Chapter 22
22
Devon
SHARON FLIPPED ON the oven light, bending at the waist to peer through the window at her cooking turkey. "It's looking good." She straightened, wiping her hands on the apron tied at her waist. "What time did you say your parents were going to get here?"
"They'll be here at two." He continued scrubbing through the large pots and pans that didn't fit in the dishwasher. "And I made sure my mom is only bringing her sweet potato casserole." He'd tried to convince her to bring nothing at all, but failed.
"Well that is very nice of her." Sharon grabbed the large bowl she used to mix up the stuffing as he rinsed it and she went to work drying it off. "That's just our generation. We don't feel right showing up somewhere without bringing food."
It wasn't just her generation that felt that way, which is why he hadn't been completely forthcoming with Janie about what was going on this afternoon .
Or who all would be there.
Janie had a tendency to get in her own head and overthink. Knowing she’d be spending the day with not just his parents but also his dead wife’s mother would have had her climbing the walls. She wasn’t going to be happy, but he’d take her wrath over knowing she’d spent the past few days stressing herself out over this.
But Janie wasn’t the only one he’d been holding back on.
Taking a deep breath, he braced for Sharon’s reaction. "I invited a friend of mine to join us today."
Sharon continued drying the bowl in her hands. "Oh?" She wasn't looking at him, but her spine barely stiffened and her head tipped his way.
"It's actually someone you know."
He knew Sharon wouldn't fault him for having a relationship. Knew she wouldn't be angry or offended. But she would be sad, and his mother-in-law had already spent so much of her time sad, he hated to add any more minutes to her tally.
After putting the bowl away, she turned to meet his eyes. "Janie?"
Part of him was a little surprised at the accuracy of her guess. She had caught him coming to Janie's place, but the differences between Janie and Maggie were vast enough he thought she might not put it all together.
Offering a nod, he confirmed her suspicions. "Janie."
Sharon took a deep breath, blowing it back out before slowly smiling. "I think she's a good match for you."
Again, he was surprised. "You do?"
She nodded, collecting the next bowl after he rinsed it, working her dish towel around the edge. "I do. She's a good girl and a hard worker who doesn't hold back." Sharon spared him a glance. "And you need that, because sometimes you're not the most observant." Her brows lifted. “Not when it comes to the emotional side of things.”
That answered any lingering questions he had about whether or not Sharon knew where he and Maggie stood when she passed. He’d held up his end of their promise to keep the status of their marriage between them. And while he wasn’t upset with Maggie for sharing, he really fucking wished he’d been in the loop about how many people knew the truth.
Especially his daughter.
He was, however, a little irked at Sharon for her comment. It was a low blow. Especially if she knew what happened between him and her daughter.
And how the whole thing played out.
“No one’s perfect, Sharon. You know that.” He didn’t want to rock the boat today, but keeping feelings inside was what led to the problems of his past. They weren’t going to taint his future the same way. “I sure never claimed to be.”
To her credit, his mother-in-law looked regretful. “I’m sorry.” She lifted her chin on an inhale, a sad smile on her lips. “I just wish Maggie had gotten the chance to find happiness too.”
“I know.” He wished the same thing. Carried an immense amount of guilt because of it.
Shar on sucked in a deep breath, spine straightening. “As long as she’s good to the girls, that’s all I care about.” A sly smile spread across her lips. “I suppose it will be nice if she’s good to you too.”
He finished scrubbing down the last bowl and passed it off, changing the subject so his mother-in-law’s thoughts didn’t linger and put a damper on her day. “What about you? Anyone special in your life?”
Sharon’s smile turned devilish. “I don’t kiss and tell.” She gave him a wink. “But don’t worry about me spending my nights lonely.”
He tried not to think about how his mother-in-law spent her nights at all. Especially when he was getting ready to eat. “Good to know.” He dried off his hands and turned his attention to the other side of the room, just in case she changed her mind about not kissing and telling. “I should get the extra leaves in the table.”
He spent the next hour setting up the eating area. Bringing in additional chairs. Lining up place mats and giving the floor a quick sweep. Since she’d stayed home to rest the week before, Janie hadn’t cleaned his place in two weeks. He and the girls had done a decent job of maintaining all her hard work, so there wasn’t much he had to do to get the house presentable.
