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“Callie, this is the man trying to make me homeless. Jon, this is my niece, Callie.”
He smiles at her. My niece turns an embarrassing shade of red. I can understand it. When Jon smiles, his eyes lighten, and suddenly, he doesn’t look like the man I hate.
“Nice to meet you, Callie.”
“Uh…hi.”
Then she scurries over to my sister’s side. She has been a little chatterbox about Jon. In fact, she practically interviewed me about him. And now she’s half in love with him just because he smiled, and he has his sleeves rolled up, and, let me tell you, those forearms are impressive. I could probably take a picture and get thousands of likes within five minutes.
“Avery?”
I glance up at Liv, who is smiling at me. It’s my turn to get embarrassed, but hopefully, I’ve covered it up.
“Right,” I say, waving a hand. “Let’s eat.”
And maybe, by the time we’re done, I’ll have this man out of my system.
ChapterThirteen
Jon
Dinner isn’t as painful as I thought it would be. It’s loud, but I have a feeling that has a lot to do with having children around.
The steak is tasty, despite the nasty looks Avery keeps giving it. On the other hand, hers is bloody, and she has no problem with the blood all over her plate.
“So, how long are you going to stay in town?” Mason asks me. I look up from Avery’s plate.
“Not sure. I’m working on something, and I need peace and quiet.”
“Good luck with that,” Liv remarks. “Avery is the loudest of all of us.”
“Not true. That’s Cora.”
Liv chuckles. “True. But then, with four kids, she has to be loud.”
I feel a nudge on my foot and look at Avery across the table. She frowns at me.
“What?”
I shake my head and look under the table. Crouched under the table are Houdini and Meredith, looking up at me as if I am their favorite person in the world.
“Oh my God,” Liv says. “You two get out of there.”
They slink off, casting sad looks back at the table.
“Odd that they get along.”
Avery shrugs. “Sometimes, things don’t turn out like you think they will.”
“So, when you came up with JSE, did you think it would become what it is?”
That question is from Liv’s daughter. She’s the spitting image of her mother. Every time I look at her, she blushes. I really don’t know what that’s about. I have no experience with preteen girls, even as a preteen boy.
“No. Not at all.”
“I can tell it was supposed to be a message board, right?”
I pull my attention away from Callie and look at her aunt. “Yeah. I didn’t think they would figure out a way to make it into some kind of gossip site.”
