“That’s beside the point. It’s still your fault.”

“I like her!” Shaw said.

“At least someone does.” Brooklyn winked at me before turning to Shaw. “What are your intentions toward my friend?”

“Oh, we’re interrogating Shaw? I want in on that,” Danny added.

“And that’s enough of that. Be nice and let’s go.” I shot them the look my mom had perfected and gave me every time I was in trouble. The one that said, Don’t test me.

“He’s no fun,” Brooklyn said.

I ignored her comment as the four of us walked toward the house. Shaw lingered in the back, and I was caught between not wanting to make a big deal out of it and making sure he knew it would be okay.

You could hear the music playing from the backyard, where everyone congregated. I opened the door and motioned for Danny and Brooklyn to go in first so I could walk side by side with Shaw.

We went through the living room, the dining room, and then out the sliding glass door. Mom looked up from where she sat at the table, playing cards with her sister, her sister’s husband, my grandparents, and some cousins.

“My baby is here!” she said, standing. “And he brought a boy home, but I’m not supposed to make a big deal out of it.”

Great. Thanks, Mom.

“Hey, he brings me home all the time,” Danny teased.

“You know how much I love you, but you don’t count.” She hugged Danny, then Brooklyn, before stepping in front of me. “Shaw, this my mom, Deidre; Mom, this is Shaw Hastings.”

“Nice to meet you, ma’am,” Shaw said, holding out his hand to her.

“Do you hug? I don’t want to make you uncomfortable, but we hug in this family,” Mom said.

“I, um…yeah, I hug.” Shaw looked at me over Mom’s shoulder as they embraced, and gave me a shy smile.

When they pulled away, Dad was there, and Mom said, “Michael, this is Elijah’s boyfriend, Shaw—”

“Mom, it’s not—”

“Nice to meet you, sir,” Shaw said, cutting me off. It made all sorts of mushy, romantic shit go on inside my head, which I tried to ignore.

I introduced him to my grandparents next, who were doing a better job at not making a big deal out of this than Mom had.

Brooklyn and Danny had both been to these barbecues before, so they did their own thing as I pointed everyone out to Shaw. Mom went back to the table, and Dad was screwing around with the grill.

“There are like twenty-five people here. I’m never going to remember who they all are,” Shaw said when we found a corner of the yard to hide in.

“That’s okay. You don’t have to. Sorry about my mom. She’s a little excited.”

We both watched as Mom walked over to Dad for a moment and wrapped her arms around him from behind. He smiled, leaning back into her embrace. There was no denying how happy they were, how much they loved each other. You could see it on both their faces. She said something in his ear before going to her game.

“You don’t have to apologize. Your parents are great, E.” He turned so he faced me, and I did the same. “Let’s…have fun and ignore all the other stuff, and by other stuff, I mean my stuff, of course.”

My smile was so big, I was pretty sure my face would crack. “Okay.”

“Stop smiling at me like that, Elijah Coleman. You’re ruining me, remember? I don’t know how I’ll recover.”

“Then don’t,” I replied, surely with my heart in my eyes.

He sighed, cupped my face, and gave me a playful, exaggerated kiss.

There was a loud cheer from the table where Mom’s card game was going on. Danny and Brooklyn had joined the basketball game on the cemented area around the side of the house, where Dad had put a hoop when I was a teenager.

Did Shaw’s family do things like this? I figured they had to, but then he did say he had a small extended family and none of them were close.

“Elijah, Shaw, come join us for a new game,” Mom called us over, and it was Shaw who grabbed my hand and began moving toward her first.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Shaw

I didn’t know what I expected about today, but this wasn’t it. Everyone was laughing and happy and playing different games. Some were family, and some were friends of aunts, uncles, and cousins. There was music and cheering at games and competition. His mom was competitive as fuck, and I loved it. Elijah was the same way, especially against his mom, and as we played card games, I could see the competition was mostly between them.

“I brought you into this world, boy. You know you can’t beat me.”

Elijah frowned. “Oh, sorry. You might be getting too old for this now.” He set his cards down cockily.

There were hoots and hollers and playful scowls. I just…took it all in. My family had never been this way. It wasn’t like we never had friends or get-togethers at our house over the years. We had, but it wasn’t family, and there was none of this closeness, this familiarity they had here. We’d had it a bit with Richie’s family, but it still hadn’t been the same.

Tags: Riley Hart Stumbling into Love Romance
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