Betting on You (13 page)

Crap on a cracker, what had Lark done now? Her sister wasn’t going to be distracted by a handsome single guy; she was going to be livid with Lark for inviting someone she obviously couldn’t stand to a family barbeque.

“Looks like motherhood has been good to you,” Nash continued. “Pretty as ever, and twice as sweet.”

Aria’s eyes narrowed, but her lips stretched into a wide smile. “And it looks like you’re as much of a gym junkie as ever. Still measuring your thighs before you go to bed at night?”

Nash chuckled, a warm sound that filled the kitchen, banishing the prickle left behind by Aria’s words. “Nah, now I measure my biceps. It’s hard to get the tape around my arm with one hand and you know how we dumb, backwoods hicks love cheap entertainment.”

Aria visibly bristled, like a hen ruffling her feathers, but Lark jumped in before her sister could whip up another jab.

“I invited Nash, Aria. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you,” Lark said with an apologetic smile. “He’s an old friend of Mason’s and we thought we might need some help eating all that steak you got. You know it’s never as good the next day.”

“That’s all right,” Nash said, setting his beer on the counter and glancing down at Lark with a warm smile that made her want to beg his forgiveness for exposing him to her sister in her current, caustic state. “I can go. It’s no big—”

“No, stay,” Aria said in a calm, even tone, making Nash turn back to her with eyebrows raised. “I’m sorry I was rude. I was surprised, but that’s no excuse,” she said, making Lark’s eyebrows shoot up right along with Nash’s.

Who was this woman, and what had she done with her refuses-to-apologize-no-matter-what-she’s-done-sister?

“We’re not kids anymore,” Aria continued as she shifted Felicity to her other hip. “There’s no reason we can’t all have a nice evening together. Especially since Daddy won’t be home until next week.”

“Well, that’s good news,” Nash said slowly, but made no move to reclaim his beer, obviously still on the fence about whether to stay or go.

Lark honestly couldn’t say which she’d prefer. She didn’t want to offend one of Mason’s friends, but she couldn’t deny she was
dying
to know what the backstory was between Aria and Nash.

Why did they despise each other? And what the heck did Daddy have to do with it?

“I honestly had no idea this was your house,” Nash said, a hint of embarrassment in his deep voice. “Mason didn’t mention his girlfriend’s name, just gave me the address and a time to show up.”

“Don’t worry about it. Stay, eat with us,” Aria said with a friendly smile only a sister could tell was forced. “Come on into the backyard. You’re tall enough to light the Tiki Torches, and I’ll introduce you to Melody, my other little sister.”

“All right.” Nash grabbed his beer and slipped by Aria and out into the backyard with only a single, slightly anxious glance at Mason over his shoulder.

Aria waited until he was out of earshot before whispering, “I am going to kill you,” to Lark between her teeth with a glare that could slice bricks.

“I’m sorry,” Lark whispered back. “I had no idea. I didn’t—”

Aria stopped her with a hand in the air, pasted another smile on her face, and sashayed into the backyard. A moment later, Lark heard her introducing Melody, then telling Nash how to light the torches and thanking him for sticking around to enjoy the evening.

“She really is going to kill me,” Lark mumbled as she set her wine down and went to check the simmering marinade.

“Why?” Mason asked. “How do they know each other?”

“I have no idea.” Lark shrugged and shook her head.

“You don’t think they…dated, do you?”

“Maybe,” Lark said. “But I have no idea when. I know I joked about not remembering the names of her boyfriends, but I would have remembered a name like Nash. And I have no idea what Daddy has to do with anything. He usually did his best not to interact with Aria’s harem.”

“In denial,” Mason said with a chuckle.

“Totally in denial.” Lark laughed as she gave the basting sauce one last stir before declaring it ready and turning off the heat. “He’s like that with Melody’s boyfriends, too. You were the only one he ever really liked.”

Mason came closer, putting his arms around her waist. “Think he’ll be happy to see us back together when he gets home?”

