Chapter 11 #3
The two women sang the lyrics as Denny mumbled something incoherent. All the younger cousins came in from outside, and the whole house rang in chaos.
Ryan had never seen his mother happier. He decided to skip the run. “How can I help?”
His cousin’s wife handed him a loaf of bread. “You could do toast?”
Ryan took the loaf, headed toward the toaster, and stopped. He pulled out his phone. He wanted to text Thea. He didn’t want to play games anymore. He would text her what he was feeling. He wanted to be open and honest.
Are you free to come to my place for breakfast? The whole fam is going to eat, then hit the beach. The truth was, if he liked a girl, she would have to like his family.
On my way, she wrote back.
He immediately smiled.
“What’s that about?” Natalie asked, looking up at him.
He handed back the loaf of bread. “You ladies wouldn’t mind if I went for a surf before breakfast?”
Natalie shot a look at Cece, whose face lit up at the mere mention of surfing. “That sounds like a great idea. Beautiful day for it.”
Cece started whipping around the room. “Let me pack you a few things before you go.”
Ryan responded and placed a hand on his mother’s arm. “I’ve invited her over here.”
Cece stopped panicking and steadied herself against the counter. “Good. Then we’ll have time to get everyone up and fed.”
That’s when he noticed the tears as they were finishing breakfast.
“Whoa, Ma, what’s happening right now?” he said.
She shook her head. Everyone in the room stopped and looked at her. Even the littles scrambling to find a seat at the table near the food.
“I’m just so grateful we’re all here together.”
“We are very blessed,” his aunt Mary Ellen said.
Ryan could feel the love in that room growing in each of their hearts. “I hope that this can be our family home, where everyone will always be welcome to stay.”
His cousin Matty came over with a hug, then his aunt, and before he’d even had time to dress, the doorbell rang. He hadn’t even heard the Jeep pull up, but there she was, hair down, in a wet suit, with her surfboard hanging out of the back of her Jeep.
“You look amazing,” he said the second he answered the door.
She laughed. “You don’t hold anything back.”
He shook his head. “I have an impulse problem.” He stepped out onto the porch and pulled the door closed behind him. He took her hand and softly kissed it. Then kept it in his. “I’m so glad you came.”
She tilted her head, her natural curls falling over her shoulder. “I’m glad you invited me.”
He liked the way she kept her fingers wrapped around his as they stood there, just gently enough to hold them together but loose enough to split apart at any moment.
“I don’t usually hit people in the forehead,” he wanted to explain.
She shrugged. “People aren’t usually as dumb as Johnny.”
A laugh escaped him, soothing his frantic nervous system from standing next to her. He felt an electric current around her.
He had so many questions about the guy she’d kicked out of her shop but knew none of them were his business. He had learned that phrase enough from Cece to not bother asking.
“I just don’t want you to think I go around?—”
“Bopping people on the forehead? Or do you just tackle people for a living?”
She laughed and her sweet melody made him lean over, pull her closer, and kiss her.
“Well, good morning,” she whispered through their lips.
“How ’bout that surfing lesson you promised?” he asked before kissing her again.
She giggled, louder, when suddenly the front door whipped open.
“Thea!” Cece called out, her arms wide open. The rest of his family seemed to pour out after the two women embraced.
Cece took hold of Thea’s arm and whisked her inside the house.
“You remember my brother, Denny.” Cece held out her hand to his uncle, who suddenly didn’t have to get back to his business. “And his beautiful wife, Mary Ellen.”
The rest of the family waited their turn as his mother introduced each relative one by one to Thea.
“Ma, let her get in the door,” he teased, but he wasn’t going to stop Cece. She loved this.
“This is my niece Taylor, who just came up last night but wasn’t at the fireworks.” Cece escorted her through the rest of the house, giving a little background on each family member she introduced. “Brittney goes to the University of New Hampshire.”
Thea got offered a plate from his aunt, sat down at the table between his two uncles, and had a conversation with everyone. By the end of breakfast, she had two recipes, a child crawling on her lap, and four new people who wanted to learn to surf.
“We’re going to have to share,” she said to Ryan, who sat across from her. Not once had Ainsley sat down with his whole family, even when they were all here. She’d be outside on her phone, or upstairs on her phone, or in the other room… on her phone.
Stop comparing. Ainsley wasn’t there. Thea was.
He looked across the table as Thea laughed at a terrible dad joke his uncle told her.
The beautiful Thea who, if he had to guess, was enjoying his family’s company. He wanted to focus everything on that, because if he didn’t, he might just blow the best thing that’s ever happened to him.