Normally he and the girls would be scrambling to shove everything they could into hidden spaces so they wouldn’t have to listen to Sharon and his mother give them shit about the state of the house. Thanks to Janie, his home was clean and comfortable and guest-ready.
But he went ahead and ran the vacuum in the living room anyway.
His parents showed up fifteen minutes early and the volume in the place went up substantially as his daughters and their grandmothers clustered the kitchen.
It wasn’t only the noise that increased, but also the temperature. After turning down the thermostat, he cracked a couple windows to get a little of the air moving.
The snow from earlier in the week was still on the ground, reflecting the sun, leaving the outside looking bright and cheery. Hopefully it was a good sign. He needed today to go well. Needed Janie to feel welcomed and wanted. Accepted and embraced.
He needed her to see that there was space for her in his life so she would make space for him in hers.
When the bell rang, his stomach tightened. Smoothing down the front of his shirt as he went down the hall, he braced for what was coming. Even simply thinking she was coming to hang out with him and the girls had her a little wound up, so there was no telling how she’d react when she saw the collection of people filling his kitchen.
He opened the front door to find Janie frowning at him from where she stood on the porch. She pursed her lips. “I don’t want to do this.”
“I know.” He reached out to pull her inside. “But it has to happen.”
She stood in place as he unbuttoned her coat, eyes darting between his face and the kit chen doorway. “Maybe we should wait.”
“For?” Devon slid the heavy layer down her arms.
Janie’s frown deepened. “For me to not feel weird about this.”
“The only way for you to get used to it is for you to face it.” He hung her coat up in the closet she’d convinced his daughters to clean out. “And you’ve been around the girls lots of times already. This isn’t anything new.”
She scoffed. “That was before I knew that they knew I was fuc—” Her words cut off, eyes widening on the kitchen doorway as a fake smile smacked onto her face. “Your parents are here.” She lowered her voice, forced smile still in place. “I’m going to kill you.”
“Wait until you find out Sharon’s here too.” He hooked one arm around her shoulders, pulling her along with him as he went down the hall and into the kitchen where his family was milling around, dishing out food and drink.
Riley was the first to notice her. She deposited her plate onto the counter and raced their way, grabbing Janie in a hug. “You’re here. I was worried you might not come.” She leaned into Janie’s ear, whispering something he couldn’t hear before letting her go and giving her an exaggerated wink.
Devon lifted a brow. “What was that about?”
Janie’s weird smile was still on her face, like she was afraid to let it go. “Nothing.”
His mother turned around, gasping when she saw Janie at his side. “There you are. ” She grabbed a plate from the stack and brought it to the woman sticking to him like glue. “Get started filling that up. Can’t have you freezing to death this winter.” She took Janie by the shoulders, directing her toward the line of food arranged down the counter. “Make sure you get some of that sweet potato casserole. It’s my specialty.”
“Great.” Janie’s eyes drifted to where Riley sat at the table.
“Give her some space to breathe.” Devon tossed out the reminder his mother would likely need for the foreseeable future. Smothering was her love language and she spoke it fluently. “You’ve got all night to invade her personal bubble.”
“Oh, pshh.” His mother waved him off. “She’s fine.” Even as she argued, his mother backed off, giving him a pointed look as she went to take her place at the table. “Make sure she gets enough to eat. Can’t have anyone going hungry.”
Janie turned toward the counter, shooting him a scowl from the corner of her eyes. “Why didn’t you tell me this was a Thanksgiving thing? I should have brought something.”
“I didn’t tell you because you cook all week and the last thing you need to do on your day off is make more food.” He followed behind her, watching with interest as she skipped right over his mother’s casserole. “And I knew there would be plenty here. Sharon loves to cook and she always goes overboard.”
“He’s not lying.” Sharon sidled up to them. “Thanksgiving is my favorite and I al ways make a big dinner here before I go back to Florida. Then I make one for all my friends down there.” She added a scoop of stuffing to a bare spot on her plate. “Don’t know how I missed that the first time.” She leaned back, practically yelling over one shoulder. “Frank was probably trying to hog it all.”
