Chapter Twenty-Three
“Are you really considered family unless their grandma flirts with you even a little?” – Archer
DEREK
Well. The Lennings take holidays very seriously.
I walk up to the house, whose lawn is covered in inflatables, from a turkey to a large inflatable baster that I look at for a moment too long.
There’s a warm apple pie in my hand that I painstakingly learned how to make from scratch just to please Valerie, trying to earn some bonus points from my future mother-in-law. I may have had to have Enzo and Nora watch each step to make sure I got it right, but I am damn proud of my pie.
Elizabeth and Rora stayed here last night to be a helping hand to Valerie for the festivities today, and I haven’t seen them much all week. I miss the hell out of them, which is not surprising at all, considering I am one sentence away from asking Elizabeth to be with me forever.
After our confessions the other night, I’m feeling more and more confident that I have finally found the one for me. These two have intertwined themselves around my heart for the rest of my life, and I’m feeling ready for even more commitment.
And while we finally made love, we technically haven’t even had a chance for a second real date, though we’ve had many afternoons at the store together, working on marketing materials and having lunch.
I cherish every one of those lunch dates because they make me excited to keep trying with my business.
I also want it to succeed for more than my own personal gain, but if I can keep it going and make it bigger and better, I can afford to provide for a family.
Like a gorgeous, amazing mother of one and her very sweet little girl.
I swallow my nerves as I approach the door. My eyes count ten cars surrounding their house, and it’s hard to say if it’s because the neighbors also have guests today or if there is a houseful of Lennings that are about to interrogate me.
“You’ve got this,” I mumble to myself, wiping my free hand against my jeans to get rid of the excess sweat. “Just stay chill. Chill, Derek. You charm the pants off of people.” I pinch my eyes closed at that little bit of commentary. Dummy.
I knock before I lose my nerves and brace myself as I hear the thundering of feet approach the door.
“Do not answer that door!”
I hear a voice holler, and for a moment, I wonder if I did something terribly wrong and they know it’s me and I’m suddenly uninvited from my girlfriend’s family’s Thanksgiving.
“I’m almost ten!” I hear a voice saying from the other side.
“I don’t care if you’re eighty. Don’t answer the door if you can’t see who it is.”
“I’ll look through a window.”
“You can look all you want. I’m answering the door for our guest, and if it’s someone who we don’t know, they won’t have the chance to kidnap you because I answered the door. So, you’re welcome.”
I cannot tell who is doing the talking, but judging by the voices, it sounds like Hattie and a kid I’m obviously not familiar with.
The door finally swings open, and yup, it was Hattie. She gives me a kind smile. “Hey, Derek. Welcome. Happy Thanksgiving.”
“Hey, thanks. You too.” I step inside and look at the younger boy who’s standing there, his arms crossed and a scowl on his face.
“You let a stranger into the house,” he states, ignoring me completely and looking to Hattie. “Great. He’s probably going to kidnap me and Aurora.”
“Chance, knock it off. This is Derek, Birdie’s boyfriend.”
“Birdie doesn’t have a boyfriend, this is a kidnapper.”
Well, that’s welcoming. This kid has some serious angst coming off of him, and I nod, moving down the hallway where Hattie motions me.
“Go play with toys or something.”
The kid scoffs and says something that I try hard to get away from, not wanting to be accused of anything else, and I find my way into the kitchen.
The house is decorated to the max with streamers, balloons, and those old-school fold-out turkeys on every surface. I’d bet money that Rora had something to do with the excessiveness of it all.
I smile when I see Valerie and hold up the pie. “Happy Thanksgiving, I brought the apple pie I promised.”
“Oh, Derek! You did it!” she says, grabbing it from me and setting it on the counter. She pulls me into a hug that I return, then turns to the other bodies in the room that are eyeing me curiously. “Everyone, this is Birdie’s boyfriend, Derek.”
Everyone nods and makes some sort of noise, and an older woman walks forward with her hand extended, shaking mine. “I’m Honey, Elizabeth’s grandmother.”
Honey is a name I’m new to, but I smile politely and return her handshake. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Honey.”
“You as well. Birdie’s told us so much about you.”
