Page 100 of Hometown Halftime

Me:

Cool. See you tonight.

Brynn:

So we’re not addressing the fact that in all the years we’ve had family dinners that you’ve never brought a guest until Swoon-Muffin Riley came along?

I roll my eyes.

Me:

Swoon-Muffin? (eye roll emoji) Don’t read into it.

Brynn:

(zipper mouth emoji)

The second Riley gets out of the truck in front of Knox and Brynn’s, I realize I may have made a tactical error.

Because he looks so good. He’s in dark jeans and a soft blue and grey flannel over a plain white T-shirt with the goddamn sleeves rolled up. At this point, I think he’s purposefully trying to break my brain.

“You stopped walking,” Riley says quietly beside me, holding the container of pasta salad I made this afternoon.

I blink and realize I’m still standing in the driveway.

“Right. Sorry.” I shake myself out of it and follow him up the steps of the porch to the front door. “You just don’t understand how insane these dinners can get.”

Riley grins. “I like a little crazy every now and again.”

He opens the door with his free hand and waits for me to walk through the door first, like a freaking gentleman. Then, once he’s inside and he closes the door, his hand lands on my lower back, sending a flood of heat through my body.

The house is already alive with noise and overlapping conversations. Music plays softly while Evie races through the living room wearing fairy wings and socks that don’t match. I love how even at eight years old she doesn’t conform to fashion standards and how Kate and Cam love her no matter her interests or fashion choices.

Cam sits on the floor playing fetch with an old tennis ball with Knox’s golden retriever, Priscilla, while Ty and Levi argue over whether hockey players or football players are tougher athletes.

“Hockey players literally fight each other at any opportunity. Football refs shut fights down before they get good,” Ty says.

Knox scoffs. “Yeah, but that doesn’t make them tougher.”

Levi interrupts them when he notices Riley in the room. “There’re here.”

Every head turns toward us at once, just as Brynn smiles in a way that tells me she’s about to become a problem.

“Well,” she says brightly. “Look who brought her roommate.”

Riley coughs into his fist beside me.

Cam’s head snaps up. “Roommate?”

Knox slowly lowers his beer. “Hold on a second.”

Ty points at me. “Why do you have a roommate?”

I immediately regret coming here.

“It’s temporary,” I blurt. “My apartment flooded.”

“Yeah,” Levi adds unhelpfully. “So now she lives with Riley.”