Chapter 42
RACHEL
I’m not sure which I’m more anxious about: telling my dad about Justin and me or telling Justin’s family.
Both are equally nerve-racking, mostly because my divorce has only been final for a few days, but also because of our age difference and because I’m a mom. Granted, the six-year gap has never been in issue, aside from my initial assumption that his age meant he was immature. But he wiped that concern off my list of worries the moment he started showing up for me. Literally and figuratively.
Being fresh out of a twelve-year marriage is a more reasonable concern, especially for those who don’t know that my relationship with Craig was over a long time ago. Jesse and Aiden know the truth, but their parents and my dad… well, they come from an older, more traditional generation, and they may not be as open-minded about that.
For that reason, I’m not sure telling them together—and in front of the rest of the family—is the best idea. But nonetheless, that’s how it’s about to go down. As soon as Justin gives me the signal, anyway. For now, I’m biding my time in the kitchen with his mother, trying to focus on Polish cheesecake.
“And that’s it.” Janice turns off the mixer and clasps her hands triumphantly. “We pour the filling into the pan and bake it. Easy peasy.”
It certainly seems easy enough, but it’s also exactly how I’ve tried to make it myself in the past and failed. “There aren’t any secret ingredients?”
“Nope.” She unlatches the mixing bowl and pours the buttery yellow mixture over the crust in the springform pan. “You could always add caramel or fruit like you might a traditional cheesecake, but this is the base. No secrets.”
“Other than lots of butter,” Hayden chimes in as Janice scrapes the bowl to get every last bit of mixture out.
“True. And not margarine, either. Only real, honest-to-goodness butter will work.”
“I can’t wait to try it.” Hayden grins. “Lord knows, I love butter.”
I laugh. “It’s delicious when made right. Then again, it’s been almost twenty years since I had it.”
Janice gasps. “You haven’t had sernik in twenty years?”
“I’ve tried to make it on my own, but it was never good. It always tasted like scrambled eggs.”
Janice grimaces. “You might’ve been using extra-large or jumbo eggs.”
I tip my head. “Would that make a difference?”
“Absolutely.” She gives the springform pan a little shake to even out the filling. “Always use regular eggs when baking unless the recipe calls for something bigger.” Then, with a devious smile, she waggles her brows. “Bigger is only better in the bedroom. Not so much the kitchen.”
“Mom!” Amelia gasps from the kitchen table, where she and Olivia are cutting up vegetables for our cookout. “Could you not?”
The older woman snickers. “What fun would that be?”
“Ugh.” The youngest Enders sibling groans. Then to Olivia, she mutters, “See what I have to put up with?”
“Oh, don’t act like little miss prim and proper, Amelia Jane. We know better.”
Hayden gives a quiet laugh. “She has you there, Lee.”
Amelia launches a stick of celery across the kitchen and hits Hayden in the chest. “Zip it, blondie. We all know what you and Jesse have been doing to make up for lost time these past few months.”
Hayden scoffs, but there’s no animosity behind it. In fact, the blush in her cheeks says she’s guilty and she knows it.
Across from Amelia, Olivia presses her lips together, and if she could somehow blend into her seat and become invisible, I suspect she would.
“Same goes for Olivia,” Hayden says, gesturing wildly to Aiden’s rekindled flame. “Rachel and Jinx, too.”
If Janice hadn’t just placed the cheesecake in the oven, I’m certain she would’ve dropped it.
“What?” The Enders matriarch spins on the toes of her socks, gray-blond hair lifting around her shoulders. “Rachel and who?”
My face flames hot, and I feel like a deer caught in the headlights of a big ole Mack truck.
“Whoops.” Hayden covers her mouth belatedly. “Is that cat not out of the bag or…?”
“It is now.” Amelia grins from ear to ear. “Damn, that was a hard secret to keep.”
Janice continues to stare at me, blue eyes round as she digests this information. “You’re the one Jinx was talking about.”
I’m not sure which conversation she’s referring to, but clearly, there’s been one. About me.
“Um…” I have no idea how to respond. This is his mother, for Pete’s sake. I want her to like me—or rather, continue to like me—rather than think I’m a new divorcee who’s latched her needy claws into her baby boy.
“Ladies, if you’ll excuse us.” Grabbing my hand, Janice pulls me out of the kitchen and down the hall toward the back of the house to what I assume is a guest bedroom. Only when she’s closed the door behind us does she look at me again. “Spill it, young lady. Tell me what’s been going on between you and my son.”
JINX
“Kids these days have it easy,”Dad says to Felix, Rachel’s father, as they pick up the discarded bean bags near their cornhole board. “When we were young, we didn’t have games like this. We had to make our own. Out of sticks and rocks.”
Mason rolls his eyes dramatically while we stand away from our board, waiting for the old men to play. “Let me guess… you had to walk to school uphill both ways, too.”