I’m happy to hear that, and I say so.
“Val, you didn’t tell us how handsome Birdie’s young man is,” she says, looking me over. I feel a brash and fast blush working its way over my cheeks and clear my throat, making the other women in the room laugh at me.
“Mom! Knock it off,” Valerie says, placing a protective hand on my arm and shuffling me out the back door. “Now, go on. I know my girls have been missing you this week.”
Finally, my eyes connect with them. Rora and Elizabeth notice me at the same time, and identical smiles form, making them both drop the mallets of the croquet game they’re playing and make their way to me.
Rora makes it to me first, and I bend down, scooping her up in my arms and holding her tight. “Derek! You made it!”
“Of course I did. I’m not missing spending a holiday with my girls,” I say, breathing her in. Her presence brings a sense of peace to me that I’m not expecting to feel, but I hold her tight and only loosen my grip when Birdie gets close enough to slip under my other arm.
She snuggles in close, wrapping an arm around me and another around Rora, and we hug for a moment before Rora gets bored and slips down, running back to her game.
That’s okay, because it gives me a chance to tilt Birdie’s smiling face up to mine and press my lips to hers.
I’m positive that her family must be watching from the windows, but I don’t fucking care.
I haven’t had her in my arms in four days, and the last time I saw her was right after she gave me the best night of my life.
We’ve chatted every day, making plans for today and just generally checking in. But it’s nice to know that she has been missing me this week just as much as I have her.
“You know my family is watching us, right?” Birdie says, pulling just far enough away to speak, but not too far so I have to complain about the distance.
“I got that feeling,” I reply, smiling at her. There was something more charged between us, even more so now, and that is making me feel closer to her.
“Did you get bombarded in the kitchen?” Birdie asks, looking back at Rora, who is playing the game again with some other people. “I meant to stay closer so I was there when you arrived, but Rora wanted to play.”
Shaking my head, I slightly loosen my grip on her so we can watch Rora together.
People start coming up to us, and I’m thrown in to meet nearly every single member of Birdie’s family. She had uncles and aunts and cousins and second cousins, there were even some great-aunts and great-uncles.
Hattie catches us outside and takes a deep breath. “You know, I forget how much work holidays can be.”
I chuckle, and Birdie nods. “Not as relaxing once we’re the adults handling it.”
“No—”
“Hattie! Your guest has arrived.”
Hattie frowns and turns toward where her grandmother is standing at the door, smiling broadly. “He’s handsome too.”
“What the fuck,” Hattie whispers under her breath, making me chuckle and follow her line of sight.
Where Dean freaking Maddox stands.
I calm myself, trying not to seem overeager.
Leaning toward Birdie, I whisper, “Is your sister dating Dean Maddox?” As if I needed another reason to join this family.
Birdie frowns and looks to where her sister marches toward him executioner-style. “I don’t think that is what’s happening.”
Hattie grabs his arm, and he smiles tightly, wrapping them around her before she can do much and pulling her into a hug. Standing behind Dean is another man I recognize as Wesley Black, the catcher for the Colorado Cobras.
“Oh man,” I groan, turning to Birdie and using the excuse to wrap my arms around her. Man, I could get used to using her for comfort.
“What’s wrong?” Her concerned tone has me calming down, not wanting to truly alert her.
“There are two very famous baseball players in your house right now. Ones that I’ve watched play for several years now.”
“Oh,” Birdie says, smiling slightly. “Are you fan-girling right now?”
“A little bit.”
“Well, they’re just people, Derek. Just try to remember that.”
“Right,” I say, rolling my shoulders and taking a breath. “Just people.”
“Derek!” A little voice pops me out of the pep talk I was needing, and my focus zeros in on the little girl running full speed at me. I bend and scoop her up in my arms. The skulking ten-year-old who called me a kidnapper is right behind her, looking at me with distrust.
He looks at Hattie and the two men she is trying to pry away from her grandmother and says, “Oh great. More kidnappers for dinner?”
Hattie shoots him a look, moving two fingers between her eyes and his, and Honey sternly says his name.
