Chapter 6
August
“Come on in,”
I said, holding the door open for Gregor when he arrived.
After the long series of texts he’d sent me earlier, I felt much better about the way tonight was going to go.
“Prepare to be overwhelmed,”
I warned him as I led him into the living room. “Introducing everyone would be pointless, there are too many of us and between all the brunettes and gingers, things get confusing pretty quick.”
Gregor chuckled and the sound sent a shiver down my spine. “No worries, wait until you’re in a room with fifteen men with similar haircuts and beards and watch how baffled you get.”
A cheer rose up the moment we entered the room, and I opened my mouth to tell them that it wasn’t that serious when I realized they weren’t cheering for us, but for the hockey game on the flat screen.
“You a hockey fan?”
Uncle Lane called out.
Now he knew good and damn well I wasn’t a…oh…
“Hell yeah,”
Gregor replied.
“Then park your ass over here and enjoy the game with us,”
Uncle Lane said as he gestured to the empty easy chair to his left.
Funny, but I didn’t recall ever seeing that easy chair empty at a gathering before, usually it was the first spot claimed. When Gregor headed for it, I had no choice but to follow along since we were still holding hands. When we got there, I tried to figure out if I was supposed to sit, too, or if they wanted time to get to know him, and probably interrogate the hell out of him the moment I was out of the room.
Before I could figure it out, Gregor made the decision for me when he tugged me down to sit on his lap and wrapped an arm around me. For as much as I didn’t care about hockey, getting to sit there with my head on his shoulder made the experience much easier to tolerate.
It wasn’t that I couldn’t appreciate the beauty and the viciousness of the games, it was just that I could never keep track of where everyone was going, so while the people in the room around me were cheering, I was left scratching my head, still trying to figure out what had happened.
It was nice to not have to care. I felt a light tug at the nape of my neck and realized that it was Gregor playing with my hair. I swear, I felt him inhale, his nose was so close, then his breath tickled the back of my neck, and I melted against him.
“Did you just sniff me?”
I murmured.
“Uh huh.”
“Why?”
“’Cause you smell so damn good!”
His growl made me shiver, but fortunately it was masked as another cheer filled the room.
“Down, boy,”
I giggled in his ear. “Before I have to drag you off to my room and leave everyone wondering why they didn’t get to meet you.”
His arms tightened around me, and he inhaled again. I swear he made it a point to put his whole body into it, too, including a subtle roll of his hips that made me do the most impulsive thing I’d done, ever. I nipped him.
When he shuddered beneath me, I swore things were about to get X-rated when Uncle Lane’s voice cut through the haze and drew my attention back the people around me.
“Why don’t you go get your mate a cider and while you’re at it grab me another one, too.”
Gregor chuckled and turned me loose, but not before lightly trailing his fingertips down my side as I got up from his lap.
I left him with them and headed into a kitchen filled with delicious scents amid all the chopping, crackling and laughter that was going on.
“August!”
My mother’s greeting nearly deafened me, and I braced myself before I was surrounded by my siblings and cousins. The aunts and uncles who hadn’t been in the living room surrounded us, too, and I was crushed in a warm circle of love as everyone expressed their good wishes.
I loved my crazy expressive family, with all the eccentric foodies and sports lovers. We were damn near an equally mixed bunch, but the best part of it all was that those who didn’t particularly love making it, absolutely enjoyed every opportunity to taste it. Food did not go to waste around here. Now that I had the chance to breathe a little as they all eased back to resume their tasks, I caught the whiff of seafood seasoning and corn on the cob. Oh, nice! I’d found out from one of the customers in my shop that Gregor was from a family of fishermen and shipbuilders, who made their living almost entirely off the ocean. I’d figured seafood would be something he’d appreciate when I’d subtly mentioned it to Mom earlier, but I hadn’t been sure she’d have the time to add it to the meal plan she was already going to have to shift once word spread through the family and they all started showing up.
I gave her an extra squeeze before I let her go, grabbed three hard ciders and headed back to the living room, just in time to hear the tail end of a conversation between Gregor and my Uncle Lane.
“…was going to ask you a bunch of questions,”
Uncle Lane said. “But after seeing the way you were with my nephew in just those few minutes of the two of you sitting there together, I got all the answers I’d ever need.”
“Ditto,”
said Aunt Maisy, sitting on the other side of him with her Toronto Raptors jersey on.
