” His eyes connected individually, intentionally, with everyone around the table, including Rowan and Temperance. “We are so fortunate to have this family together in this new place. To beginnings.”
Harry noticed Temperance awkwardly divert from clinking her glass against Duncan’s. Instead, she set her wine down, rubbed her nose, and kept her eyes on her plate. Harry filed it away to dissect later.
“Most importantly, though—let’s talk about s’mores,” Dad continued, with pageantry. “S’mores are the harmony between marshmallows and chocolate. Let’s get wasted on sugar!” He shouted the last, and the kids cheered.
A s’mores assembly line was set up on a separate picnic table closer to the fire. The traditional ingredients were there, along with candied bacon as requested by Duncan, peanut butter at Maren’s request, and white chocolate for Ace, who didn’t like the standard kind. Dad stood at the end of the table and handed roasting sticks to everyone. He had a big marshmallow stuck to his nose, like a clown.
Rowan was at the end of the line. Harry circled behind her and trailed a finger up her spine. He watched goose bumps lift the tiny hairs on the back of her neck and down her arms, a shimmer across her skin in the firelight.
She subtly shifted backward and dipped her free arm behind her, reaching between his legs to palm his crotch, gently clutching and lifting the weight of him.Christit felt good. Harry disguised his choked sound of surprise with a cough. In seconds, he was hard in her hand, and she stroked him through his shorts. Then she blithely stepped out of his reach to browse the s’mores ingredients, her expression the very picture of serenity.
Obscuring his obvious erection with the paper plate, Harry sidled up next to her and deliberately stepped on the ends of herbare toes with the tip of his sandaled foot. Rowan turned her head to smile innocently, and her eyes widened with surprise as they tracked to the brim of his ball cap. Her smile faded.
He smirked and murmured, “I’m not falling for that shit.” Then he saw movement from the edge of his vision. Something was crawling on his hat. He froze.
“Duck your head and stand still.” She put her plate down. From the brim of his cap, she scooped a fat-bodied brown spider into her hand. Harry dropped his own plate, flung off the hat, and stumbled backward to put more distance between him and the arachnid.
The flying hat hit Duncan in the back of the head. “The fuck, man?” he said.
“Language,” said Ma.
Temperance turned and wrinkled her nose at the spider, unimpressed. “You’re so gross, Rowan.”
Rowan looked unfazed. “Harsh words from a woman whose profession involves large amounts of child barf. And baby shit.”
“Language,” Ma emphasized again.
Duncan pointed at Rowan. “Hey, look! Rowan gotlanguage’dby Ma. She’s officially part of the family. What’cha got there, Red?”
The spider tottered on spindly legs over her palm, then onto her opposite hand. When Duncan saw the spider, he snagged Temperance by her upper arms and plowed backward, dragging her with him like a human shield.
“Jesus citrus-scented Christ. What the fuck, Rowan?” Duncan said. Temperance wrenched away from him with an irritated growl and a punch in his tattooed bicep.
“Duncan Callum—” Ma said.
“Neoscona crucifera,”Rowan said. “This little lady wanted to join the fun, you big babies. She’s harmless. Harry probably walked through her web under the tree.”
“Cooooool.” Grey pushed past Alice and Temperance to get a closer look. The spider was slow and unsteady out of her web.
“Have you readCharlotte’s Web?” Rowan crouched to bring the spider to the kids’ level.
“Grey can’t read yet, but I have. The ending made me cry.”
With her spider-free hand, Rowan reached up and tucked a lock of dark hair behind Alice’s ear. “Me too. This spider is an orb weaver, like Charlotte was. Neat, huh?”
“Our cousin’s name is Charlotte,” Grey said.
Rowan’s eyes crinkled as she smiled. “I know.”
Duncan slowly approached. This time, he gave Temperance the same wide berth he gave the spider. He edged around to stand next to Harry, slapping him on the back a few times, hard enough to make his body jerk like a rag doll.
