Chapter 10 #2
Dex shakes his head. “No. Lexy works for me.” He sets her down.
Heat floods my cheeks.
Mia studies me carefully, then sighs dramatically.
“Are you sure?”
She scrunches her tiny eyebrows at Dex.
“Because she’s very pretty. She looks like Elsa.”
I have absolutely no idea where to look.
“Mia, stop bothering Lexy.”
Summer steps forward, smiling softly at me.
“I see you met my daughter.”
She hugs me.
“I did,” I say, smiling back. “And she’s gorgeous.”
“Well, let’s not waste time standing in the entrance,” Lily says, slipping her arm through mine. “Come into the dining room. I want you to meet my husband.”
The dining room opens into a wide space filled with people, noise, and warmth. A long wooden table stretches almost the length of the room, already covered with dishes.
Platters of golden fried chicken glisten under the light.
Bowls of creamy mashed potatoes, topped with melting butter, sit beside thick brown gravy.
Green beans cooked low and slow with bacon.
Warm biscuits stacked high in a basket. Baked macaroni bubbling at the edges.
Something sweet lingers beneath it all, rich and comforting.
At the head of the table stands a tall man who looks like an older version of Cas, with silver threaded through his dark hair and steady blue eyes.
“Josh,” Lily calls. “This is Lexy.”
His expression softens immediately as he steps forward and offers his hand.
“So you’re the young woman my son rescued from the cold.”
Dex’s hand finds my back again, firmer this time, like he knows I need the anchor as I step forward. I glance at him, and his eyes meet mine briefly, checking.
“I didn’t rescue her,” Dex mutters behind me.
Josh ignores him completely.
“It’s very good to meet you, Lexy. Any friend of my son’s is welcome in this house.”
And just like that, the tight knot in my chest loosens a little.
I nod. “Thank you for having me. You have a gorgeous home.”
The dining room feels louder now.
Voices overlap. Someone laughs too hard at something I didn’t hear. Plates clatter. It feels like stepping into something alive and already in motion.
“Everyone,” Lily announces, guiding me forward, “this is Lexy.”
Several heads turn toward me at once.
Some I recognize. Penny, Cas, Summer, Ethan.
One I don’t, but I remember seeing him once before at the bar.
“This is my twin, Jude,” Dex says beside me.
Jude gives me a small nod. “Hi.”
“Hi,” I answer, instinctively matching his quiet.
Lily points to an empty seat, and I move toward it, aware of everything and nothing all at once.
Dex settles beside me before I even look at him. His presence, his warmth, the familiar scent of him, all of it takes the edge off the noise pressing in around me.
“I’m glad you came,” Penny says immediately.
Ethan lifts his glass slightly in greeting.
“Told you she would.” He nods at Cas, who hands him a twenty, watching Dex instead of me like this whole situation is extremely entertaining.
Dex looks at his parents to make sure they’re not facing us, then flips them off. Cas and Ethan just laugh harder.
For a second, I feel it again. That sharp fear that I don’t belong here.
But it doesn’t stay.
Because one by one, they pull me in. A smile. A question. A plate nudged closer.
Like this isn’t the first time I’ve sat at this table.
Like they’ve known me forever.
“So, Lexy…” Ethan leans forward, smirking. “You moved in with Dex?”
I glance at Dex as he drags a hand down his face. What do I say? What does he want me to say?
Before I can spiral, Dex answers.
“Can we not do this today?”
“We’re just curious…” Cas says.
“Very curious,” Ethan adds.
Lily clears her throat.
“Prayer.”
She gives her sons a look, then smiles at me.
Prayer ? Oh.
I haven’t prayed in years.
I glance at Dex.
He’s already looking at me. Not just looking, watching. A slow smirk pulling at his mouth like he knows exactly what he’s doing to me.
My stomach flips, but I can’t look away.
“Father in heaven…”
Josh’s voice pulls me out of it, and only then do I realize I’ve been staring at Dex the whole time.
He hasn’t looked away once.
Bastard .
As soon as the prayer ends, the table comes alive again.
Plates pass from hand to hand, voices overlapping, laughter rising around me.
I don’t know how to act or what to say, and when I glance at Dex for some kind of direction, he simply reaches for the bread basket and slides it toward me.
It’s such a small thing.
But it steadies me.
He leans closer, his lips brushing my ear, making me shiver.
“You okay?” he murmurs.
I nod. “Yeah.”
Ethan leans forward again. “So.”
Dex closes his eyes. “Ethan…”
“How’s living with my brother been so far?”
Summer elbows him. “Hey.”
“Leave them alone.” She lifts a brow.
Ethan grins at her. “You know I like you all sassy like this.”
Summer rolls her eyes, but she’s smiling. Whatever silent conversation passes between them ends with Ethan turning back to his food.
