Page 38 of Terms and Traditions

Nash grimaced. “You Addamses may have gotten more than your fair share of the toxic family genes, but they don’t scare me. Okay, your nana scares me, but I like her. Gabe seems cool. Ivy and the kids are great. I can already tell I’ve won Hailey over. What I can see, though, is that they love you. That’s the thing that matters. We can handle the naysayers together.”

Tears pricked in my eyes, but there was no way I was crying in front of this man. I wasn’t sure what hurt more—how sweet his words tasted or how desperately I wished he let down a few of his walls for me.

“We made a deal. We’re good. Save me from Aunt Edith is all I ask.”

He might live to regret those words, but for now, I brushed a kiss to his cheek in thanks. It was quick—a butterfly touch—and I pulled away quickly.

Nash stared at me, and I blinked. I shouldn’t have done that. We had rules, and we didn’t have an audience, so… My stomach picked exactly that moment to rumble, and I pressed a hand to my middle, biting my lip. Lunch in Butte had been great but way too long ago.

Nash chuckled, breaking the tension. “Let’s get you fed. Whatever Austin—it is Austin, right?—is cooking smells amazing.”

Smiling at him, I added, “Final warning: It’s karaoke night.”

Chapter seventeen

Nash

Addams Family Karaoke Night should come with a warning label. Because this wasn’t karaoke. This was war.

I was starting to get the impression that everything Stephanie’s family touched wasn’t family fun as much as a family competition. Like there was an invisible scoreboard for favourite Addams sibling. Hiram wasn’t even present yet, and they were already out for blood.

Austin whipped up a fantastic assortment of homemade pizzas unlike anything I’d tasted before and had me seriously missing my college metabolism. Then in my satiated pliability, I was crammed onto a tan plaid couch—I swear it walked off the set of every ‘90s sitcom I watched growing up—right beside Stephanie, who had Gabe and Ivy’s youngest on her lap. The toddler eyed me with suspicion seeping from her dark almond-shaped eyes. Eden, I recalled her name was. Given that none of the four kids looked anything like their parents, I bet they were adopted.

Hailey wedged in on Stephanie’s other side and was more than happy to spill all the details about her cousin, much to Stephanie’s horror. Hailey Bishop was a valuable ally in the venerable lions’ den. We chatted briefly about her music—of which I was a huge fan—and I got a sneak-peek hint at her new release coming in the new year. She hadn’t earned the title of America’s Country Sweetheart for nothing.

Nana—or Charmain, I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to call her—stood in front of the living room television, clipboard in hand. Fingers to her lips, she gave a shrill whistle, and the cacophony died down. So that’s where Gabe got it from.

I’d gotten a quick head count over dinner and there were twenty-five Addams relations in this palatial mansion. Noise just came with the territory.

Nana squared her shoulders and surveyed the room, like a general assessing her troops. “Everyone ready? Rules are the same as usual. The team divisions are known only by the judge”—she grinned ferally—“that would be me. Each performance will be voted on by the audience, so keep your score cards handy. At the end, the performance totals will be tallied, and the team with the highest score wins.”

I leaned into Stephanie. “This is blind karaoke?”

Eden’s elbow dug into my gut as she rearranged herself to recline more comfortably against Stephanie. Cute kid.

Stephanie’s lips pinched. “We’re Addamses. Did you expect anything different?”

I chuckled softly. “Ryan would love this, and Emmett would hate it. I might borrow this for a payback plan.”

“If you do, invite me because I’d pay to see Emmett do karaoke.”

“First performance!” Nana announced, then her eyes homed in on me like a heat-seeking missile. “Stephanie and Nash!”

Murmurs slithered around the room as Stephanie shifted Eden onto Hailey’s lap and stood up. Reaching out a hand, she tugged me up after her, leaning against me for a brief moment to catch her balance. “Let the initiation begin,” she whispered.

I kept hold of her hand as she led me to the front of the room. Was I going to humiliate myself? Very likely. But I could see the spark of determination in Stephanie’s eyes. As much as her family dynamics wore on her, she was still trying to enter the spirit of the occasion. And I wasn’t about to let her down. Although…

“Is now a bad time to mention I can’t carry a tune?” I murmured in her ear as we took the proffered mics from Nana.

Stephanie tossed me a cheeky smile. “Everyone needs a handicap. Levels the field.”

I could get addicted to her smile. When I caught Gabe’s stare, I refocused on the task at hand instead of daydreaming about his sister, which I was certain he wouldn’t appreciate.

“Do we pick the song?” I asked Stephanie.

She bit her lip, trying to hold back a laugh. “That would be too easy.”

“I’m beginning to realize your family loves torture as much as your namesakes,” I grumbled, waiting for the television screen to roll the words. Then I panicked. “Wait, we do get the word prompts, right?”