Page 173 of Buy Back My Love

I laughed. “Sounds fun.”

By Sunday afternoon, I was riding with Van out to Scenic Drive wondering why the hell I had agreed to meet this man’s whole family. By the time we pulled up, there were already cars lined along the driveway and parked on the grass.

I looked through the windshield at all of them. “This Sunday dinner or a family reunion?”

Van laughed. “Relax.”

“I am relaxed.”

He glanced at me. “You sound nervous.”

“I’m not nervous.”

The look he gave me said he didn’t believe that, so I told him to shut up and got out before he could say anything else.

The second we walked inside and three different people looked from me to my stomach to Van, I knew Skye had been busy.

His mama looked up from the kitchen and smiled. “So this is Lee.”

The way she said my name made me glance at Van, but I smiled and stepped forward. “Hey.”

“I’m Denise.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“I been hearing about you for months.”

I looked at Van, and of course now he couldn’t look at me. Before I could mess with him about it, Skye came around the corner holding Tobias.

“There she is.”

I pointed at her. “You started all this.”

Skye laughed. “All I did was tell what I saw.”

“You told them I got my neighbor pregnant,” Van said.

“That was everybody else’s conclusion.”

“Liar.”

I started laughing. “See, I knew you ran back talking.”

“I gave an accurate report.”

“With commentary,” Van added.

The rest of the family wasn’t much better. One of Van’s aunts asked how far along I was, then looked straight at him and asked if he was sure the baby wasn’t his.

Van nearly choked on his drink. “Auntie.”

“What? I’m asking.”

“No, ma’am,” I said, laughing. “He is definitely not the daddy.”

She looked at Van anyway. “You sure?”

He stared at her. “How the hell would Lee not know who got her pregnant?”