“Hey, bubba,” Lucy says as she comes up beside me. “Where is your lady?”
“Mom stole her,” I say, standing up to give her a side hug and kiss her cheek. “I think they’re in the kitchen.”
“I gotta go check her out, make sure she’s worthy of my brother.”
I laugh. “She is, probably better.”
Lucy sends me a grin, and I pick Angie up so we can follow. She complains a little bit, but soon she starts to inspect my nose and mouth and forgets that we aren’t playing anymore. When I reach the kitchen, I find Claire leaning on the counter that Lucy, Jace, and Jayden are sitting at as my mom talks loudly with her arms flailing in the air.
“You would have thought he broke all the bones in his body. He was screaming and crying so bad. I mean, he only fell two feet,” she says and everyone starts to laugh. I know she’s talking about the time I fell ten feet out of a tree and broke my arm. It’s one of her favorite stories. I’m not a fan of it.
Glaring, I say, “It was ten feet, and it hurt! What kind of mother makes fun of her kid breaking his arm?”
“A truthful one! You sprained it, and it was two feet. It didn’t even knock the air out of you,” she says, but I’m sure my mother must be losing her memory because that tree was a hundred feet in the air and I fell at least ten feet.
“Whatever,” I say as Angie reaches for Lucy. Handing her off, I head toward Claire, wrapping her up in my arms. “Don’t listen to her, she’s losing her memory. I’m tough and strong. I don’t ever cry.”
“He was screaming, Claire, like a freaking girl, big tears rolling down his girlish face,” Jace teases.
“How do you know? You were like five!” I counter.
“Nine,” Jace corrects me, and I’m not sure if he’s right or not, so I roll my eyes.
“Whatever,” I say, which makes everyone laugh. Claire’s body shakes my own, and I smile as I kiss her temple.
“He’s right, Claire. Jude is the biggest baby,” Jayden says, and I flip him off behind Claire’s back so that Mom can’t see me.
“I am not. Tell them, baby. Tell them I’m big and strong,” I say and she giggles.
“Strongest guy I know, hottest too,” she says, and my mother beams as Jace and Jayden roll their eyes.
“He is kinda cute, isn’t he?” Mom asks with a grin, cupping my face before turning to take the chicken out of the oven.
“I think he’s ugly,” Jayden says.
“Looks like a goblin to me,” Jace agrees.
“I was thinking an ogre,” Lucy chimes in and I let Claire go to flip them all off while my mom’s back is turned. Claire is laughing beside me, and I send her a mock glare before wrapping her up in my arms and kissing her hard against the lips.
Parting, she smiles as she says, “I think you’re hot.”
“That’s all that matters then,” I say and then smile at my mom when she turns to look at me. Her eyes are so full of love and happiness. I was so nervous about coming here, but now I feel good about it because I know Mom likes her. She has to. “So I see everyone is getting along? We like her?”
“Of course. She’s delightful,” Mom says with a grin before heading to the dining room.
“I think she’s great,” Lucy says. “Must be something amazing if she can pin you down.”
Claire grins up at me, and I return the grin before saying, “Yeah, she is.”
When my mom comes back into the room, she says, “Let’s head into the dining room. I hope you’re hungry, Claire. You are little skinny; I might need to fatten you up.”
Claire laughs as she shakes her head. “I guess I need to. My aunts said I was skinny today too.”
“I don’t think you’re too skinny,” I say as I walk with her to the dining room. “I think you look great.”
“That’s ’cause you like me.”
“Maybe,” I say before we both share an intimate grin, but as soon as we enter the dining room and I see my father, my grin disappears. “Dad.”