eye and then turned to look at Tristin. “We really should try not to antagonize him.” And by we, I meant them. Though, to be fair, I’d been known to push Vincent’s buttons every once in a while.
Leo drew a halo above his head with his finger. “We’ll be on our best behavior, won’t we, Tin?”
“Yeah, regular angels.”
Well, this should go well.
When we arrived at the mansion, I left the guys in the living room and joined Susan in the kitchen. “Can I help?”
She looked up from where she was tossing a salad. “Oh, honey, it’s so good to see you.”
“You too.” I’d finally convinced her that she didn’t need to drop off food at the townhouse anymore. But that meant I didn’t get to see her unless I came over here.
“I’m almost done, but have a seat and chat with me.”
Moving onto a barstool, I sniffed the air. “Do I smell rosemary?”
“Very good. That’ll be the roasted potatoes, which I need to check on.” She made her way over to one of several ovens and removed a tray of the fragrant potatoes. “Perfect.” As she arranged them on a serving tray, she asked, “You’re getting your cast off next week, right?”
“Hopefully. I’ll probably cry if the doctor tells me I have to wear it for longer.”
Feeling a presence behind me, I tipped my head up to find Tristin there, smiling down at me. He placed a kiss on my forehead, and I heard Susan gasp. Well, shit. If we got that strong of a reaction from Susan, I should probably be prepared for Vincent to throw things. Sharp things.
Slowly, I returned my gaze to hers, which was wide with shock. When she realized we were staring at her, she shook her head. “I’m sorry. I just thought…well, it doesn’t matter what I thought.”
“It’s not what you think,” Tristin said kindly. “That being said, I suggest you make yourself scarce as soon as possible. Once we share our news with Dear Old Dad, he’s likely to be in a foul mood.”
Susan glanced between the two of us a few times, like she couldn’t quite understand what Tristin was talking about. I thought about trying to explain, but when she excused herself to check on the pork roast, I decided to let it go. Even if she didn’t stick around to eavesdrop, she would hear all about it soon enough.
“Ready for this?” Tristin asked me.
“Definitely not.”
He laughed under his breath. “Oh, come on. If nothing else, it’s going to be entertaining.”
“You say entertaining. I say horrifying.”
We were the first to enter the dining room, and Tristin took one of the chairs next to where Vincent would sit at the head of the table, while I sat on his other side. Leo appeared a minute later with trays of food, and he selected the chair across from mine.
“Hayle is here,” he murmured to me in warning as Susan left the remainder of the food so we could serve ourselves.
I nodded. That wasn’t exactly a shock, and though I still wasn’t sure how to feel about him after Saturday night, I couldn’t worry about that right now. Not with the Vincent confrontation looming.
Hayle and his father arrived at the same time, and neither of them spared me a glance as they took their seats and began serving themselves. I breathed a sigh of relief. Tonight, I’d happily take invisibility as my superpower.
Dinner reminded me a lot of the meal on Thanksgiving. Everyone was clearly on their best behavior, though I wasn’t sure why Vincent didn’t get in any verbal jabs. Maybe he was hoping if he was civil, no one would bring up Lily. I might have promised Hayle that I wouldn’t spill his mother’s secrets, but Tristin and Leo hadn’t done the same. Vincent had to know that antagonizing those two sons, at least, wouldn’t help the already volatile situation.
“You boys will be here first thing on Christmas Eve morning, won’t you?” The words came out as more of a command than a question, and I waited for Leo to reply to his father.
Surprisingly, Tristin was the first to respond. “Why would we? We haven’t done anything special in years.”
That rather surprised me, but I guessed it shouldn’t have. There wasn’t even a tree up in the Sharpe mansion, and Vincent didn’t seem the type to pick out and wrap a bunch of gifts for his adult sons.
“I thought this would be a good year to make a change,” he said around