“Oh, honey, thank you. Axel hasn’t brought a woman home since the last one shattered his heart and ran off to Arizona with it.”
“Ma,” Axel growls, but she flicks her hand in his direction.
“You didn’t make this pie,” Ridge accuses, just as a few more people join us in the kitchen.
“What are we talking about?” a young woman asks, hopping onto a barstool. She looks similar to Axel and Ridge.
“Nothing,” Axel says quickly, sending a glare at his brother at the same time Ridge says, “Axel’s trying to cheat,again.”
“No,” the woman mocks, smacking her hand on her chest with gusto. “Not Axel!”
“Uncle Axel!” A little boy giggles as he sprints into the room, running so fast he nearly crashes into my legs. Instead, he uses them as a pole to swing around before shooting back out of the room.
“Hi, Jeremy!” Axel calls after him, but he’s already gone.
“Jeremy, slow down! Hey, Ax,” another woman says as she comes into the kitchen, going straight to him for a hug.
“Hey Care,” he greets, smiling warmly. From over her shoulder, our eyes meet. “Carrie, this is Holly. Holly, my sister, Carrie.”
“And Holly is?” She raises one eyebrow, her voice full of curiosity as she walks to me next. Without hesitation, she pulls me into a hug.
“My girl—date.”
“Your girl date?” She laughs.
“Smooth, dipshit,” Ridge chimes in.
“We haven’t defined things yet,” I insert, hugging Carrie, feeling the need to come to Axel’s rescue even though I can tell it’s all in good fun.
In my ear, she whispers, “If you need reinforcements, I’ve got you. These two can be relentless together. I’m not afraid to kick either of my brother’s asses.”
Immediately I like her, and as she rears back, she gives my shoulders a squeeze and winks. There’s a smile on my lips when my gaze meets Axel’s again. He’s watching me with amusement as I meet his family one by one.
“So, I caught the tail end of that as I was coming in.” Carrie looks over at Ridge. “What’d Axel do now?”
“Nothing,” Axel grumbles. Picking up his pie, he starts to walk out of the kitchen. “C’mon, Holly. Let’s go. I can see that they don't want us or our pies here.”
“Oh, now, don’t you wrap Holly into this, Axel! Ain’t nothing wrong with her or her pie,” Martha, Axel’s mom, teases.
“Woooow,” he groans. “I see how it is.”
“Hey, that’s not even a normal sized pie,” the younger woman, who still hasn’t been introduced, points out.
“Let me see it!” Carrie steps forward, grabbing the pie from Axel’s hands. Trying to keep it in his grasp, he pulls it backward, but doesn’t anticipate Carrie letting it go.
Within seconds, the pie lands upside down on the floor and is smashed within its plastic wrap.
“My pie!” Axel bends down to see if it’s salvageable. Thankfully, it’s been contained within its packaging, but it’s turned into a giant mess.
“There’s no way you baked that. They don’t make household pie-pans that big.” Ridge squats beside his brother to study the pie closer.
All the while, I watch from my place and lean against the table, trying not to laugh. My eyes track the movement of Axel’s father as he walks over to a drawer by the refrigerator and pulls out a handful of forks. Passing them out, he then goes and picks up the smashed pie, placing it on the counter.
“Alright, everyone. Have a taste. If we’re going to keep Axel’s pie in the contest, we need to at least know if it’s worth the kerfuffle.”
“Ew, Dad, that was on the floor.” Axel’s younger sister wrinkles her nose in disgust, setting the fork down. “No way.”
“Annie, it’s still wrapped in plastic. It’s fine.”