Lark turned to him, unable to resist brushing the hair from his face and running her fingertips down his slightly scruffy jaw. “Maybe not at first, but once he sees how happy I am, he’ll come around. Don’t worry about Daddy.”

“All right, I won’t,” Mason said, leaning down to press a kiss to her forehead that made Lark’s entire body light up. “Now, what can I do to help? Want me to chop salad?”

“No, Melody got almost everything ready this afternoon,” Lark said. “I just need to get the steak started. Why don’t you go rescue Nash from my sisters and talk manly stuff and I’ll be out in a second.”

Mason nodded and ambled slowly toward the backdoor. “I’ll do my best, but I’m not sure I’ll ever be as manly as Nash. He’s even bigger than he used to be. Enough to make a guy feel a little intimidated.”

Lark shot him an amused look. “As if.”

Mason grinned. “I get intimidated. Sometimes.”

“You’re the best looking man I’ve ever seen in real life,” Lark said, propping a hand on one hip. “If you were any better looking, I’d have to beat other women off of you with a stick. A big, heavy, spiky stick.”

“I’d like to watch that. Sounds sexy,” Mason said, making Lark laugh as she shooed him out the door.

“Get out,” she said. “Or we won’t be eating until eight o’clock.”

She bustled about the kitchen, taking the avocado sauce out to warm up to room temperature, and getting everything ready to bring out to the grill, smiling the entire time though there was no one around to see it. She couldn’t help herself. Even knowing Aria was going to unleash her cranky upon her as soon as the boys left tonight wasn’t enough to dampen Lark’s spirits.

Ten minutes later, she joined the party in progress in the back yard, shocked to see Nash down on the grass on his hands and knees with Felicity, playing with a big red ball, making the baby squeal with laughter. Lark shot Aria a look as she crossed to the grill, but Aria only shrugged and took a long drink of her Chardonnay.

“They look like puppies,” Melody whispered as Nash crawled across the grass to fetch the ball and Felicity followed with an excited burble. “They’re so cute!”

“Shush,” Aria said beneath her breath.

“But they are, Ra,” Melody said. “I wish Brian had been able to come tonight. He thinks little babies are boring, but I’ve never seen—”

“All right, time for a diaper change,” Aria called out brightly, setting her empty glass down and hurrying to scoop Felicity off the grass. The baby fussed for a minute, but then Aria lifted her up to blow onto her bare belly and Felicity began to giggle and squeal once more. She really was the happiest baby.

Too bad Aria was so clearly miserable.

As the evening wore on and they all settled down to eat, things only got worse. Lark knew no one else realized what was going on—not even Melody, since she was too busy enjoying the food and the company to notice her big sister was more silent than usual—but it was obvious to Lark that Aria was dying a little inside every time Felicity reached for Nash.

She worried a blood vessel in her sister’s brain was going to burst when Felicity finished her baby food and chunks of banana and insisted on sitting on Nash’s lap, gumming on tiny pieces of steak he placed on the edge of his plate for her.

“Are you sure that’s okay?” Aria asked. “I’m afraid she’s going to choke. She’s never eaten red meat before, only a little chicken I cut up in chunks.”

“Aw, she’ll be fine,” Nash drawled. “She’s nine months, right?”

Aria blinked in surprise. “Yes. Just about. Next week, actually.”

Nash nodded and grinned at the baby who gurgled happily and drooled onto the big hand he had wrapped around her tummy, holding her safe on his knee. “Yeah, she’ll be all right. My mom always said that after six months babies could eat just about anything, as long as the pieces were small enough.”

“She should know,” Mason said. “Nash has, what, ten brothers and sisters?”

“Eleven of us total,” Nash confirmed, eyes still on the baby. “I’m the oldest, so I’ve got lots of practice with ones this big. My mama and daddy both worked nights a lot growing up. Most days I’d be in charge of dinner for the whole tribe and whatever cousins decided to drop by.”

“Seems like you’d be sick of babies,” Aria said.

“How could anyone ever get sick of babies?” Nash jogged his knee and Felicity grinned up at him, that gummy grin that always made Lark want to scoop the baby up and squeeze her tight.

