Chapter 23 #2
I trailed after Mateo as he headed for the living room. We didn’t make it far when three small bodies appeared in our path, wrapping their arms around Mateo’s legs. I took a step back to make room for them. They glanced over at me with uncertainty in their eyes.
Mentally, I said their names as I looked at each one of them. Kai in the middle, Wrenley on her left, and Jayden on the right.
“Guys, I’d like you to meet a friend of mine.” Mateo put his hand on their heads. “This is Emmie.”
For some reason, having the kids' attention was more nerve-wracking than their parents’.
“Hi,” I greeted. “I love your matching bows,” I said to Kai and Wrenley. “And I really like your jersey,” I told Jayden.
They said nothing as they stared and silently judged. It caused sweat to pool on my back.
Kai glared up at me like she was guarding Mateo. “He’s our uncle.”
“Ours,” Wrenley echoed. Jayden clung to the side of Mateo’s leg, staring at me with wide, untrusting eyes.
The way they looked at me said I was going to have to work to win them over. I really should have brought toys with me for bribery. If I wanted them to like me, I was going to have to pull out the big guns.
“He is a pretty great uncle, isn’t he?” I said. I crouched down a little so I was closer to their height, lowering my voice like I was about to share a secret. “Well…I actually heard something about Uncle Mateo.”
All three heads snapped toward me.
“What?” Jayden asked.
I leaned in slightly, purposely glancing to the side as if I didn’t want anyone to hear what I was about to say.
“I heard he gives the best piggyback rides. Is that true?”
Kai’s suspicious glare wavered. “He does,” she admitted quietly a moment later.
Jayden loosened his grip on Mateo’s leg and peered around at me with curiosity. “He can run really fast, too.”
“Really?” I widened my eyes like that was the most impressive thing I’d ever heard.
“Yeah,” Jayden said proudly, flashing me a smile. “He raced me last time, and I won.”
“Woah.”
“He builds the best Lego castles,” Wrenley said, stepping back but staying close to Mateo’s side.
“You’ll have to show me the castles sometime.” I peeked up at Mateo. He looked down at the kids, then back to me, amusement flickering in his eyes like he was impressed I’d managed to negotiate my way past their scrutiny.
“Do you like princesses?” Kai suddenly asked.
“I do. All my friends say I look like Merida.” I touched my braid. “But my favorite is Rapunzel. You and her have matching hair.”
That must have been the right thing to say because Kai suddenly brightened, letting go of Mateo and coming closer to me.
“I love Rupunzel.” The way she said wuv instead made me grin.
“I have brown hair!” Wrenley butted in, not wanting to be left out.
“You do—just like Belle.”
And just like that, the two little girls gave me wide grins, any distrust gone in a blink of an eye.
“What about me?” Jayden asked.
“You,” Mateo swooped down and grabbed him, “my little J Man, are Sully from Monsters Inc.”
“Nooo.” Jayden giggled as Mateo held him above his head. The smile that lit up Mateo’s face was unlike any I’d seen before. He gazed up at Jayden like the little boy hung the stars, and my heart did something stupid watching it.
Josie’s voice cut through the laughter. “Mateo, do not throw my son through the ceiling.”
“I would never!” he called over his shoulder, then proceeded to toss Jayden just a few inches above him.
“Can we watch a princess movie?” Wrenley asked me.
“Uh.” I looked at her and Kai, unsure of what I should say.
Lydia suddenly appeared beside me. “How about we start a movie, and when Emmie is done helping with dinner, she can come join you. What movie do you guys want to watch?”
“Tangled!”
I sent Lydia a grateful smile, straightening from my squat as Kai and Wrenley climbed onto the couch in front of the TV, Jayden wriggling in Mateo’s arms to be put down so he could join.
“Well, don’t you have superpowers,” Mateo said softly, arm banding around my waist.
“What can I say, I'm amazing,” I joked, still a little surprised at myself for getting the kids to like me.
“You really are.” He said it so sincerely, my chest squeeze. His arm tightened around my waist as he looked down at me, like he still couldn’t quite believe I was real.
“Please tell me we can start giving Mateo shit for going all googly-eyed on his girl like he did to us all these years?” Trevor asked, breaking the intimate moment between us. It was probably for the best or I would have yanked him down into a kiss too inappropriate for his family to see.
“That, I can get behind,” Bryton said in agreement.
Mateo dropped his arm from me only to grab my hand instead. He gently lead me toward his kitchen island where everyone was at.
“Go right ahead. I don’t care.”
“Uh huh.” Trevor said it like he didn’t believe Mateo. He turned to me, beer in hand. “Did you know your boyfriend hits on our wives constantly? He’s a terrorizing little shit.”
“Language—there are children present,” Lydia snapped, stepping back into the kitchen. I bit my bottom lip, stifling a grin at the sheepish look on Trevor’s face.
“See, that’s what you get for trying to talk bad about me,” Mateo quipped.
“Just wait until Emmie hears the stories about you.”
