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“You’re planning on staying over tonight, right?”
“If you want me to.”
“Oh, believe me, I do.” The sappy side of him was looking forward to waking up with her in the morning. Not that he’d ever admit that out loud if anybody asked.
Chapter Fourteen
When they walked into his kitchen, Ryan’s mom was in full swing. The blender roared on the counter with some kind of fruity concoction.
“Oh good, you’re here.” Debbie looked up from where she was slicing a lime on the counter. “Where are your margarita glasses?”
He eyed his mom standing at the kitchen counter and winced as he remembered what he’d done to Peyton on that same surface. “Make yourself at home, Mom.” Ryan placed a kiss against the side of her head as he slid past her. Reaching into the cabinet, he pulled out a couple of glasses and set them on the island.
“Shrek cups?” Debbie arched her brow and picked up the offending glass.
“Oh my god, I can’t believe you have those.” Peyton picked up the glass with the characters on it and smiled. “I had these glasses when I was a kid, but they all broke. I can’t believe yours didn’t.”
“Probably because he wouldn’t let anyone else drink out of them when we were kids,” Kendall mocked.
Ryan narrowed his eyes and pretended to glare at his sister. “Well, come on, can you blame me? You were like a baby giraffe. Nothing was safe around you.”
“That’s true, babe.” Pete wrapped his arm around Kendall and pulled her to his side. “Remember that time you fell out of the tree when you were spying on us in the pool?”
“I wasn’t spying. I was studying and lost my balance,” Kendall said.
“Studying, Pete maybe,” Ryan teased.
“Can you blame her? I was hot.”
“You certainly thought you were.” Debbie looked at her husband. “Do you remember how he always walked around with no shirt on that entire summer?”
“Of course I remember. I nearly went broke feeding every teenage girl in the neighborhood.”
Peyton watched the interplay between the family and Pete. It was nice to have that kind of history with people. She’d moved around so much after her parents split up it had been hard to have friends through high school, let alone beyond that. Rayne had been her only constant. That was probably why she’d gone into the field she had. No matter what city she’d moved to, there was always a community center where she’d been able to go to play sports and meet people.
“So, about those margarita glasses?” Debbie asked.
Ryan leaned back against the counter and stuck his hands in his pockets. “I don’t have margarita glasses. You’re stuck with Shrek.”
“Yes.” Kendall’s fist pumped in the air. “I finally get to use the glasses.”
“Good point.” Ryan reached up into the cupboard and pulled down a tall plastic poolside tumbler. “Put Kendall’s in this.” He pushed the blue cup toward his mother.
“You’re an ass,” Kendall muttered.
“Kendall.” Debbie’s stern voice brooked no argument from either of her children.
Debbie poured margaritas into the glasses and passed them around. “Peyton, we didn’t really get a chance to talk too much during the game. Are you from San Diego?”
“Umm, sort of. I was born here, then moved when I was thirteen. We lived all over the west coast, and then I moved back here for my degree and never left.”
“What about your parents? Where do they live now?” Debbie pulled out a barstool and sat down across from Peyton.
Peyton took a sip of her margarita to wet her mouth. Debbie stared at her with that inquisitive mom look that let her know she was in for a long night of getting to know you grilling. Fantastic.
“My mom lives in Seattle.”
“What about your dad?”
