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If I could have, I would have kept her right there in the garage with me, but we both needed to eat lunch, and the family would have noticed if we just didn’t show up mysteriously at the same time. I didn’t really intend on hiding anything from them, but things were still at a delicate beginning stage. There wasn’t any need right now to spread everything around and get everybody talking. Besides, Kelly needed to do her daily call to check in on Willa. Now that I knew she was mine, those calls were more important. One day I hoped I’d get a chance to be a part of them. But for now, I could settle on her making the call and then checking in with me afterward to let me know how she was doing.
At the end of the day, I pulled her aside again. Kelly grinned and wrapped her arms around my neck. I kissed her once, but then stepped back from her, taking her hands in mine.
“I didn’t take you aside for that,” I told her. “We need to talk.”
She pouted and I laughed, drawing her close again.
“I know. But, listen, we can’t just kiss. We are very good at it, but we have to try to think clearly. We have important stuff to talk about. We need to get all this figured out. But I want you to come with me to Quentin’s house on Sunday. He has the whole family over on Sunday nights for a bonfire, and we usually grill out. I want you to bring Willa,” I told her.
Kelly looked uncertain.
“That seems like a lot,” she said.
“It might be,” I admitted. “But, I mean, it’s a lot for me, too. You have to admit, my family is just kind of a lot in general. It will be nice to have someone else there who stays a bit on the edges and isn’t right in the middle of the action.”
Kelly laughed.
“You’re making me feel super confident about this whole thing,” she said. She glanced around nervously.
That sounded like I was making a little bit of progress. At least she hadn’t come right out and said no. She was at least willing to hear more about it and make a decision from there.
“It’s just a family thing. He’s been doing it for a while now. The family has always been close, but we don’t spend as much time together now as we used to because we’re all so busy with work and everything. So, he makes it a point of getting everybody together on Sundays so we can spend some time together. He has a huge, gorgeous house with a giant firepit in the backyard. He gets a fire going and cooks on the grill. We sit around, drink beer, talk, and laugh. It’s just a good time. Sometimes Quentin’s best friend comes with his puppy, Bud, and she plays with Quentin’s puppy, Rosie.”
Kelly looked like that was convincing her a little more.
“Willa does love dogs,” she said.
“See? Something there for everybody.” I tried to grin convincingly, but she still looked nervous. “Come on. It’s really casual. There’s no big formal table, and I promise you aren’t going to get strapped down and interrogated or anything. We’ll sit around and eat and talk and get to know each other a little better. My mother would really like to meet her grandchild.”
“Just your mother?” Kelly asked.
I laughed.
“Everybody would like to meet her, but Dad is being a little bit more restrained about it. They are all doing their best to stay back and give us our space. They don’t want to interfere or intrude in any way. I asked them to be respectful and let us come to them when we were ready. My father and brothers are doing a pretty good job so far, but Mom isn’t going to hold out much longer. If you don’t want her figuring out how to show up at your house or coming up with an elaborate Bring Your Child to Work Day scheme to get you to bring Willa here to meet her, we do this on our own terms soon. Sunday at Quentin’s is casual, open, no pressure. No one will have any expectations of you. They just want to meet Willa and welcome her into the family. She is the first grandbaby, you know.”
Kelly rolled her eyes, letting out a groan.
“Merry is going to be so pissed,” she said.
“Why is that?” I asked.
“She’s pregnant. Like, super pregnant. She’s about to burst. And I guarantee you when she announced to everybody that she was having a baby, she thought it was the first grandchild. Which would have made sense considering Quentin is the oldest son. By all rights he should have the first baby. But then I come along and announce she’s two years late to the party.”
