Chapter Twenty-One
FOSTER
“Iwish Matty was here,” Talia said for the second time since we’d left the house. “He’s always good about breaking tense moments.”
“Stop worrying.” I took her hand from her lap and brought it to my heart. “This will be fun. Right, Kaddie?”
“Right,” my daughter answered from the back seat.
Talia closed her eyes and breathed, like she was saying a silent prayer. “You never told me exactly what my dad said to you that day he came to the gym.”
“It doesn’t matter. He was kinder to me than I deserved.”
“What do you mean, Daddy?”
“Nothing.” I glanced over my shoulder at Kadence, giving her a wink before focusing on the road.
After Lyla and Eloise had stopped by our table last week, Talia had called her parents to discuss whatever the Edens had planned behind our backs.
And instead of allowing the invasion, as Talia called it, she’d convinced them to host dinner at the ranch.
There was more space for everyone than at her house—our house.
She’d joked that by having it at the ranch, we could escape if things went badly. But dinner would be fine. No matter how much flack her family gave me, I’d bear every word. They probably wouldn’t scream and shout or toss me out into the snow.
Yeah, there might be a few uncomfortable moments, but we’d deal.
Maybe after a family dinner, she’d stop holding back. Even after she’d asked me to move into the house, there was still that undercurrent of doubt.
Talia, holding back, barely, but enough to make it noticeable.
Me, wondering if this was our new normal.
I didn’t hate it.
I didn’t love it either.
“Left up here,” Talia said, pointing to a turnout off the highway.
I eased off the gas, careful with the brakes.
It had snowed lightly all day but the temperature had hovered just above freezing, so the flakes had melted on the roads.
The sun was dropping toward the horizon and the water on the road was beginning to freeze.
Driving home after dark would be slow, and I suspected the roads in town would be an ice rink.
Talia had suggested we leave early enough to see the sunset at the ranch.
“This is . . . wow,” I said, taking it in.
The sun cast orange and golden beams over the snow-covered meadows. It limned the tips of the evergreens on the foothills. It highlighted the towering mountains, their jagged peaks covered in white. Those mountains had a way of making a man feel free, yet insignificant at the same time.
“Pretty, isn’t it?”
“Gorgeous.”
Talia had described the ranch to me and shown me pictures. But words and photos didn’t do it justice. They missed the raw nature of the landscape and its rugged beauty.
“This is all part of the ranch?” I asked as we drove beneath an archway.
“Yep. It stretches along the mountains for miles. There’s a path that runs from one end to the other. This summer, I’ll take you around. We could even go riding.”
“Riding horses?” Kadence asked. “Can I go too?”
“Of course.” Talia twisted to give her a smile. “I’ll teach you both how to ride.”
“Maybe I could even have my own horse someday,” Kaddie said.
“Maybe.” If a horse or pony would keep her smile in place, if it was something Talia and she could bond over, I’d buy her a hundred.
At the end of the lane, a large home appeared. Behind it were stables and a barn. A line of vehicles was parked outside the house.
Talia’s knees bounced as I pulled into a space beside another truck.
“Hey.” I put my hand on her knee, my thumb stroking over her jeans. “This is your family. They’ll support you.”
She nodded and met my gaze. “I know. I just . . .”
Wanted them to be nice to me.
Something she wouldn’t voice with Kadence listening.
“It’s all good.” I hooked my finger under her chin, pulling her across the console for a kiss before unbuckling her seat belt. Then I hopped out and walked to their side of the truck, opening both of their doors. “Kaddie, do you want to carry in the drinks?”
“Sure.” She looped the tote bag full of drinks, juice boxes and sparkling waters over her arm while I snagged the bottle of wine and bouquet of flowers for Anne.
Talia’s mother had been a sweetheart when she’d dropped by the house last week with cookies. I was on a strict diet. No processed foods, no refined sugar leading into this fight. I wouldn’t risk not making weight.
But when she’d offered me a chocolate chip cookie, I’d eaten two, not only because they were delicious, but also because I’d wanted to earn whatever favor I could.
Maybe Anne could help convince Harrison I wasn’t an awful choice for his daughter.
And tonight, no matter what we were having for dinner, I’d clear my plate.
I’d already warned Jasper he’d have to push me to the max tomorrow in training.
Talia led the way up the porch stairs to the front door. I held Kaddie’s hand, making sure she didn’t slip. Before we could knock, the door swung open and a tall, broad man filled the threshold.
He looked like a younger version of Harrison, with Talia’s blue eyes and the same dark hair. Griffin. Her oldest brother.
