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“It was years ago,” she says, waving it off like it’s not a big deal when it most definitely is. Or in my head it is. In reality it shouldn’t even matter, since I didn’t even know him then and am just getting to know him now. “Let’s not think about that right now.”
“Right,” I agree quietly, knowing that’s all I’m going to be able to think about for the rest of the day.
“Now where are the giblets?” she asks, looking around.
“I don’t know, what do they look like?” I look around myself, wondering what the heck giblets are.
“They were in a bag inside the turkey,” she says, and my head flies in her direction.
“There was something inside the turkey?” I ask, and both sets of mom eyes land on me.
“You didn’t find them when you were stuffing the turkey?” Mom asks, and I shake my head no.
“Oh dear,” Lisa whispers, and I look through the clear glass door on the oven at the turkey inside—a turkey I stuffed myself, a turkey I’ve been basting off and on all day—and know instantly I messed up. Big. “Don’t worry, it’s fine.” She waves once more, and I can tell she’s fighting back a smile.
“You’ve been cooking the turkey with the bag of giblets inside it,” Mom says, fighting back her own smile.
“This isn’t funny.” I shake my head at the two of them as they smile at each other.
“It’s a little bit funny, sweetheart.”
I glare at them as they start to laugh. “I’ve ruined Thanksgiving. I can barely make mac and cheese, and you two thought I should be the one in charge of cooking the turkey.”
“Don’t worry, Levi can cook,” Lisa says through her laughter. “You won’t starve with my son around.”
“I tried to teach my girls to cook, but they never wanted to learn.” Mom smiles, and I look at the ceiling. She never tried to teach us to cook—she secretly liked us depending on her for sustenance.
“I’ll just take out the stuffing and get the bag out of it. Maybe it won’t be so bad,” I mutter to myself when the two women who were supposed to be teaching me to cook the damn turkey start to laugh again. “I don’t even know why you think this is so funny,” I growl, digging through a drawer for a spoon to scoop out the stuffing.
“What’s going on?” Levi startles me as he comes into the kitchen, and I feel my face heat. I wonder if his ex-fiancée did all the dumb things I can’t seem to stop doing. I doubt she did—she was probably perfect in every way.
“Nothing. Your Fawn is just funny,” Lisa says softly as Levi gets close to me, wraps his hand around my waist, and places a soft kiss to my forehead.
“What’d she do?” he questions, with a smile on his face that says, She’s always doing stupid shit, so what did she do this time?
“Nothing,” I cut in before they can tell him about my latest disaster. “Do you need another beer?” The guys have been over at his place most of the day watching the game, only coming over now and again to get food and beer that they stocked in my fridge while everyone else was watching the parade and walking around in Times Square, since Madeline has never been to the city before.
“Nah, just coming to check on my girl. You’ve been out of my sight too long,” he says quietly, and my stomach fills with butterflies. He really is always making me dizzy, and I don’t know what to do with that or him, which makes me start to panic a little.
“What time is Wesley getting here?” Lisa asks, and Levi thankfully pulls his eyes from me to look at his mom.
“Any time now.”
“Good. We’re going to need you guys to start getting everything set up. I know you have those foldout tables in your storage, so go on over and tell your dad and brothers to help you get them,” she says as she pulls him away from me and starts to shove him out of the kitchen.
“Trying to get rid of me?” he jokes. His eyes lock on mine and narrow slightly, like he sees something he doesn’t like. Pulling my gaze from his, I pretend to look through the drawers for something.
“Yes,” Lisa huffs right before I hear the door close.
“You okay, honey?” Mom asks, and I close the drawer and smile at her.
“Yep, totally okay, just gonna scoop out the turkey and hope I can salvage it,” I say, then go about doing just that while secretly wondering why the hell a guy like Levi is with a girl like me. I don’t have long to think about it. Levi returns and introduces me to Wesley, then they start to set up the tables, and before I know, it we’re sitting down to eat.
“This turkey is delicious,” Wesley says, and I take my eyes off my plate, where I have been pushing around my food for the last twenty minutes, to look at him. He really is a nice guy—and he’s hot. Superhot. Not as good-looking as Levi, but he’s definitely not hard on the eyes, with sun-kissed golden skin, dark hair, blue eyes, and full lips that would look feminine if it wasn’t for his sharp jaw.
