emailing her some paperwork—before laughter and the delicious smells of dinner pulled me to the kitchen. We had Mrs. Jackson’s—I couldn’t call her Phee, it just seemed disrespectful even though I was an adult now—lasagna, with a green salad on the side. Marnie gave Dominic and me a blow-by-blow account of what they did with Hal that afternoon, only pausing long enough to breathe.
“Slow down, kiddo,” Hal said after a few minutes of watching his oldest practically vibrate in her chair. “You’ve got all night to tell them this stuff, but dinner won’t be hot forever.”
“We have a microwave, Dad,” she replied in a “duh” tone of voice. “I can reheat it.”
“You can save some of the stories for later, too.” He looked between Dominic and me. “She spent half an hour telling me about all the fun you guys had this morning, too. It sounds like they ran you ragged.”
Dominic’s neck pinked a little bit. Was he blushing because he was embarrassed for some reason or because he was thinking about how much he’d enjoyed today? “Yep, it was nice to have backup.”
“Max was really good at watching us,” Marnie agreed. “He knows special ways to get food coloring out of clothes.”
Hal raised an eyebrow. “How many clothes are we talking about here?”
“Just the outside ones!”
“They won’t stain,” I assured Hal. “Trust me, food coloring is nothing compared to some of the stuff I’ve had to soak out of my work clothes.”
“That’s what you get for going to all those awful company holiday parties.”
“It’s a burden,” I agreed. “Hopefully, I’ll be too busy after I get back on Monday to participate.”
“Is your car gonna be ready by then?”
I shook my head. “Ha, no, not even close. But I’m sure I can get a rental, and the worst of the storm is supposed to be done by tomorrow.”
“Which means tonight is going to be bad.” Dominic shook his head. “I should get back to my place and cover up some more holes.”
“Take Max,” Hal said, offering me up like a sacrificial lamb. “He looks useless, but he actually knows his way around a hammer. Get him to hang some drywall for you.”
Dominic looked a little nervous—maybe he was regretting asking me over after a solid day of putting up with me already. “Like anyone wants to watch me hang drywall,” I said, trying to give him an out.
“I would,” Dominic said, and the pink rose up to his face. He pushed his chair back and grabbed his empty plate, and Steph’s as well. She’d finished her dinner a lot faster than Marnie, since she still wasn’t talking. “I’ll just…dishwasher.”
Hal looked from his brother to me. He didn’t say anything, but I could see the gears turning. Yep, we needed to talk, before he took me out to the woodshed and started making demands about my intentions toward his baby brother.
“Want to help me finish cleaning up?” he asked once Dominic was out of the kitchen and helping the girls set up their favorite movie.
“Sure.” I followed him to the fridge, where he took out a beer—Molson stock ale. What was wrong with him? I didn’t even drink alcohol if it wasn’t New Year’s Eve, and I still knew that stuff was gross.
He popped the cap and turned around to look at me. “So…”
“It just happened,” I said before he could start grilling me. Elbowing my way to the front of a conversation was an old defensive tactic of mine, one that had only gotten worse since I became a lawyer. “I didn’t recognize Dominic when I met him, and I didn’t know he was gay, either, but I feel like we made a connection yesterday. We’re not being weird in front of the girls or anything, and I’m not going to let it get weird in front of them, but while I’m here, I want to spend time with him. More than just here at the house. He invited me over to look at his place tonight”—I’d kind of invited myself, but whatever, details—“and I said I’d come, but it’s just casual. I won’t be spending the night, I won’t be keeping him from his responsibilities, and I won’t be doing anything to make him or you uncomfortable.”
“You mind letting me get a word in edgewise?” Hal asked mildly before sipping his beer.
Ugh. And I’d fallen prey to the oldest trick in the book—letting your opponent fill the silence when they couldn’t bear it. I needed to rein it in.