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“Rissa,” Will said. “Don’t.” He’d released Gretchen’s hand, but he hadn’t moved yet. “This is Gretchen Bellows. Gretchen, my sister, Clarissa. The younger one.” He stayed for one more minute, until Gretchen nodded at him that he could go. Once he had, Gretchen stepped right into Clarissa.
“It’s so wonderful to meet you,” she said.
Rissa hugged her back. “You’re so beautiful,” she said. “So perfect for Will. Have you two seen yourselves together?” She stepped back and searched Gretchen’s eyes. “Just…wow. He loves you so much.”
“The feeling is mutual,” Gretchen said, finding it odd that Rissa was…crying over this. She glanced toward the back wall of windows, where Will had gone, but he hadn’t quite made it outside yet.
Rissa released her, sniffling, and said, “Go sit. Will usually takes a seat by Daddy, but I think he’ll put your daddy there tonight. So way down on the right side there.” She nodded in the general direction, but Gretchen detoured toward Shayla.
“Good to see you again, Shayla,” she said, extending her hand.
“Oh, girl, get in here for a hug.” Shayla took Gretchen into a hug too, adding, “We’ll have to stick together, me and you. This family can eat you alive.”
“They can?” Gretchen asked.
Shayla nodded as she pulled back. “Just wait. If not tonight, then another time. They’re ravenous.”
“I know I am,” Travis said from where he sat. He twisted and smiled at Gretchen. “And we don’t eat people…usually.”
“It’s meatball sub night,” Rissa yelled as Will entered with Gretchen’s father. Watching the two of them froze the clock for her for the second time that day. Will had turned toward her father and leaned down slightly to hear him better. Daddy moved with his oxygen tank trundling along behind him, but his cane nowhere in sight. Instead, he’d looped his hand through Will’s arm, and the very sight of them together made Gretchen emotional.
Her dad could be a lot to handle, and here was Will—the grumpiest of them all, supposedly—smiling at him gently and moving with him as if he were a precious kitten.
People moved around her. Chairs scraped the tile floor. Rissa kept yelling something about the freshly baked bread and the sauce she’d been working on for hours. But Gretchen didn’t look away from Will and Daddy until Will had him seated on the corner of the table. Then he looked up to search for her.
She walked toward him, and he slid his hand into hers. “Mama,” he said as Lee came inside with their mother. Will lifted Gretchen’s hand and kissed it, his lips still somewhat curved into a smile. “This is Gretchen Bellows.”
“Oh, my dear.” His mama took a moment to steady herself, and Lee hesitated to release her. He did, and she grabbed onto Gretchen, who silently vowed she would not drop this woman. “It’s so lovely to meet you.”
Gretchen positively melted into her touch, the memories of her own mama flowing thickly through her whole soul. She didn’t mean to, and she was going to ruin her makeup, but tears came into her eyes. She missed her mother so much, and Will’s mama smelled so much like her. She sounded like her. She couldbeherself.
“I’m sorry,” she said, her voice pinched as she stepped back. She swiped hurriedly at her eyes while Will and his mother watched her. She put a smile on her face, foolishness filling her. “My mother—” she cut off as her face scrunched.
“It’s okay,” his mother said, taking both of her hands into her papery ones. “Will told me your mama died a few years ago.” She wore such a kind smile, and she reminded Gretchen so much of Daddy.
She was sick, but she was fighting hard.
Gretchen just nodded and took deep breath after deep breath. Will lifted his chin toward the door leading out onto the deck, but she shook her head. Besides, a dog came in that way, and Gretchen crouched in her maxi skirt to pat him.
“Hello, there,” she said to the animal, who smiled at her like he’d been waiting for her to walk into the room. “What’s your name?”
“That’s Queen Elizabeth,” Will said. “Mama’s therapy dog. We call ‘er Queenie.”
“Are we eating or what?” someone bellowed, and Gretchen straightened.
“I have to introduce Gretchen to Daddy,” Will yelled on back. “You won’t starve.”
“I might,” Lee said as he slid into the chair right in front of Gretchen. She edge around him and Will’s mama to his daddy.
“This is my daddy, Wayne,” Will said. “Mama is Chrissy. I don’t think I said that. Daddy, this is Gretchen.”
He took her into a hug too, and Gretchen didn’t understand what Shayla meant about getting eaten alive. “I see how well you go together,” he said. “No wonder Will was so devastated after you two broke up.”
“Daddy,” Will said with plenty of warning in his voice. “I wasn’t devastated.”
“He was,” Travis said.
“I agree,” another man said, and Will whipped his gaze to him.
