Beautiful boy (25 page)

She snorted, not exactly the answer I’d expected. I looked at her and she smiled. “When I met Jesse, we were just out of college. I’d just started my first teaching job, and he’d just started working as a programmer for this utility company.” She shook her head. “He hated that job. Anyway, I met him on… let me think….” She paused and tilted her head. “Yeah, it was a Friday night. I’d gone to the bar with some friends of mine, and there he was, sitting with a group of his.” She smiled at me. “He asked me if he could buy me a drink, and I almost told him no. But something made me say yes instead.”

She took the bowl from me and carried it into the dining room. I followed her as she continued talking. “We talked all night. When the bar closed, we went to a diner down the street and talked there. Eventually, we went back to my apartment.” She winked at me and I blushed again. “And he never really left.” She laughed and shook her head. “I don’t know if it was love at first sight or maybe just lust at first sight. We didn’t get married at first—though my mother was horrified by that idea—but I knew, probably that night at the diner, that he was the one for me.”

I followed her back out to the kitchen, letting that settle in my head.

“So, it doesn’t matter, in my opinion. Sometimes, you just click and it works.” She wrapped an arm around me and hugged me, then waved at the oven. “The sweet potatoes are done.”

I blinked at her. “How do you know?”

She grinned. “They smell done. Go on and get them out for me.”

Sure enough, when I took them out, they looked perfect. “Wow,” I muttered, shaking my head. “That’s uncanny.”

With another laugh, she said, “That’s years of practice, sweetie. Why don’t you put that on the table, then call the others, hmm?”

NO ONE
had even given me a funny look during dinner or after. I got praised for the sweet potatoes over and over again. I tried to argue that I hadn’t done much, but Jane insisted I did most of it, and apparently that was the end of the argument.

I’d answered questions about myself at the dinner table, but nothing had been even remotely uncomfortable. After a while, Mal guided the attention away from me, though, and I was grateful for it. I didn’t mind answering questions, but for one thing, I did want to actually eat.

I listened to Ford talk about his job at a chemical plant. He’d asked me more than a few questions about the data center I worked for, but again Mal guided things back to the others. Simon talked quite a bit about the trips he made to Japan, which made me a little jealous. It was one of the places I would have wanted to travel to if my parents hadn’t been more worried about making money than spending time with me.

Zoe, on the other hand, nearly put all of us to sleep. She and Paul had waxed philosophical over some new physics theory they were testing at school, and the whole thing went completely over my head. I loved sci-fi and read quite a bit of it, but this was beyond anything I could comprehend.

It wasn’t until little Jeff threw his potatoes at her that they stopped. She stared at him in outrage for a long minute before she started laughing. “I guess we know his opinion on the topic.”

“I think he speaks for all of us, Sis,” Ford said, completely deadpan.

She glared at him and picked up a spoon of her own potatoes.

“Is this the impression we want to make on Mal’s boyfriend?” Jane asked.

Zoe raised an eyebrow. “Why not? It’s us, isn’t it?”

Mal dropped his face into his hand. “We have manners, Kyle, I swear we do.”

I just grinned. “I like it. My family wouldn’t know what to do if someone threw potatoes at them. I think my mother would probably pass out in shock.” I tilted my head. “Maybe I’ll have to try that at our Christmas dinner.”

Mal laughed. “You let me know how that turns out.”

Jane snickered and shook her head. “I have a better idea. How about pie?”

TWO HOURS
later I sat with Mal on the love seat, his arm around me as we watched Jeff running around, “feeding” everyone. I dutifully took my bites, much to Mal’s amusement, but otherwise kept quiet, watching and listening to the family.

Mal’s family was great, but it was nice to just take it in. I’d never been very comfortable as the center of attention, especially for people I really wanted to impress, so I appreciated being able to simply watch them.

I let Jane’s story turn over in my head and watched her and Jesse quite a bit. There was no doubt in my mind that more than thirty years after they’d met, they were still in love. They touched every time they passed each other. Jesse paused to kiss her often. When they sat on the couch, he had an arm around her or they held hands.