“She is not living with me,” Dex shoots daggers at him.
“She literally is.”
“That’s not what… it’s just for a few fucking months!”
“Dexter Hawthorne.”
Lily doesn’t raise her voice.
“Little ears.”
She glances toward Mia.
Silence falls instantly.
Then, just as quickly, the conversation shifts back to normal.
After a while, Dex’s arm comes up behind me, settling along the back of my chair while he talks to Cas about blocked roads.
I glance at him. If he notices what he just did, he doesn’t show it.
This is not a big deal, Lexy. He just wants somewhere to rest his arm.
I look away and find Lily watching us. Her gaze follows his arm behind me, then lifts to mine. She smiles like she knows something I don’t.
I drop my eyes to my plate, trying to focus on my food. Trying not to think about where I am.
At the Hawthorne family table.
Between Jude, quiet and watchful, and Dex, whose nearness is making me feel things I don’t quite understand.
? ? ?
Dexter
Bringing Lexy here might be my smartest decision… or my worst.
Mama notices her the second she walks through the door.
Of course she does. Mama notices everything.
The way Lexy hovers half a step behind me like she isn’t sure she’s allowed to take up space.
The way she studies the pictures on the walls like they belong to another world.
The way she thanks Mama for hugging her.
Nobody thanks Mama for hugs, but Lexy does. And now she’s sitting at our table, wearing one of Grace’s sweaters like it was made for her.
It’s the soft cream one. The one Grace always says makes her eyes look brighter.
It does the same damn thing to Lexy’s.
Her hair falls loose around her shoulders, cheeks still pink from the cold outside, hands folded neatly in her lap like she isn’t sure where to put them.
She looks like she doesn’t belong anywhere near Midnight Rodeo.
She looks like she belongs here.
My phone buzzes once. Then again. And again.
Dad’s voice cuts across the table.
“Dexter.”
I sigh and pull my phone out. “Yes, sir.”
“Put the phone away.”
“Yes, sir.”
I flip it to silent anyway and check the screen under the table.
The Delulu Fam chat is blowing up.
Of course it is.
I open it.
Ethan sent a picture.
Of me and Lexy.
Sitting next to each other at the table.
Ethan : pic
Grace: Oh wow! She's gorgeous!
Jace: Please tell me she's single @Dex ?
I sigh and start typing.
Dex: you know taking pictures of people and sharing them is illegal right? @Ethan
Ethan: Not if it's family.
Cas: As the town sheriff I'm choosing to ignore this...
Dex: @Jace she’s my employee and off limits to you douchebag!
Jace: So you're dating her?
Dex: no, but still… off limits.
Jace: oooh you jealous @Dex ? Sure you don't want to date her? She's hot!
Dex: @Jace don’t make me drive up to Texas just to kick your ass…
Jace: you wish!
“Why is everyone suddenly on their phone?” Mama’s voice rings across the table.
I shove mine away immediately.
Across from me, Ethan and Cas, who are laughing like damn teenagers, do the same.
“Sorry, Mama,” I say. “Your idiot sons created a group chat, and they’re harassing me.” I smirk at them.
They laugh harder.
Mama’s eyes slide slowly toward them. Her eyebrow lifts.
Silence follows.
Lexy shifts slightly beside me, and I glance at her again. She’s listening to everything like she’s trying to memorize how families work.
Like this is new.
Dad clears his throat.
“Well,” he says, folding his napkin beside his plate, “your mother and I actually have something we wanted to tell everyone.”
Mama’s smile turns bright immediately.
“Dessert first,” she says. “You, video call Jace and Grace!” she tells my father.
That should’ve been my warning.
Mama disappears into the kitchen and comes back carrying a bottle of champagne like she’s about to host the Fourth of July.
“Alright,” she says, setting it on the table. “Now you can tell them.”
Dad leans back slightly, smiling at her like he did thirty years ago.
“In April,” he says, “your mother and I will have been married thirty years.”
The table explodes.
“No way.”
“Thirty?”
“That’s insane.”
Mama laughs. “So,” she continues, pulling the phone out of my father’s hands, “we’re having a spring party here at the ranch. And we expect all of our children to be there.” She taps the screen, and suddenly Grace’s face appears.
“Is this it?” Grace asks immediately. “Are we celebrating something?”
Jace’s voice follows from somewhere loud and echoing. “Why am I on speaker?”
“Because you never answer your messages,” Mama says sweetly.
Dad shakes his head.
“Thirty years of marriage,” he repeats.
Grace gasps. “No way.”
“We’re throwing a party,” Mama confirms. “And you’re both coming home.”
“I’ll be there,” Grace says immediately.
Jace whistles through the phone. “I’ll make it work.”
Mama pops the champagne and starts to hand out glasses.
Penny shakes her head immediately. “No thanks.”