I saw a few others near enough to the conversation to have overheard it nod, too, and stepped around to pass Uncle Lane his cider before settling back on Gregor’s lap. He took a sip of the cider I handed him, but instead of hanging on to it, he set it in the cupholder in the armrest so he could wrap his arms back around me.
In a room full of people, it felt like I existed in a cocoon of molten contentment, allowing my restless brain, which was always dreaming up new flavor profiles and decadent confections, to turn itself off and just drift.
When his fingers slid back to my hair, it didn’t startle me this time, I just melted deeper into the dreamy haze as his scent washed over me. Pachouli, wood shavings and sea salt, talk about a tranquil vibe. Being held by him was like drifting on a large floaty while the waves rocked me.
“Supper’s ready!”
my mother bellowed.
Now that did startle me, and I flailed a little, until Gregor pressed his hand against my shoulder and grounded me.
“We’ll be there in a minute,”
Aunt Maisy called back. “There’s less than ninety seconds left in the game.”
“Which we both know can stretch on for five minutes or more,”
Mom said, “so bring your butts on before the food gets cold. “You can put the game on the radio in the dining room.”
She might as well have waved a rare steak in front of a pack of hungry hyenas. I watched her shake her head before stepping back into the kitchen as they raced to get seats.
“Hey, Gregor,”
Uncle Lane asked while we were all getting situated. “You don’t happen to enjoy playing hockey as much as you do watching it, do you?”
“I’ve been told that I can be a frustrating and imposing defensive man and a hell of a winger in a pinch, when I decide to lace up a pair of skates.”
“This coming winter will be our first up here. Back home, we’d get together every Saturday for a game or two, but with the move, we’ll be short a few players if you ever want to join us?”
“I’d like that very much,”
Gregor replied. “And let me know how many players you’re short. I’ve got some cousins and siblings who play, too, and my aunt used to coach the high school hockey team before she moved up to coaching the semi-pro one in Portland.”
“Wait…your aunt is Vanya Brannagan?”
Aunt Maisy asked.
“Yup,”
Gregor said, a faint smile tugging the corners of his lips up. “She’s phenomenal, isn’t she?”
“A phenomenal thorn in my side,”
Aunt Maisy chuckled, a bright smile on her face she slapped her thigh, shook her head, and reached for the bowl of seafood broil when it was passed to her. “Every single time my team faced hers, she came up with some new formation and play to beat us. It never failed. That woman has a way with the sport that I can truly appreciate. Now that we’re going to be family, I hoped for the chance to just sit down and know her without competing. She seems like I lady I’d enjoy talking to.”
“Ohh, she will make the time when I tell her about meeting you,”
Gregor said. “She hates that no one else in our family has as much passion for the strategy as they do playing the game. My old man, my uncles, several of my aunts and a ton of my cousins all play, too, but no one else has the same in-depth appreciation for the sport as she does.”
“Tell her she’s no longer alone, that I’ll keep my eye out for her when the families get together, so we can find our own place to sit and talk shop while everyone else goes on about doing what they love. If it weren’t for Lane, I’d have probably found myself in the same predicament, too.”
“That’s because you are a fanatic,”
Uncle Lane said.
“Then what does that make you?”
“The twin who got all the poise,”
he shot back, promoting chuckles from everyone around the table.
I watched as Gregor blinked and really took a look around at the way everyone was sitting. Unlike a normal night, when everyone just sat wherever the hell they wanted to, tonight all the twins and the one set of triplets in the family were sitting side by side grinning at my new mate. Gregor’s mouth half fell open before he managed to snap it shut as he blinked again, shook his head, then very slowly began to take a second look.
“Holy…”
Gregor breathed, words trailing off, no doubt when he couldn’t figure out an adjective that wouldn’t involve swearing.
“Shit is the appropriate word,”
Aunt Maisy said when Gregor still didn’t finish his statement while he kept on studying faces. “Twinning happens in one in three litters in this family, so be prepared for it, especially if you decided to keep this one round and wrapped up in his own taffy.”
“Don’t give him any ideas,”
I squeaked as Gregor appraised me and licked his lips.
“Ohh, now I will have to try it at least once, just to see what he looks like that way,”
Gregor said, much to the amusement of everyone in the room.
