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“I’m not taking you home.”
“Yes, you are!” She stomps her foot down hard. “This is no way to meet your parents.”
“I know it’s not ideal, but they’re cool people. They aren’t going to make you uncomfortable.”
“Uncomfortable? That doesn’t even describe it. If I was to meet your parents, it wouldn’t be like this.”
The way she throws that out there sets my nerves on edge. “There is no if, Ashlyn. You’d have met them eventually.”
“Not like this.”
“Like what exactly?”
“Like some floozy that sleeps around on the first date!” Her high-pitched shriek is laced with panic.
There’s a sharp intake of breath in the hallway behind me, but it barely registers as my vision goes red. I make my way across the room and yank her to me, breaking the death clutch she has on herself and gripping her scalp to keep her face forward.
“Never fucking ever say that shit about yourself again. We don’t have time to analyze why that’s even on your mind, especially considering what didn’t happen between us last night.”
“They’ll assume.”
“It’s none of their damn business, and I’ll set them straight.”
“You can’t do that either. It would be better if I go home.”
“Look at me.”
Her eyes stay on my chest, glassing over.
“Baby, I’ll call them off.”
“You can’t,” comes out on a whisper. “They’ll want to know why and think I’m a bitch.”
“No, they won’t.”
“Meeting the parents is a huge deal. I need time to shop for the perfect outfit, buy a hostess gift, and practice my introduction, stress out and call a girlfriend to talk me off a ledge.”
“That is bullshit.”
She slowly raises her eyes to mine, and my gut stirs at the desperation in them. “I’ve never done this before.”
“That makes two of us. But, baby, we got somewhere these last two days and we’re not going back.”
We stay silent, me massaging the back of her neck until her eyes clear and she nods. A new woman takes her place. “Okay, not ideal; however, I work well under pressure.”
“You are not alone. You have me.”
“And me.”
Out of the corner of my eye, Darby appears in the doorway.
“I came bearing gifts.”
Our heads swing to her at the same time she sways her oversized bag. “I don’t have the hostess gift, but I have the outfit and the ‘girlfriend talking you off a ledge’ thing ready to go.” Her mouth splits into a wide smile, and Ashlyn sinks into me, blowing out a sigh of relief.
I’m once again reminded why my sister-in-law is one of my favorite people.
“We now only have about twenty minutes. Miller, you need to get dressed, preheat the oven to three-fifty, and make a fresh pot of coffee. You also need to call Pierce and tell him I’m already here so he can save the time of going home,” she bosses, coming right in and dumping her bag on my bed. “He’ll have Maya, so hopefully, he’ll keep his cool.”
I nod, caressing Ashlyn’s cheek and bringing her face back to mine. “You okay with Darby?”
“Yes.”
“No judgment, no stress. I got your back. I’ll bring your coffee and your purse. Take your time getting ready.”
“Okay.”
I take advantage of her scattered mindset and bend down, kissing her mouth from corner to corner, then step away, grabbing my jeans off the bed and a shirt from the dresser.
“Ahhhh, I miss the romance with a new relationship,” Darby gushes, rubbing her stomach.
“Take care of her.” I flick my wrist, leaving them alone.
“You may need to learn that the Kendrick brothers are bossy,” Darby tells Ashlyn.
“I think I got that,” she responds through nervous laughter as the door closes.
•—•—•—•—•
“Gotta say, this is not how I saw myself spending the day.” Dad settles between Pierce and me, watching Runner chase Cole around the backyard.
“That makes two of us.”
“I heard she was pretty, but I think the guys on the crew were holding back.”
“They probably haven’t seen much of her. Miller’s been keeping her out of the house on purpose,” Pierce throws in.
“Smart choice.”
“Don’t you two have somewhere else to be?”
“I know better than to try to pull Jill away right now. She’s in her own version of heaven.”
I look back through the house at the women in the living room in the same spots I left them a while ago. Maya is sitting on the floor between Darby’s legs as Darby braids her hair. Ashlyn is half-laying on the couch, propped up on the armrest, listening to my mom who is talking non-stop. Every few seconds, she glances at Ashlyn, and the happiness Dad’s referring to is beaming.
My eyes go back to the relaxed redhead, and I make another mental note to do something special for Darby. No telling what happened in the time those women were in my room, but when Ashlyn came out in the hip-hugging jeans, a face of light makeup, and her hair slicked in a ponytail, she was calm. The best part was she was still wearing my shirt, tied in a knot around her waist. My gut twisted and it took all the control I could find not to drag her back to my room.