Felix points a bag at him. “You’re darn right we did. And twice as far when it snowed.”
“That doesn’t even make sense, Grandpa.”
“Doesn’t have to make sense,” he counters. “All that matters is it’s true.”
“No, it isn’t.” Emma giggles from the sandbox where she’s been humoring Jett for the past hour. He’s taught her how to properly load the trucks with rocks and sticks, and they have a route all mapped out like it’s a job site. “Maybe it just felt like it was farther because you’re old.”
“Ouch.” Even I flinch at that one. “Take it easy, Spitfire. Those old folks have fragile egos, too.”
Thwap!
One of my dad’s bean bags smacks me upside the head.
“What the hell?” I rub at the spot while Mason mutters an impressed “nice.”
“Who’s fragile now?” my dad retorts before he and Felix fall into a fit of laughter.
“You did take that a little too far.” Mason speaks up. “But I’m glad you did, because your dad laying the smack down on you was pretty funny.”
Jesse raises his beer from the patio. “Dad should get at least two points for that hit. Just sayin’.”
“I’d give ’em the game.” Aiden flashes a grin from the preheating grill. “Then again, if they keep playing, maybe Jinx’ll get pegged again.”
“What kind of example are you all setting for these kids?” I throw my hands in the air. “I make one little comment, and you’re out here promoting violence.”
Aiden waves me off. “You ain’t seen nothing.”
I’d argue with him, but considering everything he’s been through in recent weeks with his job and with Olivia, I don’t have a leg to stand on. So I let it go, and we continue our game of cornhole.
Just before Mason and I are up again, Emma tugs on my shirt.
“I have to use the bathroom.”
“Ah. You want me to show you where it is?”
She shakes her head. “No, that’s okay. But I’m not sure which door to go in.”
“You can go in through the patio. Your mom and the other ladies should be right there in the kitchen.”
“’Kay.” She jogs off but stops once she reaches the top of the patio steps. “Hey, Jinx?”
“Yeah?”
“If you and my mom get married, does that mean Jett will be our cousin?”
Oh, for fuck’s sake. She did not just ask that in front of everyone.
Jesse, prick that he is, clears his throat. “Yeah, Jinx. Will he?”
He’s dead. And I’ll use his backhoe to dig the fucking hole.
“Just go to the bathroom, Em. We’ll talk about that later, okay?” Way later. Because right now, I have more important things to explain.
The patio door shuts behind her, and my dad laughs.
“You should see your face right now, boy.”
I bet.
Rubbing a hand around the back of my neck, which suddenly feels sunburned, I hedge. “We, uh… we were going to tell you about that. Today.”
“You’re getting married?” Aiden damn near flies off the patio.
“No. Jesus. Settle down.” I hold up a hand. “We’re just dating.”
“And kissing. Probably other things,” Mason mutters, and I shoot him a death glare.
Jesse chortles. “Wow. This is going so much better than I expected.”
“You knew about this?” Dad asks. Then he looks to Felix. “How about you?”
Rachel’s dad lifts a shoulder. “I suspected. I mean, it’s not every day some young buck shows up at the door asking what kind of flowers your daughter likes. I figured he was sweet on her.”
“Am I the last to know?” Dad holds up his hands.
“Probably.” Ma’s voice sounds through the patio door screen before she slides it open and steps out with Rachel in tow. “I’ve got you beat by ten minutes.”
Great. Not only does everyone know, but Ma’s going to make it into a competition. Her favorite pastime.
“I’m sorry.” Rachel pads across the lawn in her sandals, her peach sundress fluttering in the breeze. “But it wasn’t my fault. Hayden let it slip.”
“It’s all right.” I sling an arm around her shoulder and press a kiss to her temple. “We planned on telling them today anyway, right?”
She nods and places a hand on my stomach as she glances at her dad. “Now you know why I wanted you to be here.”
He frowns. “So there’s no sernik?”
My father snorts. “Oh, I’m sure there’s cheesecake, Felix. There’s probably enough pie and pierogi, kluski and kielbasa to feed the whole damn town. It’s how we do things around here.”
The softest smile curls on Rachel’s lips. “I wouldn’t lie to you about sernik, Dad. I know it’s your favorite. And maybe that’s why I agreed to let Janice teach me.”
His expression softens, and the love and adoration between them is palpable. With FJ living so far away, all they’ve had for a long time is each other. But now, they have us. And we’re damn lucky to have them.
Still irritated, my dad lifts his hands and scans the small crowd that’s gathered in the backyard now that the ladies and Emma have joined us, too.
“So, was I the last to know about Jinx becoming a partner at EE, too, or…?”
Jesse groans, my mother gasps, and Amelia and Aiden say a simultaneous “uh, what?”
Rachel curls into me, laughing quietly. “I already love this family.”
I wrap my arms around her and laugh right back. “You sure you want in on this?”