“Ohhh, August got a fun mate,”
my sister Tilly declared. “And talented, too. I couldn’t believe the details on the whales August gave me for my birthday. He said you collect the wood and do everything by hand from start to finish. That’s so awesome.”
“I’m glad you are enjoying them,”
Gregor said, cheeks and the bridge of his nose starting to turn a little pink.
Was he blushing over such well-earned praise?
I decided to file that away for later and watch to see if it happened again.
How could I tell that my family was pleased? Not a single person had a full plate yet. They were too busy paying attention to me and Gregor flirting without meaning to flirt with one another. How cool was that? I didn’t have to try to hold his attention. The way he looked at me made it easy to forget that I wasn’t alone. I could just be me and sass him when I wanted to and lucky, lucky me to have a mate that liked to sass back.
“August does indeed have a fun mate,”
Uncle Lane declared. “It’s going to be fun getting to know you, Gregor. You are the first mate in decades who wasn’t apprehensive about the number of us or intimidated by how much we liked to talk.
“And trust me when I say they like to talk,”
a voice called from the opposite end of the table.
Uncle Mike leaned out and waved at me. He’d been one of the mates who’d really struggled with being overwhelmed around us and because of it, his early mating with my aunt Grace had been rocky and produced a number of tears, from both of them. Eventually, he’d come to realize that we were harmless. We just tended to live inside one another’s bubbles a lot, but never meddled. We were just each other’s closest friends and confidants. In fact, a few of my siblings had bemoaned the fact that the rest of us tended to side with their mate instead of them because we’d grown up with them and knew the irritating shit they could do.
“I’m not a talker,”
Gregor said. “Not much of a listener, either, unless it’s to the wood that I’m looking to carve into sculptures, then I can listen just fine. My youngest brother tends to think I make a good sounding board, whatever that is. Most times his lips are moving while I’ve got earbuds in and music blaring, so I never know what the hell is going on.”
Uncle Lane chuckled at that. “At which point, I can see why he’d call you a good sounding board, he can say whatever he wants and vent away if something is pissing him off, and you won’t hear a word of it to ask him about later.”
I can see when the words and their meaning clicked for Gregor because he raised an eyebrow and nodded.
“Gotcha,”
Gregor said. “In that case I’ll quit worrying about whatever the hell I missed and be thankful I don’t know what the hell he’s fussing about.”
“Exactly,”
Aunt Maisy said. “He knows the earbuds are in when he starts talking to you, in fact, I’d bet he’s counting on you having them in so he can let loose.”
Again, Gregor’s eyebrow quirked up and this time the corner of his moustache went with it. Was he? Oh goddess, yes he was! My mate was smiling.
“You know,”
he said in a slight drawl that I was just beginning to notice. “I’ve never stopped to think of it that way. Thanks for that. Pretty sure Olly would thank you to.”
“Olly?”
Aunty Eunice said from just to the left of me. “Isn’t that the boy you’ve been mooning over, Ever?
“I’d swear that’s what the name of the boy was,”
Uncle Gus said as he leaned back and made eye contact with Aunt Phillis, “that was his name, wasn’t it?”
“I think so,”
Aunt Phillis said.
“Yes, his name is Olly,”
Ever said, sighing heavily when everyone turned to look at him.
“What’s wrong, honey?”
Mom asked. “Didn’t you tell me your date was amazing?”
“I thought it was, only I haven’t heard anything from Olly since,”
Ever explained.
“It’s not you, it’s probably just another case of Olly’s Mom filling all of his free time with a never-ending list of things she needs him to do, which leaves him no time left for the things he wants to do.”
“Not when he works in your shop, too,”
I blurted.
“Exactly, and he’s amazing at what he does, but when he tried to do that around the farmstand, she would gratefully accept his help, but she wouldn’t compensate him for the time and effort he put in. Since he’s her kid, she expected free labor, even when free labor meant that Olly wouldn’t be able to save up the money he needed to move out. I tell you what, I’ll tell him to take an extra-long lunch tomorrow, that way he has a chance to contact you when he’s on my time and with my explicit instructions to do so, too, in case he runs into her while you’re talking.”
“Shit, seriously? Thanks, man,”
Everett said.
“No problem, my brother needs more friends in his life.”
“And if it turns out we’re more than friends?”
Ever asked as a collective hush fell around us.
Gregor just nodded, cocked his head and smirked at him. “In that case, this family would be bonded two ways instead of just one.”