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“Charity Lawson!” My mother shrieks the moment I answer the phone. “Why did I just hear you are home from Marsha Brown?”
The way she says the other woman’s name tells me this is a Problem, with a capital P. My mother prides herself on knowing everything that happens in “her town”, so to hear her only daughter arrived home without her knowledge? I might as well have slapped her across the face.
“I’m sorry, Mom. I was planning to tell you, but then some things happened, and?—”
“And you went drinking at Peaks? I can only imagine how important those ‘things’ must have been for you to go gallivanting around town before you came to see me and your father. You couldn’t have at least called us? It doesn’t take much effort to make a phone call, Charity!”
The familiar feeling of whiplash washes over me as I listen to her switch from anger to sadness and back again. “I know, Mom. I’m sorry.”
“You’re coming to dinner. Tonight.”
“Alright.”
“And you’re bringing that no-good little brother of yours!”
“We’ll be there, Mom.” I make an apologetic face at Dane on the opposite end of the couch, and he immediately groans, slipping from his seat to lie in a puddle on the floor. I nearly laugh but catch myself before my mother hears it.
“Seven o’clock!” She informs me with an angry snap, but she’s all smiles when she says, “I’m so happy you’re home, Cherry. See you tonight!”
She hangs up before I can respond, and all the air leaves my lungs in a frustrated groan. “Any room left down there for me?”
Dane shakes his head against the carpet, stretching his legs out to cover the entire space between the couch and the coffee table. “How did she find out?”
“Marsha Brown.”
“That loud-mouthed old bitty,” Dane groans, covering his face with his hands. “Maybe I’m sick? Or dying? Or already dead?”
“Not a chance, shitstick. I am not facing them on my own.”
“You’re a thirty-five-year-old woman! You shouldn’t be scared of our parents.”
“Don’t you kill people for a living?”
He flips me off from his spot on the floor but doesn’t argue any further. He’ll come with me. One of my little brother’s best traits is never leaving a man behind. A valuable skill when you’re walking into the active war zone that is dinner at our parents’ house.
“Was that the doorbell?”
I turn toward Dane, noticing my own fears reflected in his eyes. The last time my parents had an unexpected guest at dinner, it was the Father coming to collect Dane for duty. The time before that was the ancient clergyman from the MacAlister Family Church who “just so happened to be in the area” with a fully prepared speech about the importance of children following in their parents’ footsteps.
Unexpected guests are never a good thing around here.
My mother is every inch the poised and perfect hostess as she approaches the front door. Her long brown hair is swept into an updo that’s entirely too fancy for dinner with her children at home, but it matches her ridiculous green gown perfectly. Our father moves to join her as the door swings open. His obsidian hair and brown eyes match his children perfectly, leaving zero doubt as to our parentage on his part. He shoots a disapproving look in our direction when he sees me and Dane poking our heads around the corner.
“Theodore! How lovely to see you.”
My attention zeros in on the man now filling the doorway. Theo is all easy smiles and bright laughter as he hugs my mother and moves into the house to shake my father’s hand. He’s dressed casually in a soft grey sweater and black slacks. I can’t explain why my mouth suddenly fills with saliva or why I know, even from this distance, that he smells phenomenal.
Dane elbows me in the ribs, forcing me to suck in a breath. “What’s he doing here?”
“I have no idea.”
“You never told me what’s going on between you two,” Dane gives me an accusing look, but I just shrug helplessly. I have no idea what’s going on between us, so it isn’t as if I’d have much to say on the matter.
“Our children are around here somewhere,” my mother assures Theo, but he doesn’t need to be told. He found me just fine on his own. Light blue eyes trace over my skin, taking in my long black skirt and cropped Rolling Stones t-shirt. His gaze narrows on a spot on my thigh where my leg sticks through the thigh-high slit, revealing my snake tattoo. I know he’s seen it before, and far more intimately than this, but he’s looking at it as if this is the first time he’s really seeing it.
“There they are!” My mother breaks Theo’s concentration, and his eyes snap to my face. “Come over here and say hello to our guest.”
“What are you doing here, Dickbag?”
