Danielle smirked at me, and I got the distinct feeling that she knew I was bluffing. I drank in her amusement, her joy, wishing I could bottle it up and keep it safe.
In the end, Maggie won most of the games, to the surprise of no one. I wasn’t sure if she rigged the games to always work in her favor when she came up with the new rules or if her wins were completely fair. It didn’t matter. We all played by her rules anyway.
Scott met us at the bubble tea shop before we all headed to my parents’ for dinner.
Dad had been getting worse lately—working from home more days than not and bowing out of almost allevents he was invited to. So Mom was now insisting we do family dinners on Saturdays. I wasn’t going to pretend I was particularly fond of the idea, but I was sucking it up for the sake of everyone else.
Danielle slipped her hand into mine as we walked up to my parents’ front door. “You okay?”
I squeezed her hand. “Yeah.”
The door swung open while I was still knocking.
“How many times do I have to tell you to just come in?” Mom said, pulling me and Danielle into a hug. “This will always be your home.”
It hadn’t been my home in over ten years, but I didn’t say that. It would only hurt my mother’s feelings.
She let go of us and moved on to Maggie and Scott, who were coming up behind us.
“You didn’t bring Jessica,” she said with a hint of disappointment when she got to Miles.
“She was busy tonight,” Miles said even though we all knew it was a lie. Or maybe she was busy, but that was only because Miles didn’t want to bring her. If he’d wanted her here, she’d be here for him.
I’d met Jessica a couple of months ago and only saw her a handful of times after that, but it was easy to see how good she was for my brother and how much she genuinely cared about him. I couldn’t imagine her picking something else over a family dinner with Miles’s dying father.
“That’s okay. Maybe she can come next week,” Mom said.
“Maybe.”
But we all knew she wouldn’t. Miles was hiding herfrom Dad. I couldn’t say I blamed him. I still hadn’t forgiven him for asking Danielle about our prenup during the vacation at the beach house.
Danielle was quiet through dinner, only speaking when someone asked her a direct question, and she kept casting glances around the table with an unreadable expression on her face.
“What’s on your mind, Sunday School?” I asked, leaning in so my lips brushed her ear with every word.
She shook her head. “This isn’t the time or place.”
“Come for a walk with me then.” I pushed back my chair and held out my hand to her.
She stared at it for a second and then looked up at me with disapproval in her eyes.
“Please excuse us. We’ll be back in a bit,” I said.
Danielle accepted my hand and followed me out of the dining room.
“That was rude,” she hissed when we were out of earshot of my family.
“I honestly don’t give a fuck. Tell me what’s bothering you. Did one of them do something?”
“No. I’m just… I need to tell you something, all of you. Do you think your family would be okay with doing a joint thing with my family next weekend instead of dinner here?”
“Yeah. I’m sure they’d be happy to.” I didn’t care what they wanted. If this was what Danielle needed, I’d make it happen.
She nodded. “We should go back in there.”
“Not yet.” I tightened my hold on her hand and pulled her into the conservatory off the kitchen. It wasone of my mother’s favorite rooms in the house. She said it reminded her of her grandmother who had raised her and apparently loved plants and gardening.
“What are we doing here?”
