for Sarah?”
“Can we just eat?” Charles asked, avoiding the topic.
This was the normal banter between the brothers. Mason overanalyzing, Charles serious and wanting to stick to the task, and then my boyfriend, who did everything to annoy Mason.
“I don’t have a boyfriend,” Sarah argued.
Mason’s shoulders relaxed. “Well then, there’s nothing to talk about.”
“She’s going to date. She’s a teenager,” Brad added, baiting his brother the only way he knew how.
“Not for a while. A long while.” Mason glared, his stare flickering between Brad and his teenage niece.
“Sarah, are you interested in a boy?” Brad asked.
“I’m not answering that question,” Sarah moaned, not looking up, but the blush on her cheeks answered for her.
“You are. Aren’t you?” Brad placed down his fork and rested his elbows on the table. “Come on, now. We’re family. There’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”
All eyes were on Sarah now.
Her eyebrows squeezed together. “Uh …” Her voice trailed off as though she were debating on what to say. She peered down at her uneaten food, tightly squeezed her eyes shut, and then blurted, “Yes. I’m kind of talking to someone right now.”
Brad leaned back on his chair, watching with too much amusement as Mason’s eyes went wide.
Funny how everyone, even Becky and Charles, was perfectly calm, but Mason … he paled.
“You’re too young.” His eyebrow twitched, and he stared at her as though she were a foreign object.
“I’ll be thirteen in a few months.”
“So?” Mason argued, dropping his fork, making it clatter against the china.
“All right. All right.” Charles raised a hand, defusing the escalating situation. “How about we just calm down and eat dinner?” He stared at his firstborn, dropped his gaze, and then stared at her some more.
“She’s talking to someone? What exactly does that mean?” Mason asked to no one in particular.
Oh boy, he was going to have issues with Sarah growing up. I bit my lip to hide my smile.
“Mason,” Charles said, exasperated. “Talking means talking. Not dating.”
The rest of dinner was uneventful, silent even. Not the normal, boisterous laughter that was usually the norm at the Brisken dinner table. Even Mary was silent.
“Can I be excused?” Sarah asked when her dinner plate was empty.
“One second.” Brad stood. “We have something we’ve got to announce. A surprise of sorts.”
Everyone automatically looked at my left finger, and for a moment, the tiniest of moments, my stomach dropped. Will he?
But then he plucked the tickets to the show from his pocket, and the whole table, Charles and Becky included, exhaled.
It wasn’t like I wasn’t ready. But it had only been a few months, and, yes, I’d thought of forever with Brad. I was a forever type of girl. I liked monogamy. Still, we were fairly new. Going from hating his guts to not being able to live without him was life-changing.
“Because I’m the best uncle and Sonia is the best auntie, we have a just-because surprise for our favorite nieces.” He grinned, loving every second of this.
“We’re your only nieces,” Mary said, making the table laugh.
“Sweet Mary, did you want me to give your Harry Potter ticket to Sarah’s new boyfriend?”
Both of the girls jumped to their feet. Sarah rushed to Brad’s side, and he lifted the tickets over his head.
“Are those for the Harry Potter play?” Sarah squealed, jumping to reach for the tickets. “They were sold out. Daddy said so.”
“Wait. Hold on a second.” Brad tipped his chin toward me, and I walked to the door, returning to the kitchen with the two gift bags full of goodies.
“Yes. We got tickets.” I lifted the bags and shook them in front of me. “And presents!”
The girls squealed and hugged me and then Brad. The gift bags were dumped on the floor, and they sorted through all their belongings like stray dogs in a garbage can.
“You think they’re excited?” Brad whispered, bringing me closer.
“No. What would give you that indication?” I teased, smiling as I drank up the girls’ joy.
“I love just-because surprises.” He slipped his arms around my waist, nuzzling my ear. “Do you want yours?”
I turned my head, staring up at mischievous brown eyes. “What?”
“Girls, it’s time.” Brad nodded toward the girls, and they scurried out of the room.
“Time for what?” My eyes widened as Becky came in with an oversize gift bag with a Harry Potter stuffed animal peeking through the top.
Then, the girls came in, holding two separate signs on blank white poster board.
I peered back at Brad, wondering what the heck was going on.
Mary turned over her sign that