That catches my attention. Penny never turns down champagne. She just smiles and reaches for water instead.
Cas watches her like he already knows something the rest of us don’t.
Interesting.
Mama hands glasses to everyone else. “To thirty years,” she says.
Everyone lifts theirs, and we drink to their marriage.
Then she turns toward Lexy. “You’ll be there, right, Lexy? We’d love to have you.”
Lexy gasps softly beside me. “Oh, I don’t… you don’t have to feel obligated to…”
“Pfff. Obligated,” Mama says.
Dad walks over and places his hand on her shoulder. “We want you there.”
Lexy smiles. “Okay… if my boss gives me the night off… why not.”
She looks at me. That small smile makes something low and dangerous shift in my chest.
I want to kiss those full lips and finally find out what they taste like. Strawberry? Vanilla?
I bet it’s something sweet.
“Dex, she asked you something.” Cas’s voice snaps me out of it.
I look up. He and Ethan are both smirking like damn Cheshire cats.
“Everything okay, little brother?” Ethan asks. “You looked like you were in a trance there.” His smile widens.
I give him my best fuck-you look before turning back to Lexy, who is now blushing.
“Sure,” I growl. “No problem.”
“How’s the kitten?” Jude finally speaks up, probably trying to save me, and immediately a gasp sounds out.
Mia is gaping at me. “Uncle Dex, you got a kitten?” Her blue eyes are full of anticipation and joy.
“Actually, Lexy found him behind a dumpster at the bar, and she adopted him.”
I glance toward Lexy, who’s smiling at Mia. “You can come over and play with him. I bet Marvel would love to play, if your parents don’t mind, of course.”
Mia’s smile grows, and she claps her hands.
“Can we, Daddy? Please say yes?” She looks at Ethan eagerly, and he just nods. “Of course, pumpkin.” Then he turns to me.
“Actually, I wanted to ask you a favor. Summer and I will go away for a weekend next month, and I was wondering if Mia could stay with you for the weekend?”
Ethan glances at Summer, then back at me.
“Mom and Dad will have the B&B fully booked that weekend, and Cas and Penny had plans, so…”
He looks unsure, but I just smile.
“Of course. I’d be happy to have a sleepover with Mia.”
Mia squeals.
“She can play with Marvel, and we’ll make a pajama party out of it.” I look at Lexy, who is beaming. “I love pajama parties!” she says.
“All right then, looks like you’ll have the whole weekend with Marvel and Lexy. How about that?” Summer asks Mia.
She nods, gets up, and hugs me. Then she turns to Lexy, hugs her, and Lexy lifts her onto her lap while they start planning everything.
I find myself smiling at the picture of Lexy and Mia getting along.
“I really like her…” my mama whispers in my ear.
I turn to her and find her smirking.
“Don’t get any ideas. She’s just my employee,” I tell her, knowing that look too well.
“You sure about that?”
She looks smug, and I grind my teeth.
I check the time and notice it’s gotten late. Lexy and I start our shift in half an hour.
“Tinker, I think we need to go.”
Lexy looks at her phone, sees the time, and stands up.
But not before Ethan notices my slip-up.
“Tinker?” His smile is pure evil.
I hold back a groan as I regret calling her that.
“He calls you Tinker?” Cas asks Lexy.
She just nods, her eyes searching mine in confusion.
“Oh man, you’re so in trouble,” Ethan laughs out loud.
Cas smiles like a Cheshire cat, and even Jude smirks.
Fucking assholes.
“We gotta go.”
I stand up but only make it two steps before Ethan speaks again. “You know… Dex was obsessed with Peter Pan as a kid,” he tells Lexy.
Her eyes find mine, a question in them.
“So?” I ask, making sure Ethan knows he’ll pay for this.
“He watched Peter Pan after school every day. We had to destroy that DVD, and then he somehow got a new one. Remember that?” Cas asks Jude, who just nods.
“And you want to know the best part, Lexy?” Ethan smiles like the cat that just saw his prey.
Lexy looks from me to him and back again.
“He was in love with Tinkerbell.”
Lexy’s eyes shoot to mine.
“I was not!”
“Yes, you were! So much so that you hated Wendy,” Cas says.
I groan.
“I don’t know what any of this has to do with anything, but we need to go,” I tell a smiling Lexy, who somehow is avoiding my gaze.
I turn to my mom.
She’s watching me like she knows something I don’t. Or maybe like she knows something I refuse to admit. “Drive safe,” she says. But she’s still smiling, still looking between me and Lexy like she just solved a puzzle no one else could see.
Lexy says her goodbyes, thanking everyone again, and when she reaches the door, she pauses next to me. “Peter Pan fan?” she whispers.
I groan.
She smiles, and somehow that smile hits harder than anything Ethan just said.