“The waking up three times in the night part can get a little exhausting,” Aria said in a weary voice, making Lark feel terrible for not offering to get up with Felicity while she was staying with Aria.

Felicity was a great baby, but she did have a habit of wanting a bottle two or three times a night, and Aria didn’t get much uninterrupted rest. It was really no wonder why her sister was so cranky. She was probably severely sleep deprived.

“She should be sleepin’ through the night by now,” Nash said. “She’s just messing with you.”

“She’s a baby,” Aria said.

“Doesn’t mean she can’t mess with her mama.” Nash laughed softly. “They start young these days, don’t they, Skeeter?”

“Skeeter?” Melody asked.

“She kind of looks like a Skeeter, don’t you think?” Nash asked, summoning another happy burble from Felicity. He reached for his water glass, smile slipping as he met Aria’s eyes across the table. “I could give you some tips on how to get her trained to sleep better, if you want,” he said in a careful voice.

Aria faltered, looking torn, before she finally shook her head. “No, that’s all right. It’s just a stage. I’m sure she’ll grow out of it sooner or later.”

“She will.” Nash nodded. “But you’d feel more rested, and be a better mama to her, if it was sooner.”

“I’m doing just fine, thanks,” Aria said, anger creeping into her tone.

Nash shrugged and smiled his good-old-boy grin. “Just trying to help. Sometimes we white trash folks have a few tricks up our sleeve you princesses haven’t heard tell about, you know.”

Aria clenched her jaw and turned her attention back to her plate, not saying a word. Mason jumped in to cover the awkward moment by asking Melody what she’d been up to during her week off, and soon the table was alive with comfortable chatter again.

Chatter from everyone except Aria. She didn’t speak again until over an hour later, when the boys had finished loading the dishwasher, and the girls had cleaned up outside and Nash and Mason were drifting toward the door.

Aria passed through the living room with a sleepy-looking Felicity snuggled in her arms and paused at the bottom of the stairs. “Good night, Mason. Good seeing you again, Nash.”

Nash hesitated only a fraction of a second, but it was enough for Lark to see surprise and a more mysterious emotion she couldn’t quite put a finger on flicker behind his eyes.

“Good to see you, too,” Nash said. “And good to meet Felicity. She’s a beauty.”

“Thanks, and th—” Aria broke off mid-sentence when she realized Nash was already out the door, halfway down the walk to his car.

Aria sighed and glanced down at the floor, looking so forlorn Lark wanted to run across the room and hug her. “Well, anyway… Good night. See whoever’s here in the morning.”

She turned and walked stiffly up the stairs and Lark knew right then that she wouldn’t be dragging Mason off to her apartment tonight. It didn’t matter that Melody had promised to stay in her old room so Aria wouldn’t be alone, there were times when a middle sister knew her unique, bridging-the-gap, skills were needed, and this was definitely one of those times.

“I know,” Mason whispered, pressing a kiss to her forehead when she stopped by the door instead of grabbing her purse and racing him to his car. “Go take care of her. See what’s up.”

“I’m sorry,” Lark said.

“Don’t be sorry. I should be sorry. I should have mentioned your name, and maybe Nash would have realized you and Aria were related and all the awkwardness could have been avoided.”

Lark winced. “They really don’t care for each other, do they?”

Mason shook his head. “No, but I swear I’ve never seen Nash be rude to a soul before tonight.”

“Aria brings out the best in people sometimes,” Lark said with sigh. “But he still wasn’t that bad. He was nice, really. I liked him, and I think Felicity is in love.”

“Aria wasn’t bad tonight, either,” Mason said. “Tell her I appreciate her giving me a chance, and tell her we’ll babysit for her some night soon so she can get some sleep. I’m sure we could rig up someplace for the baby to sleep at your apartment, right?”

“Of course we could. I was thinking the same thing.” Lark’s chest suddenly felt tight. “You’re a good man, you know that?”

Mason smiled. “I just know what’s it’s like to be sleep deprived. It’s hard enough when you’re getting paid to work ridiculous hours.”