Back to Me (Carolina Rebels 1)

“Sometimes, you joke too fucking much, Marco. Anyone ever tell you that?”

“Anyone ever tell you that laughter is the best medicine?”

“I didn’t laugh,” I point out.

He grins. “No, but I did.”

That actually does make me laugh. The doors open to my floor and seconds later, we’re walking into my apartment. It smells so fucking good in here.

“Mere,” I call out when I don’t see her, only Leo who is running toward me. I pick up the little dog and rub his head.

“Hey,” she grins when she comes from the hallway.

“What’d you cook?” Marc asks.

“Something good,” she answers. Meredith gives me a quick kiss. “Hey.”

“You already said that.”

“You haven’t said it back.”

“Hey.”

“That’s better. Hungry?” She glances between Marc and me.

“Starving,” Marc answers, already walking to the kitchen. “I knew I smelled pasta,” I hear him say.

Meredith follows Marc, and so do I once I set Leo on the floor. We all comfortably move around my kitchen, washing our hands, fixing drinks, and loading our bowls full of the pasta she made. We’re just about to sit down

when there’s a knock on my door. We all freeze.

“You two go ahead and start eating. I’ll get it,” Meredith says. She’s walking to the door before I can stop her.

I hear an oomph and then, “Oh, I’m so happy to see you!” That makes me stand and I hesitantly call out, “Dad?” Sure enough, my parents are standing in the doorway. Dad is hugging the daylights out of Meredith while Mom looks less than thrilled. “What are you guys doing here?”

“We talked to Hope and Harold, found out from them that you two are back together, and I took that as the cue to come see it for myself!” Dad answers. “We’ve missed you a lot,” he tells her. “I wanted to catch up in person.”

I wasn’t lying when I said my dad loved Meredith. If he could adopt her, he would. He’s the one who told me I needed to go to one of Ashley’s games to watch “this girl who is phenomenal.” I don’t think I ever told her that, come to think of it. He noticed how good she was and told me I needed to see how she played. Meredith was intense and aggressive when she played. I fell in love with her the second I saw her smile to herself after winning a match.

Dad leads Meredith toward the living room, but when he sees Marc, he moves them into the kitchen instead.

“Not happy?” I quietly ask my mom.

“Simply cautious and wary.”

“Couldn’t have given us a heads-up?” I ask as we hug.

“You know your father.”

Yeah. He loves surprises. This isn’t the first time he’s driven down without a warning. I don’t mind because his timing is almost always good.

“Well, we might as well join them. Meredith cooked dinner and there’s plenty to go around.”

“Oh, look at this little guy!” Dad exclaims when he sees Leo.

“He was named Boomer, but I changed it to Leo,” Meredith tells him.

Mom and I sit at the table since Dad already fixed her a bowl.