AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She shrugged. “I was surprised you offered that. You don’t think it’s too soon for me to do that?”
“Do what?” he asked, laughing. “You’d be doing me a favor staying at my house with him. I’ve got nothing to hide. Shit, my house is pretty much empty still.”
Which he was hoping to fix soon. It was going to be brought up today for sure.
“Can I think about it?” she asked.
“Sure. If you decide it will be too much, Robin can take George. No worries either way.”
“Okay,” she said. “I’ll let you know soon.”
The rest of the walk they talked about TV and current events. Not much else and then soon arrived at Robin’s. He opened the front door and let George off the leash who took off running for the back. His puppy knew where he was and that there were other dogs here to play with.
“You might need to get George a sibling,” his sister said. “Look at him with Luke and Leia.”
He watched his dog running circles around the room and the three dogs take off throughout the house. “I don’t think so,” he said. “And hopefully he doesn’t make a mess anywhere. He’s pretty much house trained now and went on his way over.”
“He’ll be fine,” Brian said. “But let’s let them in the yard until they calm down.”
Brian walked over to the deck door and opened it and Luke and Leia knew what to do and George followed, the three dogs having a blast in the fenced-in yard.
“I think I need to put a fence in too this spring,” he said. “Everyone, this is Gillian Bridges. Gillian, my sister, Robin, her husband, Brian, my mother, Nikki, and father, Randy. The little one jumping in the playpen and reaching is Harper, my niece.” He walked over to pick Harper up. “Hey there, sweetie. Did you miss Uncle Rick?”
“She always wants Uncle Rick,” Robin said, moving forward. Everyone shook hands with Gillian.
“It’s nice to meet you all,” she said. “Thank you for inviting me.”
“Dessert is Rick’s favorite part of the holiday,” his mother said. “He wouldn’t miss this. Not my chocolate bourbon pecan pie.”
He groaned. “You didn’t tell me you were making that.”
He’d done well at Whitney’s and enjoyed the meal like he normally did. He took Gillian’s word to heart that this could be a cheat day. But his mother was right, dessert was his weakness and he’d been cutting out most sweets for weeks now.
“I always make it,” his mother said. “But this is the first Thanksgiving you’ve been home for in years.”
“What else did you make?” he asked.
“Apple pie,” Robin said. “With vanilla ice cream. I made pumpkin pie for Brian. Meena and Troy took some to go since Amiah was fussy. Brian’s parents weren’t feeling well this morning and didn’t want to show up with germs in front of the babies.”
Rick nodded. “Two of my favorites. Not the pumpkin, but the apple.”
“Then you should have a slice of each,” Gillian said. “I think I will. We walked over and will back. Have to make room for dessert.”
“You’re so tiny,” his mother said. “Rick said you’re a dietician. Maybe you’ll rub off on my son. I bet he’s still eating boxed donuts for breakfast.”
Geez, Gillian thought her parents embarrassed her, but his were going to do the same to him, just in a different way.
“No,” he said. “I outgrew that a long time ago.”
No reason to say it was only a few years ago that he was still eating that for breakfast, but he’d started to get sick to his stomach after so much sugar in the morning and stopped.
“As a teen, Rick ate more sugar than anyone I knew,” Robin said. “It’s a wonder he’s not huge, but he’s always been in great shape. He was almost too skinny a year ago so I’m glad to see he put some weight on.”
“I think Rick’s in great shape... for his age.”
“Wow,” Brian said. “Did she just call you old?”
He looked to see the blush fill Gillian’s face. She had picked on him on and off about things in the past, but this was the first time she’d said something like this. “I guess so,” he said, kissing her on the cheek.