I wondered if Mal and I could have that. I didn’t know if he would or could wait until I could be sure I could handle telling my parents. We had to watch so carefully when we were out in public, and I knew that had to wear on him.

Would this family accept me? Fill in for my own, walking away?

Would that be enough?

My parents hadn’t been much through my life. I knew they didn’t really love me, certainly not the way Jesse and Jane loved their children. But they were the only family I had, and the thought of losing them still made me panic more than a little.

I looked up at Mal, taking in the handsome face of this gorgeous man who wanted me, loved me. Could I give up a family who didn’t love me for a man who did?

Why was I even asking myself a question like that?

Because I could still scare him away. I could still do any of a million things that would make him want to walk away from me, and then I’d be alone. Then again, I hadn’t exactly had much with my family before Mal either.

Assuming I didn’t scare him away, I knew as soon as I could safely tell my family to go to hell, I’d do so. I didn’t want to give him any reason to change his mind about me, and I was sure having to hide us would get old sooner rather than later.

Mal looked over at me and smiled. “You okay?”

I nodded. “Yes. Just… thinking.”

He raised his eyebrows.

“I’ll tell you later? Not… not the right place for it.”

He considered that, then nodded. “I’ll accept that.” He leaned in and kissed my temple. “Love you, baby,” he whispered.

I closed my eyes, savoring the kiss and the words. I couldn’t say how many times he’d said it since Friday night, but I had a feeling I’d never get tired of hearing it. “I love you too,” I whispered back.

It wasn’t until I did that I realized the room had gone silent. I opened my eyes and blushed to the roots of my hair. Every one of them was staring at us, every one with huge smiles on their faces. I wondered if the floor would be gracious enough to open up and swallow me.

Mal pulled me closer, and I buried my face in his neck.

“Kill me,” I muttered into his skin.

He hummed. “No, sorry, kind of hard to love you if you’re dead.” Louder, he said, “Really, guys? Really?”

A collection of chuckles answered. “Yeah, really,” Zoe said. “It’s not like we’ve ever seen you in love before.”

Mal groaned.

“Well, it’s true,” Jane said. “It’s a wonderful thing to see. And you’ve been so down since… well, you know.”

“And hey, it’s about time we have blackmail like this on you,” Simon added.

“You’ve been on us about our dates for
years
,” Ford agreed.

“Die. In a fire. All of you,” Mal said, and I debated the possibility of spontaneous combustion from embarrassment.

“All right, all right. You’re doing more to embarrass poor Kyle than you are your brother. Torment him over text or e-mail where Kyle doesn’t have to hear it.”

I wanted to kiss Mal’s father.

There was a general grumbling, but I finally felt like I could look up. There were still smiles, but it wasn’t quite the same staring and grinning as before.

“Eggnog!” Jane announced, standing. “Kyle, would you be a dear and help me?”

GLASSES DISTRIBUTED,
everyone sipped as Zoe settled on the floor next to the Christmas tree. I sat back in my corner of the love seat to watch them open their presents. I’d never seen a Christmas like this.

When I was very little, I vaguely recall a few mornings with piles of presents. That quickly disappeared as I got older, however. The only gifts I got at that point were a crocheted something or other from Anna, the housekeeper. Mother insisted I could have anything I wanted—as long as it was approved by her, of course—any time of the year. She saw no reason to treat that day special, with the exception of their formal dinner.

Since we met in college, Mike and I traded gifts each year. But outside of that, I hadn’t done much in the way of gifts. And I certainly hadn’t experienced anything quite like the organized chaos of Mal’s family.

“Okay!” Zoe said, voice loud enough to get everyone’s attention. “Jeff first!”

Jeff jumped in place and clapped his hands. Zoe handed him a wrapped box, and he plopped his butt down and started patting it. Katy laughed and tugged him closer to help him open it.

Zoe dug under the tree and pulled more gifts out, distributing them one by one. She handed one to Madison, who smiled and took it. I’d found out during dinner that Ford and Madison had been friends for ages. She claimed to be the most grateful, in fact, for my appearance this year because it meant they’d stop asking her and Ford when they were finally marrying. I suspected it would happen about the time people stopped asking.