His dad’s head popped up, eyes swinging around the kitchen. “What?”
Reaching across the table, his mother patted her husband’s hand. “Nothing, dear.”
He glanced over to find Janie watching them with a genuine smile on her face. When she noticed him looking, her lips flattened.
“I saw that.” He bumped her shoulder with his as she grabbed a roll and added it next to the collection of mashed potatoes, stuffing, turkey, and green bean casserole. “See? It’s not bad.”
“It’s still strange.” She glanced back over one shoulder. “They’ve never seen you with anyone but Maggie.” Her eyes found where Sharon sat between Gwen and Olivia. “And it’s got to be hard for her.”
“She knows life has to go on, J. That’s why she’s selling the trailer.” Devon rested his hand on her lower back, adding a little more pressure when she jumped at the touch. “She’s moving forward the best way she can and knows I’ll do the same.” He leaned into her ear. “Plus, she’s probably a little happy to have someone else around who can cook.”
Janie’s eyes jumped to his.
He g rinned. “Riley told you not to eat my mom’s casserole, didn’t she?”
Janie pressed her lips together, rolling them inward with a little nod.
“If that doesn’t prove she likes you, I don’t know what does.”
His mother had never been a good cook. The worst part was her complete oblivion when it came to her lack of skills. She either didn’t have taste buds or they’d all gone numb out of self-preservation.
He led her to their chairs, putting Janie between him and Riley, and resting his forearm on the table to block his mother’s view of her plate, just in case. Janie sat silently beside him, taking in the conversations happening around them, looking a little like a deer in the headlights as Sharon talked about her adventures in Florida. They sounded just this side of bullshit.
Also occasionally just this side of legal.
“You dumped chickens into a construction trailer?” Gwen’s eyes were wide. “Did they get hurt?”
“Nah.” Sharon waved off Gwen’s concern. “They got to sit in the air-conditioning for a while. They were fine.”
Janie started to choke beside him, likely surprised to discover just how wild her landlady could be. “You okay?” He stood, dragging Janie along with him. “She probably needs some air. It’s pretty warm in here.” He grabbed Janie’s drink before leading her down the hall and out the front door, passing off her glass and waiting while she swallowed it down.
“I probably should have warned you that Sharon seems normal, but she’s actually a little unhinged.” He took her glass and set it on the porch before pulling her close, wrapping his arms around her to keep her warm. “And it’s only getting worse the longer she’s in Florida. I think all those people she lives around are a bad influence on her.”
“I don’t know. It sounds like she’s having a great time.” Janie cuddled close to him. “So maybe they’re a good influence.”
Sharon was having fun, and she deserved it after the hell she went through losing her daughter, but fun had limits. “As long as I don’t get a call in the middle of night that she’s been arrested.”
Janie laughed, the sound loud and hearty. “I’m gonna go ahead and let you know you will never have to worry about that. I’m pretty positive you are not Sharon’s bail money bitch.”
He lifted his brows. “Bail money bitch?”
“Don’t act like you’re not picking up what I’m putting down. It’s pretty self-explanatory.” Janie seemed to relax a little as she grinned up at him. “Every girl has one.”
“It seems like I might be yours.” He leaned in to whisper his lips across hers. “We need to talk about that whole thing too.” There was no room for a debt between them. Not now. “I think you’ve more than held up your end of the bargain.”
Janie’s brows lowered. “The deal was that I would clean your house for six months.”
“If you remember, the deal we made left out a lot of important information.” He’d left out a lot of important information. “If you’d known then what you know now, would you have made the same deal?”
Janie snorted. “Hell no.”
“That’s what I thought.” He pulled her a little closer. “Would you be mad at me if I said I’d make the same deal all over again?”
Janie’s mouth twisted to one side before working into a slow smile. “Only a little.”
Today was about moving forward—bringing Janie deeper into his life—and he had one more place he wanted to bring her. “Well, since I’m the only one who would make it again, then I get to be the one who says when it’s over.” Janie scoffed, but he kept going. “I still want you to come over on Sundays, but only to spend time with me and the girls.” He leaned close, lowering his voice as he added on the last bit he wanted her to think over. “And maybe sometimes you can pack an overnight bag to bring with you. ”