“Hi.” He kissed Talia’s cheek, waving us into the entryway. “You’re going to want to hang out right here for a minute.”
“What?” Talia asked. “Why?”
“Trust me.”
Voices carried from deeper in the house, not all of them cheerful.
“Foster, meet my brother Griffin,” Talia said. “Griff, this is Foster and his daughter, Kadence.”
“Hey, Kadence. Nice to meet you, Foster.” Griff extended a hand, shaking mine.
“You too.” I waited for a glare or for him to size me up.
We were about the same height and build. But he looked like the type of man who hadn’t built those muscles in a gym like me. He’d done it through physical work on this ranch, and I respected the hell out of that.
The sideways glance, the warning stare, never came. Either he didn’t know about me or I had an unexpected ally.
“What’s going on in there?” Talia pointed down the hall as she unzipped her coat, letting me help take it from her shoulders.
“Let’s see.” Griffin held out his fingers, tapping each as he rattled off his answer. “Eloise invited a guy with her. Why she thought tonight would be the night to bring a date, I have no idea. But the guy she brought knows Winn.”
“How?” Talia asked.
“Because Winn got called down to the grocery store two days ago. The general manager caught this idiot stuffing a cucumber down his jeans.”
I laughed. “You’re kidding.”
“Can you arrest someone for— Nope.” Talia held up her hand. “That’s the wrong question to ask first. Why is Eloise seeing a guy who would stuff a cucumber down his jeans?”
“No idea. Apparently they met at Willie’s a few weekends ago and have gone on a couple dates.” Griffin sighed as the arguing down the hall got louder. “Pretty sure she’s dumping him.”
“That’s disgusting!” a woman shouted. “Why would you do that? It defies the common rules of basic hygiene. And that’s not how you treat produce!”
Kadence looked up to me with wide eyes.
I squeezed her hand twice, a silent okay.
Griffin shook his head. “Eloise couldn’t have worse taste in men.”
Which meant I wasn’t on the bottom of the list. Score. Eloise had just become my favorite of Talia’s siblings.
Footsteps pounded our way. A lanky guy in a beanie kept his eyes aimed at the door as he rushed outside. Thirty seconds later, an engine revved and headlights flashed as he disappeared.
“Cucumber man?” Talia giggled.
Griffin nodded. “Yep.”
I expected the noise to lessen now that Eloise wasn’t shouting, but the commotion continued. The voice that rose above the others sounded like Anne’s but I couldn’t be sure given I’d only met her once.
“What’s wrong with Mom?” Talia asked.
“She thought it would be fun to FaceTime Mateo so he could ‘join the family dinner.’ ” Griffin chuckled.
“He’s at a bar, drunk off his ass at the moment.
Which Knox and I thought was hilarious. Mom?
Not so much. She snapped at me when I told Mateo to have another shot.
And then she started in on a lecture that he’ll never remember come sunup. ”
Talia craned her neck, picking out other voices. “And what’s Lyla pissed about? Other than me?”
“Lyla’s pissed at you?” Griffin asked.
Would Talia tell her brother why she was fighting with her twin? Because she hadn’t explained it to me.
“It’s nothing.” Talia flicked her wrist.
Guess I wasn’t the only one in the dark.
“Oh. Well, Lyla’s fighting with Knox.” Griffin blew out a long breath.
“Since Mom is talking to Mateo, she asked Knox to season the steaks. Lyla’s in a mood because she insisted on doing it herself.
But according to Knox, she was doing it wrong and .
. . I don’t know. I just want to eat a steak tonight. With or without seasoning.”
Me too. Steak was diet approved.
Beneath the adult voices was a baby’s cry.
“And Hudson doesn’t feel good,” Griffin said. “He doesn’t want me to hold him. He only wants Winn.”
“What’s wrong with Hudson?” Before Griff could answer Talia’s question, she flew down the hallway, probably to examine her nephew.
Griff barked a dry laugh. “Welcome to the madness.”
“Is it always like this?”
“I really want to lie and say no.” He took the bottle of wine from my hand and the tote from Kadence’s. “Come on in.”
I chuckled, helping Kadence out of her coat before taking off my own and following Griffin deeper into the house, where we found the Eden family congregated in the kitchen.
The arguing, the conversation, stopped.
All eyes swung my way.
Okay, so maybe it was a bit nerve-racking. I held tighter to Kadence’s hand.
Harrison stood from the stool where he’d been seated and stalked my way, his face as hard as granite.
“Dad,” Talia warned, holding a little boy with dark hair. Hudson, based on the rundown of family members she’d given me all week. And the woman at her side had to be Winn, Griffin’s wife and the Quincy chief of police.