The next gifts went to Simon and Ford, and then she pulled one out, read the tag, and grinned as she passed it to Paul. He blinked, then blushed brighter than me and stammered a thank you to Jane and Jesse.

Once Jeff had finished opening something that looked like it made a lot of noise—Simon and Katy both glared at Jane and Jesse over this—Zoe handed him another one. I couldn’t tell how many more were under there. She seemed to be pulling them from some kind of bag of holding or something. She pulled two more wrapped packages. One she handed to Mal, and the other she set in her lap.

I turned to watch Mal open his gift, wondering what they would give him. He seemed to have pretty much anything he could want. It was a question that had been plaguing me for the last two days, since I realized we’d be celebrating Christmas together, at least in some capacity.

Before Mal even tore the paper, though, Zoe was calling my name. I turned, raising my eyebrows. She was holding out a package. I stared, not quite comprehending for a moment.

“Well, take it,” she encouraged me.

I blinked but took the wrapped gift. It was heavy, probably nine by twelve inches and a good three inches thick. I frowned down at the tag.

To Kyle, from Mom and Dad
.

Mom and Dad? I looked up at Jane and Jesse, who were watching me. “Uh, I… um… th-thank you.” I stammered as much, maybe more than Paul did. I knew I was red.

Jane grinned. “You’re welcome, dear. Now open it!”

“Yeah, baby, open it,” Mal said.

I peered at him; he was smiling too. “Did you know about this?”

He shook his head. “Nope. No clue.”

I narrowed my eyes, but he did look innocent. I looked back at the gift, turned it over, and tugged at the end.

Mal snickered. “You’re one of
those
gift openers, are you?”

I blinked at him. “What?”

“You know, you don’t actually tear the paper?”

I scowled, grabbed the corner, and pulled. He laughed. I decided to be an adult and stuck my tongue out. This earned a round of laughter from the room.

I ignored them and turned back to my gift. Once I had the paper open, I stared, eyes wide. It was a three-ring binder. The front had a clear place you could put a piece of paper under to make a cover. This one had a neat border in blues and greens. And right in the middle, three words.

Tate

Family

Recipes

I opened it and my mouth dropped open. Tab dividers told me there were sections on cookies, cakes, pies, casseroles, dinners, side dishes, appetizers, soups, meats, and other. And there, in front, a section labeled Basic Directions.

I looked up at Jane, trying not to let the emotion overwhelm me. Mal
had
to have told her I wanted to learn to cook. She’d obviously put time and effort into the cookbook, and she hadn’t even known me. I swallowed around the lump in my throat and managed a quiet, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome dear. But you might not want to thank me yet.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Oh?”

She nodded, her smile crafty. “Yes. Because I expect a dinner invite sometime in the not-too-distant future.”

The blood drained from my face so fast I got a little dizzy. I heard a choking sound and realized it’d come from me. Clearing my throat, I managed to get a hold of myself. “Uh, you’ll give me a bit of time to, uh, practice first, right?”

This got me laughter from everyone in the room. Mal kissed my cheek. “You’re awesome, baby.”

I don’t know what got me that, but I wasn’t going to argue. I looked over at Mal and squinted at him. “You
did
know about this.”

He held both hands up in a placating gesture. “No! No. She asked what you were like, asked about you. I
happened
to mention you wanted to learn.”

I stared at him another moment, smirking internally at the idea that I could actually make my Master sweat. Then I smiled. “Thank you.”

He let out a sigh of relief, pulled me in, and kissed me soundly. “I love you.”

I smirked. “I love you too. Now, open yours.” I was still hoping for a hint to what to get him myself.

Mal tore the paper off his box, tossing it aside, and pulled the lid off. Inside was a stunning, deep-green sweater. “Oh, Mom, you outdid yourself! This is gorgeous.” He looked up. “Cashmere?”

The only way to describe Jane’s facial expression was “bitch, please.” “Of course it’s cashmere, silly.”

Mal laughed. “Of course,” he said, shaking his head. “It’s gorgeous. When did you learn cables?” He ran a finger over the line of them down the center of his sweater.