I'd never felt a need to do that. No woman I'd dated in the past ever meant so much to me, not enough to let her into my life like I wanted to do with Liz.
Liz glanced at me with wide eyes.
I turned to my dad as he walked up next to my mom. “Dad, please don't embarrass me."
He patted me on the shoulder. "Don't worry, son. Your mom seems to have the hang of that."
"And besides, she's got me and Luke. We’re good at embarrassing you. So, Dad, you're off the hook today," Travis said.
Tate cocked a brow. “It’s too early in the morning for hazing Declan. Liz, nice to meet you. I’m Tate.”
"Oh, you're the wine brother. That makes you one of my favorites from the get-go."
"Hey, that's unfair," Luke said. "You've met us before. You gave us donuts. I thought we had a bond."
"Wine trumps donuts," Liz said with a wink.
Travis narrowed his eyes. "I said before that I like you, but the jury's still out."
“This is my fiancée, Lexi, and my daughter,” Tate continuing, gesturing to his family.
"You must be Paisley," Liz said.
My niece nodded. "Yes, yes I am."
Liz smiled at her. "Your uncle told me about you."
"He said you can bake. Can you teach me?"
"Sure, it would be my pleasure. Just think about what you want to bake. Maybe make a list, and we'll go through it."
Paisley's eyes lit up. I liked that Liz instantly took to her.
"Sure thing. Gran has already taught me some stuff. We bake together with Lexi."
"Yeah, but I think we can all learn something from Liz here. She's a professional baker, after all," Gran said. She was right behind Paisley.
"I'd love to bake with you whenever I can," Liz said. Gran was looking at Liz with a knowing expression. I’d bet anything that baking recipes weren't the only things she was interested in. This was Gran to a T.
"What took you so long to invite the whole gang here?" Tyler asked after introducing himself and Kendra to Liz.
"Hey, the man wanted to get his cave in order before letting everyone in," Kendra said. I liked her a lot. She was strong and fierce and exactly what my brother needed. He’d met her when he was at a low point—the Chicago Blades had benched him because of the fight with Malcolm and the resulting injury.
"Thank you, Kendra,” I said.
"We could have helped, you know," Mom said.
"Mom, news flash. He did rope all of us into helping him. You, Dad, and Gran are the only ones who escaped," Travis said as we all came into the living room.
"Everyone, Liz and I put some breakfast stuff on the kitchen island for you to dig into."
"Thank you. I need coffee," Mom said.
"Right away, Mom."
We all gathered at the kitchen island, and I patted myself on the shoulder for creating this open space between the kitchen and living room. The kitchen used to be separated by a wall before, but I liked big spaces like this where the family could gather all at the same time, even if they were doing different things. It was how I grew up.
"Is anyone else suspicious of this get-together or just me?" Tyler asked.