I perked up at Trevor’s words. “Stories, huh?” I turned to Mateo, my eyebrow raised.
“Don’t believe a word they say.” Mateo leaned down and pressed a kiss to my cheek before he left my side, rounding the island. He pulled Josie into a quick hug, clapped Steven on the shoulder, and then pulled his mom into a side hug. I watched it all, loving this version of him.
“Definitely believe every word we say,” Bryton said. “He loved—hell, still loves—to be a pain in the ass to all of us.”
“That sounds like Mateo,” I laughed.
He shot me a look over his shoulder as he grabbed water from the fridge. “You’re supposed to be on my side, not theirs.”
“Just because I’m your girlfriend doesn’t mean I’ll always defend you,” I joked. “Sometimes, you’re clearly the problem.”
A few snickers sounded around the kitchen, and Mateo turned slowly, pointing the bottle at me like I’d personally betrayed him. “You’ve already gone to the dark side, I see.”
I shrugged. “If you wanted unconditional loyalty, you should’ve gotten a dog.”
The room erupted with laughter, and Mateo pressed his lips together, fighting a smile.
“I like her,” Wyatt declared. I gave Mateo a look that said did you hear that?
“There you have it,” Landon muttered. “Wyatt has spoken.”
Wyatt turned to his brother, some retort on his mouth. While they shot jabs at one another, Evelyn pointed toward Mateo’s bedroom. It was down the hallway and away from the kitchen.
“Mateo, go change while we finish making dinner,” his mom said when the conversation lolled a little.
“Yes, Ma.” Mateo mock saluted. I grinned, loving that his mom still bossed him around.
He came over to me and bent to whisper in my ear. “You’ll be okay on your own for a second?”
“I’ll be fine.” I wanted to have a moment to officially talk to his mom without him hovering nearby.
“I’ll only be a second.”
Mateo disappeared down the hall, and the kitchen fell into comfortable chaos while dinner was finished. Mila and Tasha helped set the table in the dining room, and Lydia and Steven went to sit by the kids. Wyatt and Landon hoisted chairs around to fit everyone.
The way they moved was practiced, like they did this many times. When Bryton came out of a room down an opposite hallway from the living room, he had three booster seats in his hands. Wait, Mateo keeps stuff here for the kids? Fuck me, he just keeps getting sweeter and sweeter.
For a second, I lingered near the counter, suddenly unsure of where to stand now that Mateo wasn’t beside me.
I spotted Evelyn at the stove, stirring something in a large pot. I stepped closer to the range.
“Is there anything I can help with?”
Evelyn glanced over her shoulder at me, her expression softening almost immediately, blue eyes similar to Mateo’s meeting mine. “You don’t have to do that, honey. You’re our guest.”
“I don’t mind.” I offered a polite smile. “My dad always said if you’re standing in someone's kitchen, you should at least pretend to be useful.”
A laugh slipped out of her, and she nudged a cutting board toward me. “Well, in that case, you can help me with the salad.”
I settled in next to her as she handed me a knife. Josie came up on my side, arms filled with lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumbers. She sat them beside the cutting board just as a little voice yelled for her.
“I’ll be back.”
I waved her off. “I got this.”
Josie gave me a grateful look and went to see what the kids needed.
I worked on cutting the vegetables for the salad, all the while Evelyn put what looked like the makings of spaghetti in a pot.
“Thank you for letting me be here for dinner with you guys. I know it’s a bit last minute,” I said.
“It’s no problem at all. We’re more than happy to have you here. It’s not every day Mateo brings a girl home to meet us.”
I paused my cutting. “Oh?”
“There was one girl in university that he had over for dinner a few times, but you’re the first since he moved out here,” Evelyn explained.
I itched to ask more about this other girl, wanting to learn who she was and if Mateo had been serious about her, but it felt weird asking his mom about his dating life.
“I hope no one is upset that I didn’t say anything at the game earlier,” I said instead.
“Oh, honey. I knew.”
“You did?”
Evelyn’s smile only widened. “Enough to know he really likes you.”
I blinked at her. “You got all of that from today?”
She chuckled softly, shaking her head as she reached for a dish towel.
“I know my youngest son like the back of my hand. The way he kept glancing up at us, which he never does during a game, was the first clue. And I know the look of infatuation.” Evelyn gave me a knowing smile, the kind that told me nothing got by her.
I flushed under her gaze. And here I thought she was focused on the game the entire time.
Before I could figure out how to respond to that, she nodded toward the living room where the sound of laughter drifted in.
“And don’t mind them,” she added, lowering her voice slightly. “His brothers will find any excuse to tease him.”
I glanced over just in time to hear someone accuse Trevor of cheating at something.
“But,” Evelyn continued, “they’re also fiercely protective of him, especially Landon. Don’t take his hard exterior to heart.”
That explained the looks he gave me during the game earlier.
“If they give you a hard time, it just means they’ve decided you’re worth keeping around.”