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“Since you’re here and looking miserable, I’m guessing you finally got your head screwed on straight but didn’t bother to let him know.”
“Shit.”I fisted my hands and clenched my eyes shut.“I—I thought he was at the cabin without service,” I said, knowing the words were fucking lame.“I figured I would surprise him—showhim I’d put him first rather than tell him over the phone.”
Huffing out an annoyed as fuck sigh, I opened my eyes to find Sharon’s welling with tears.
“You love him,” she said quietly, and I considered the fact she didn’t ask me a question.
My annoyance dissolved in a blink, my eyes stinging.So much, I wanted to whisper.More than anything.
But Kellen needed to hear it first.
“Is he still coming home for Thanksgiving?”I asked, my voice unsteady.
“Yes, and we had hoped that you would be with him,” Sharon said, still eyeing me with unshed tears.
Curses rang in my head, and I clenched my teeth as I got annoyed once again.“I need to call him.”
“No.”
My gaze tore off the scratched hardwood floor for Kellen’s dad.“What?Why not?”I shot out, my forehead furrowing deeply.
“Because hewillbe home sometime tomorrow, and you were right.Seeing the evidence of your feelings for him will mean more than mere words or promises he’s heard before.”
Well fuck.The steam leaked out of me, leaving me sagging on my feet.It had been one hell of an emotional roller coaster of a day.
“Okay,” I whispered, ready to fall over and sleep for twenty-four hours straight.
“You’re staying here tonight,” Sharon said, getting up from the couch, her tone no-nonsense as though she’d set her mind, and that was the way it was going to be.“Tomorrow, you can help me in the kitchen and tell me all about yourself—what kind of man my son has fallen in love with this time.But I’ll warn you right now.”Her brown eyes pinned me in place.“You hurt him…”
“Shoot, shovel, and a deep woods burial,” I said, biting back a smirk.“Got it.”
She chuckled and ordered me to go get my bag.
I did as told, and a few minutes later, she showed me into the finished basement and the pullout couch Kellen got assigned to when the entire family came back to the farm for the holidays.
“I put on an extra thick mattress pad to make it comfortable, but I’m sure you two will be happy to share a bed regardless of where it’s located.”
I choked on a dry laugh, praying like fuck he wasn’t so pissed off with me for my radio silence that he didn’t give me a chance to explain myself.
But moms always knew best, right?And I wanted to believe Sharon had her son’s interest at heart—same as I did.
The next morning, Kellen texted his mom with the news that he would be home around dinnertime.She didn’t tell him I was there, and that I was anxious as fuck to land eyes on him and apologize for assuming shit like an asshole.
We spent the next few hours exactly as Sharon had said.In the kitchen with me doing most of the talking and a lot of the prep work.None of what I’d had the pleasure of helping with before.
I learned how to make stuffing from scratch.I helped to cut up sweet potatoes.Rolled out dough for pies.Peeled and sliced apples.Shoved my hand into the cavity of a raw, huge turkey.Memories imprinted in my mind to savor and enjoy in the years ahead with my newfound family.
I hoped.
The others in the Roberts’ clan began to arrive.Kellen’s oldest sister Sarah had four kids, the younger twins redheaded like their dad, Fred.The oldest, Brian, was the star quarterback I’d heard all about, and it didn’t take long before we were discussing stats.
The youngest Roberts’ sibling showed up next, and the glare shot my way at introductions made me fear for my life.I’d thought Sharon was a momma bear, but Kellen’s baby sister Suzi was a goddamned grizzly.Add in the fact she had an infant in her arms and her husband Donnie carried the two toddler terrors Kellen had told me about, and I expected to walk on eggshells until he arrived and we got shit set straight between us.
“So you’re JJ.”Suzi eyed me rather than offering a greeting in return to mine.“You hurt him…”
Her dad chuckled, and Donnie rolled his eyes while handing over one of the squirmy boys to their grandpa.
“Let me guess,” I said, biting back a smile.“You know how to use a shotgun?”
