“Mom?”
“I’m here, I’m just not sure I heard you correctly. You mean you’ll be here for dinner on actual Thanksgiving, or a week later when you can squeeze in family time?”
He focused his attention back to Melanie, who stood next to the plane, her eyes on his from across the hangar. Family time was about to take on a whole new meaning and priority in his world.
“I’ll be there on Thursday,” he assured her. “Just tell me the time.”
“Oh,” his mother gasped, then sniffed.
“Don’t cry,” he begged. Tears never did anything but make him feel awkward because he had no clue how to console. “It’s just dinner, Mom.”
“It’s Thanksgiving,” she said in her tear-clogged tone. “This is going to be the best year ever. I won’t even ask about Christmas.”
Tanner laughed. “We’ll discuss that next month.”
He weighed his decision for about a nanosecond before he decided to jump face-first into this next conversation.
“I’ll be bringing someone, if you don’t mind.”
“Cash, or Jax and Piper?”
He had brought his cousins in the past, and his mother doted on them. Family was so important, and considering she was the sister of their late mothers, she adored the guys.
“Actually her name is Melanie.”
Silence once again, followed by another sniffle.
“A holiday and a woman,” she squealed, and Tanner had to pull the phone away from his ear for a moment to save his eardrum. “I’m going to have to go back to the store and get ingredients for something special to make. Does she prefer chocolate or pumpkin for desserts? Or maybe I should pull out the recipe for my mother’s cinnamon cake with that glazed icing.”
Tanner started toward Melanie, her eyes locked on his, and he flashed a smile . . . the kind he knew she didn’t want to see again. Too bad.
“I’ll ask her.” He covered the phone with his hand and whispered to Mel, “What’s your favorite dessert?”
“Um . . . I have no idea. I don’t recall the last time I had dessert.” Her eyes narrowed as she darted a glance toward his phone. “Why? And who is on the phone?”
Tanner removed his hand. “She said to surprise her. See you Thursday. Love you.”
He disconnected the call and slid the phone back into his pocket. Melanie’s bright eyes were still in dramatic slits, completely focused on him.
“Who wanted to know about my likes and who do you love?”
Tanner leaned his shoulder against the side of his Cessna. “Is that jealousy I hear?”
“Of course it’s not jealousy.” Melanie rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. “But it’s rude, considering the mother of your child is standing right here and you’re on the phone telling someone you love them and—”
“My mother.”
Melanie’s mouth instantly snapped shut. “Oh. Well, then. Why was she asking about desserts?”
“Because you’re coming to Thanksgiving dinner with me.”
Tanner spun away, knowing full well she was about to explode, and he didn’t want to be standing too close. He wasn’t completely stupid . . . only when it came to bringing her home to meet his mother without asking.
He started to circle the plane, doing his exterior pre-flight check, when a hand clamped around his arm.
“What the hell, Tanner?”
Spinning back around—yup, there was that anger if her pink-tinged cheeks were any indicator—Tanner removed his shades and hooked them on the V in his shirt.