“Thanks,” I say, giving him a smile that he returns. Dinner is awkward, but not for my family or anyone else, really. No, it’s just awkward for me, because almost since the moment everyone came back from watching the parade, Lucas’s wife, Eva, has been talking about Levi’s ex-fiancée, Heather, who is apparently amazing—and moving into the city in a few weeks to work for some magazine. I thought when I met Eva this morning that she was nice, but it turns out I was wrong—very wrong. She’s catty and a total bitch, and I seriously don’t get why Lucas is with her when he seems so down-to-earth and sweet. Plus, the way he is with his daughter is adorable.
“Should I give Heather your new number?” Eva asks, and I feel Levi tense next to me as my own body goes rigid.
“Why on earth would Levi want to talk to her?” Cole asks. Ruby puts her hand on top of his on the table.
“Just drop it,” Lucas says quietly, and Eva looks at him.
“What? I was just wondering. She’s going to be new to the city, just like he was, and it would be nice if she had someone to show her around,” she says, and Levi’s hand that has been on my thigh since the moment we sat down tightens, like he’s afraid I’m going to get up and take off. Which I might.
“I don’t want to speak to her. I don’t want anything to do with her,” Levi states in a low, deep rumble, and I can tell he’s trying to keep control over his tone.
“I just . . . You two were good friends before you got together,” Eva says, looking at him. I bite my lip because his hold on me has tightened almost painfully.
“Eva, now is not the time for this discussion,” Lisa, who is glaring at Eva, states. Pulling my eyes from them, I look around at my family, who are spaced throughout the tables, and feel my face heat when I realize they all have their eyes on me with varying looks of anger and pity. I don’t know what to do in this situation, but I do know that if I open my mouth and say what I want to say to Eva, Levi and his family will probably never speak to me again.
“Fine.” She lets out a little huff before picking at the minuscule amount of food she put on her plate. Dropping my eyes to my own plate, I try to eat, but every bite tastes like cardboard and I have to force it down.
“So, Fawn, Levi said you’re a teacher. What grade do you teach?” Ruby asks, and I reluctantly look at her.
“Fifth grade. Most of my students are ten and eleven,” I say, attempting
to smile.
“I wanted to be a teacher, but then Allison and I got into baking, one thing led to another, and our baked goods took off, so I dropped out of college to open a bakery with my sister.”
“Well, the cake you made for my birthday was delicious, so I think you made the right move,” I say, meaning that, and she smiles softly.
“Thanks.”
“So how did you guys end up dating brothers?” I’ve wanted to ask since the moment I found out she and Allison are sisters, but I regret asking almost immediately, knowing it’s none of my business and probably sounds rude. “Sorry, ignore me—my filter doesn’t always work.”
“It’s fine.” She laughs. “I met Cole first when he came into the bakery to put in an order for a cake for his mom’s birthday, and we exchanged numbers that day,” she says.
“She fell in love with me on the spot,” Cole says, and she smiles at him.
“I did,” she agrees, then she looks at Cooper and Allison. “Cooper came in to pick up the cake since Cole couldn’t, and that’s when he met Allison.”
“I thought he was a jerk,” Allison chimes in, and I grin at her. “He was totally arrogant.” She shakes her head, then smiles as he leans over to kiss the side of her head.
“So how did you two end up together, then?” Libby asks, looking between the two who are very obviously in love.
“We were forced to be around each other since our siblings were in love, then one thing led to another.”
“She was secretly in love with me the whole time and just playing hard to get,” Cooper says.
Allison mutters, “That’s partly true,” with a smile on her face that says it’s really very true.
“That’s awesome.” I smile at them, then look over at Mac and Libby, who are talking quietly. I can’t make out what they are saying, since they are down at the other end of the table, but I can tell Mac is annoyed. Mac hasn’t been herself since Wesley got here, and I swear there was a moment of recognition when Levi introduced them—not that Mac will tell me if she knows Wesley or not. She’s been a closed book lately, which is really damn annoying, especially since she’s been all up in my business about Levi, though I did overhear Libby asking her about some guy she was seeing or sleeping with. I’m not sure which, since I was trying to listen through the door when they were talking.