“Absolutely.” She presses a sweet kiss to my chest. “I want in on anything that involves you.”
RACHEL
“Today did not go as planned, didit?” Sitting beside me on my front porch steps later that evening, Justin bumps his shoulder into mine. “It’s almost like they knew what they were doing, outing us the way they did.”
“Right? I still can’t believe Emma asked about us getting married in front of all the Enders men. She’s supposed to be my girl! You know, have my back and whatnot.”
He grins. “She’s awesome. Gotta love a woman who gives no fucks about what she says.”
“Ugh.” I turn my face to the evening breeze and close my eyes. “That could bite her in the ass someday.”
“Maybe, but for now, it’s good she’s so comfortable speaking her mind.”
Ah. I can’t argue with that. I’d rather she grow up with confidence and conviction than bite her tongue to protect other people’s feelings. That’s a lesson that took me far too long to learn.
“Your dad seemed to enjoy himself today, too.”
“He did, didn’t he? He gets out plenty for his coffee clutching and bunko with the guys, but that’s not the same as spending time with family. I know he misses the way things used to be when FJ and I were kids and Mom was still alive. I try to visit him as often as I can with the kids, but it’s just different.” I bump him like he did me. “Thank you for inviting him.”
“Of course. He’s always welcome, and you heard my mom before we ate. We’re all family now.”
Silly emotion burns in my eyes now, just like it did when Janice wrapped her arms around me in their guest bedroom and told me that she’d prayed that Justin would find someone like me someday. That she was proud of the way I’ve always handled myself and of the way I’ve mothered my children, and that my mom would be proud of me, too.
“Hey…” He frowns at the tears in my eyes and pulls me close. “I didn’t mean to make you cry.”
I wave a hand in front of my face. “You didn’t. It’s just… your mom reminds me so much of mine.”
“Ah.” He kisses the top of my head. “Well, I’m happy to share. There’s plenty of her Polish attitude to go around.”
I choke on a laugh.
“How did your visit go earlier?”
Pulling in a shaky breath, I swipe at my cheeks. “It was good. I got a lot off my chest.” My mom might not have been there physically, but I felt her presence when I sat in front of her grave and told her everything. “Funny thing, though. Someone brought a huge hanging basket of flowers for her. Dad says it wasn’t him. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”
Justin glances ahead toward the street, tongue stuck in his cheek. “Nope. Not a thing.”
“You’re such a cute liar.”
He chuckles. “You said the same thing the night I brought you home from the bar. Sitting right here on this porch.”
“Did I?” I still don’t remember all the details of that conversation. “What did you lie about?”
“I didn’t lie. You asked if a hot guy like me would ever be interested in a cougar like you. I said I absolutely would, but you didn’t believe me.”
Oh my god. My cheeks flame. “First of all, I’m not old enough to be a cougar, and second, there’s only six years between us.”
He nods in whole-hearted agreement. “That’s what I said.”
“Hmm.” I sigh. “We’ve come a long way since then.” I was worried he was too young, but that was before I found out that being older doesn’t necessarily make a man a man. At twenty-six, Justin is the best one I’ve ever known.
“Nah, I knew then that I wanted you,” he muses confidently. “You’re the one who needed convincing.”
Lips pressed together, I give him a sidelong glance. “Maybe I didn’t want to get my hopes up.”
“That’s the thing, Sunny. When I tell you something, I mean it. I keep my word, every single time.”
“I know that now.” And it’s part of the reason I love him so much. “When we were out of town, you said I was yours. You meant that, too, right?”
He dips his chin without hesitation. “Damn right, I did.”
“Forever?” I know the truth in my heart, but I want to hear him say it, too.
“Yes, Sunny.” He turns and takes my hand into his, squeezing gently. “You’re it for me, if that’s what you’re asking.”
My heart beats a little faster as I nod. “It is.”
He brings my knuckles to his lips. “You are it for me, and I’m willing to go as fast or as slow as you need as long as we’re together.”
I don’t need more time, but I also want to be sure we do this right.
“I don’t see a future without you in it, either.” I lean in for a kiss. “And not just because you’re hot.”
He smiles against my lips. “It’s the lawn tractor, right? Gets you all hot and bothered.”
“Mm-hmm.” Sliding a hand up his thigh, I trail a fingertip over his zipper. “Makes me think about all that power between your legs.”
He groans. “You think the kids are sleeping yet?”
“Not sure. How quiet do you think you can be?”
His eyes flash, intrigued by the challenge. “You serious?”
I lift a playful shoulder. “It’s going to happen sooner or later, handsome.”
Getting to his feet in a rush, he pulls me against him and kisses me hard. “God, I love you.”
I wriggle away, reach for the screen door, and toss a saucy glance over my shoulder. “Maybe you should come inside and prove it.”
He strips his T-shirt off right there on the porch. “Say less, babe.”