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“Masculine,” Dina supplied. “Virile.”
“Ew, Mom, please never say that again,” Charlie muttered.
“There’s a rascal quality to him, isn’t there? It’s in the twinkle of his eyes,” Mom said with a sigh. “I’m happy for you.”
“Thanks, Mom.” My heart lifted.
The men returned and Bones handed me a glass of sparkling water with a lime. He took a sip of his scotch and then wrapped his arm around me, pressing me against his side.
“They make a beautiful couple,” Mom said. “Don’t they, Arnold?”
“Beautiful,” my stepfather agreed, though his tone belied what he was saying.
“Think of their children,” Dina said, causing me to choke on my drink.
“They’d be gorgeous,” Bones said easily. “But they’d get all of that from Hayden.”
“Oh my.” My mother placed her hand on her heart. “Already talking about children. It must be serious.”
“Actually,” I began.
“As serious as it gets,” Bones interjected, looking down at me. “I’m crazy about this one.”
“Hayden’s a hard sell,” my stepfather stated. He shot Bones a lofty stare. “It’ll take more than just a pretty face to make her fall in love.”
“I guess I’ve got my work cut out for me then,” Bones joked, causing the ladies to laugh.
Arnold downed half his glass of scotch in one swallow.
“I don’t know. I think Hayden might be sold,” my mother said thoughtfully as she looked at me.
“Let’s stop talking about my relationship,” I suggested. “There are so many other things we could talk about.”
“Like what?” Dina asked.
“Yeah, like what?” Patrick parroted.
“Oh, uh, how beautiful the room looks, the delicious food that will be served, the exorbitant donations being made tonight,” I suggested.
My stepfather reached into his breast pocket and pulled out his cell. He looked at the screen. “Excuse me a moment, I have to take this.”
“You promised,” Mom whined.
“I won’t be gone long.” He flashed her a strained grin and strode from the room.
Mom’s gaze wandered to Bones’ arm which was still tightly wrapped around me. He didn’t look at all concerned that my godparents and mother were openly examining him.
They began to talk to each other and for a moment they were so caught up in discussing us that I was able to whisper to Bones, “We could escape now, and I don’t think they’d notice.”
“They’d notice, and then give us hell tomorrow at dinner.”
“Tomorrow at dinner?” Mom asked as she turned to look at us again.
I sighed. “We’re both coming to Sunday dinner.”
“This is serious,” Mom said. “You never invite men to Sunday dinner.”
“Mother,” I warned.