“You be kind to our guests,” Honey says, then bats her eyes some more. “Dinner’s just about ready, boys, then we can eat.”
Birdie laughs. “She’s always so much nicer to guests.”
Hattie sighs, and her shoulders fall in defeat as she looks at Dean. “I guess you’re staying.”
“Great. I’m hungry.”
Finally noticing us—oh my gosh, he noticed me. Be cool, Derek—Dean comes over and holds out a hand to Birdie. “Elizabeth, right?”
“I am,” Birdie says, smiling politely and shaking his hand. “This is my boyfriend, Derek. We met briefly a few weeks ago.”
He snaps his fingers. “Right. Right. Well, great to see you again. Sorry for barging in. I just didn’t want to miss spending Thanksgiving with Hattie.”
Birdie pauses, then gives a little shrug. “Who would?”
Wesley Black comes up from behind Dean, and we’re introduced. I’m proud to say I kept my cool the entire time and didn’t embarrass Birdie. I think. To be fair, I might have blacked out for a minute.
Roger calls us all in for dinner and stops me by the door after everyone has already passed through. He leans in close and says, “Am I crazy, or are the pitcher and catcher for the Cobras in my house right now?”
I shake my head and pat his shoulder. “You’re not crazy. But we have to act not crazy.”
Roger nods and looks where everyone is getting seated at an obviously long-ass makeshift table. The thing needs to fit around thirty people, so it needs to be big. “Let’s stick together on this one.”
Rora boops Roger’s nose, breaking the tension, and we follow her lead, chilling out. There’s a seat for me by Birdie, who smiles and pats it. The one on the other side of her is for Rora, but Rora has other plans, pushing on her mom until she gets the seat between us.
I laugh and sit beside the girls, my attention surprisingly easy to keep on them whenever they’re around. It doesn’t even matter that those baseball players are here. Not even a little bit.
However. I am texting the guys really quick.
DEREK: OMGGGGG
GRAHAM: Happy Thanksgiving, bud.
ENZO: How’s everyone’s turkey? My Tia overcooked it, and Nora’s making me eat it anyway. I’m pissed.
ARCHER: It’s not that bad. Just add the gravy.
ENZO: Don’t talk to me, you’re such an ass kisser it’s unbelievable. If I get asked when Nora and I are having babies because of your little announcement again, I’m gonna scream.
CHRIS: Weird. I’m also getting asked when we’re having babies.
DEREK: You all should have babies. But that’s not why I’m texting!
DEREK: Guess who I’m sitting across the table from? Come on, guess.
I glance around and see that everyone is enveloped in eating or passing around food. I take a moment to get what’s passed to me, putting a helping on my plate before putting some on Rora’s too. Birdie smiles at me.
GRAHAM: Uh, her grandma
DEREK: Terrible guess
ENZO: Brad Pitt
DEREK: That would be sick, but no.
DEREK: Okay, I can’t take it.
DEREK: It’s fucking DEAN MADDOX AND WESLEY BLACK!
I take a breath and set the phone down. I may have only been screaming via text, but it still feels good to have it out there in the open. I catch Hattie’s eyes, and she smirks at me, mouthing, I know what you’re doing.
I feign innocence, grabbing a roll and passing it down the line. There are two things on my plate right now, and I am going to starve if I don’t stop texting.
However, I feel the buzz against my leg. Over and over again I feel it.
“Derek, your phone is popular,” Rora says, pressing against it where it sits in my pocket.
Birdie smiles and asks, “Who’s texting you so much?”
Wow. If that question had come from my last girlfriend, it would have been with a sneer and a snide tone. But Birdie’s question is just genuine, filled with trust for me.
“The guys.”
She leans over Rora’s head and smiles. “Did you tell them who’s here?”
I give a sheepish shrug. “Possibly.”
She laughs at me, and I smile back. “Are they freaking out?”
“Yup,” I say simply, and because she’s close enough and I’m right here, I place a very chaste kiss against her lips, reaching my hand around her shoulders and rubbing her back gently.
We turn back to the table, and I catch a glance from Valerie, who’s got the biggest smile on her face, watching our interactions.
I think it’s safe to say this family likes me.