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Chapter Seventeen
Luke let Hannah grip his hand hard as they walked through the front door of the house in the middle of the woods. He knew it wasn’t quite in the middle of the woods, but the whole place felt way out in the center of nowhere.
Her parents exclaimed over the kids, and Luke wasn’t sure why, but he was expecting the inside of the house to mirror the outside. He’d expected shoddy furniture, with well-worn dirty carpet and run-down appliances. He wasn’t sure what kind of people her parents were, but he didn’t expect to find a tall man with dark hair wearing a pair of slacks, a white shirt, and an undone tie looped around his neck.
He wasn’t expecting a woman in a pretty blue dress, her hair the exact same shade as Hannah’s, the dark brown eyes, or the high cheekbones.
“Hey, Momma.” Hannah smiled and stepped past sensible, but clean furniture in the living room which the door opened into. “Daddy.” She released Luke’s hand to hug her parents, and then the three of them faced him, a trio of smiling people that made him tired instantly.
“Luke, this is my daddy, Lester Otto.” She linked her arm through her father’s. “And my momma, Shirley.” She beamed at her mother.
Luke stepped forward and shook both of their hands, wondering if she’d hired clones. The way she’d spoken of her parents, he’d envisioned someone much different. “So great to meet you.”
“You too,” her mom said. “You two are dating?” She looked at Luke with sparking diamonds in her eyes, and Luke knew that look. His mother had often worn it when trying to get Joey to propose to his girlfriend. It was like they already had the perfect wedding planned, yet no one wore an engagement ring yet.
“Yes, Momma,” Hannah said with plenty of warning in her voice. “Just for a few months now, so don’t make a big deal out of it.”
“Too late,” Lester said. “She made the cowboy caviar.” He chuckled and turned back to the kitchen. There was no island, but a long table had been set up to delineate the space from the living room and the kitchen. “The kids have found it.”
“Hey,” Shirley snapped as she spun around. “You monsters. Stop it. Step away. Your mother is bringing food for you.” She turned back to Luke while Lester said, “You’re not really monsters. Gramma’s teasing. She made that for Aunt Hannah and her new boyfriend.”
“Are you hungry?” Shirley asked while Luke was still trying to figure out what was going on.
“Uh,” he said, glancing at the man who’d brought the kids in the first place. He hadn’t met him yet.
“My sister’s husband,” Hannah said quickly, seeing his look. “James is married to Bethany, and those are his kids. Connor is married to Ruth, but he’s out of town. She’s not here and neither are their kids.”
“Great to meet you.” Luke shook James’s hand too, trying to remember all the names. He told himself just to remember her parents and work on everyone else over time.
“Come have some caviar,” Hannah said, meeting his eye. “It’s really good, and my mom’s recipe is the best in the county.”
Luke stepped over to her, and they faced the makeshift island together. Several bowls of dips sat there, and Hannah indicated the special one. It had a lot of corn, black beans, tomatoes, and avocados. It looked creamier than the other cowboy caviar Luke had eaten in the past—he was Texan, after all—but certainly delicious.
“Looks amazing,” he said brightly. “And you have the big Frito scoops. Ilovethose.” He gave her mother a smile, and she swelled under the compliment and grin. Hannah handed him a paper plate and Luke started piling chips onto it. He took plenty of the cowboy caviar, as well as what Shirley quickly explained was cheese and chili dip, and then a scoop of the fresh guacamole.
“Don’t fill up,” Shirley chirped. “Hannah’s sisters are bringing a bag of tacos.”
“Tacos?” Hannah asked with some measure of surprise and horror in her voice. “Mom, no. Tacos? Tell me they didn’t go to Taco Cat.”
“What’s wrong with Taco Cat?” Lester asked. “You can get fifteen tacos for ten dollars.”
“Dad, come on,” Hannah said. “We’ve been over what’s appropriate for certain meals.” She put a scoop of cowboy caviar on her plate, and then another one. “If I have to eat one of those greasy tacos, I’m having two spoonfuls of this.” She said the last sentence in a voice barely loud enough for him to hear.
“It’s not a birthday,” Lester said. “Or Christmas. Or any other major holiday.”
“I brought my boyfriend to meet everyone,” Hannah said. “I suppose I didn’t specifically specify that such an event warrants more than the bargain tacos that Elias sells out of the back of his van, but I can’t believe it’s not implied.”
She met Luke’s eyes, and he tried to communicate to her that he didn’t care what they ate for dinner. He was interested in knowing more about this Elias and his van.
“The kids like the tacos,” Shirley said. “You used to too, if I remember right.”
“I’m thirty-five,” Hannah said. “Not twelve.” She rolled her eyes and didn’t take any other dips. She sat down at the table with built in benches on two sides, and Luke sat beside her. “Sorry,” she hissed. “If you’re still hungry later, we can stop somewhere in Sweet Water Falls to eat.”
“Will I still be hungry later?” Luke asked. “I like tacos.”
“These are—” Before she could finished, a girl burst into the house and let loose a piercing, high-pitched, operatic note. Luke choked on the corn chip and dip he’d just put in his mouth, surprised when another girl entered behind the first, doing a beat box with her mouth.
The pair continued the odd mashup of opera and rap, even doing a little dance with it. When they finished, Hannah’s parents burst into catcalls and applause, as did a pair of women who’d come onto the porch behind the girls.
