“That means it’s all on your shoulders.” I shuddered. The pressure must have been real. I guess in a way, I lucked out in that department. I didn’t have any family to bug me for kids. I only knew it was a thing parents did because poor Kenni was expected to settle down soon. She was still fervently fighting the battle, but her parents were as hard-headed as she was.
“So they might say something weird. Especially since you’re my guest. Don’t let anything they do upset or put you off. Have fun with it.”
“Have fun with it, huh?” I smirked.
That got his attention. He whipped his head around so quickly, I thought he was going to rear-end the car in front of us. He took in my expression before chuckling.
“Yes, Maddie. Have all the fun you want with it.” His face settled on an amused expression, his lips turned up into a smirk.
“Besides, I have the twins. They’ll be perfect. All I have to do is toss them to your mother and that should be enough to get her to back off.”
“It could have the opposite effect. Might make her more desperate for grandkids of her own.”
“Psh. She’ll have Lawson and Lee adopted into the family in no time.”
“Maybe. They are easy to like.”
Dayton’s response was perfectly wonderful. There was a softness to his expression as he said it and that was everything. He truly liked the kids and wasn’t blow smoke up my bum. He wasn’t playing fair right then. My heart wanted to jump out of my chest and tackle him.
“Tell me about your sisters,” I said, needing to change the topic and talk about something that wasn’t going to send me into a dangerous hyper awareness of Dayton. I didn’t need to get anymore of the warm and fuzzies from him. I got enough already.
“Well, the oldest is Emma. She’s a whirlwind of energy and shows no signs of ever slowing down. She’s the world-traveler of the family. Then Charlie is next. She’s the girliest girl you’ll ever meet. She’s also engaged, but she’s been adamant that kids are not coming from her, and her fiancé is in agreement. The youngest of the three is Ivy. She’s only a year older than me. She’s like a rock: smart, steady, and goal-oriented. She plans to take over the orchard when my parents are ready to retire. She already handles the business side of it very well.”
“They all still help out at the orchard.”
“Ivy lives there full time. Emma comes and goes. She does make sure to be available for the yearly festival at least. Charlie spends half her time here and the other half in Texas.”
“Aw, I can’t believe you’re the baby of the family.” I giggled. “That is so adorable.”
“Yeah.” The dryness in Dayton’s voice said he didn’t hold the same enthusiasm as I did. “Absolutely adorable.”
“I can’t wait to find the baby pictures.”
“What makes you think there are any?”
“Because you have the stereotypical middle-class family thing going on. There are definitely baby pictures.”
“I’m hiding them when I get there.”
I smiled big. “Go ahead. I love a good scavenger hunt. It’ll give me a good excuse to dig around in your room.”
Dayton moaned as I laughed. The rest of the ride was just as entertaining as he told me stories about the ways his sisters tormented him growing up. All too often, he ended up being the guinea pig, especially when Charlie was learning to apply makeup. I definitely needed to find those childhood photos now.
We got to the orchard faster than I thought. We bypassed what Dayton called the tourist area, which was a really nice parking lot in front of a long building fitted to act as a tourist shop. About a quarter of a mile past that, we turned down a bumpy dirt road and weaved through the trees, further away from civilization than I thought we’d go.
“I didn’t realize you were taking me out to get murdered,” I said. “I’ve seen every possible scenario for a road like this in movies. None of them bode well for me.”
“We use a lot of machinery on this path, so it’s easier on our wallets like this. We risk damaging a paved road otherwise.”
“Cost-efficient. Got it.”
Dayton’s house was absolutely gorgeous. His family owned the perfect American family dream home. It was more manor style, wide with two floors, huge windows, a wrap-around porch, and I could even see a balcony peeking out from the side.
They even had the massive tree in the front yard with the tire swing attached.
I was so laying claim to that right now.
“This is it?” Lawson asked, complete awe in his voice.
“That swing is mine!” I said.
“Aww.” If complete devastation could drip from a voice, it’d be flowing from Lawson’s response.
I grinned. We worked on the same wavelength, so I knew exactly what he had been eyeing as we drove to the house.
The gravel driveway passed a massive red barn off to the side and then veered off to the right of the house to the huge detached garage.
Cars and trucks were parked there already. I recognized Koen’s fancy car. There was even some dirt on the bottom of it. Smirking, I jumped out as soon as Dayton parked.
“Ha!” I said and pointed to it.
“What?” Dayton asked, coming around.
I pointed at his car again. “Mr. Perfect’s car. He probably regrets it.”
Dayton laughed. “Trust me, he doesn’t.”
I glanced at Dayton, wondering what would make him say that. This was the first time I was seeing Koen’s car dirty. Didn’t he know Boston was a monster standing against vehicles. Between the rain and random bouts of snow that lasted minutes, the streets were at war with cars. No vehicle got to drive unscathed. If someone went through a car wash before they made it back home, their poor car was dirty all over again. It was a losing battle this time of year.
And yet, every time I saw Koen’s car, it was clean and shiny and bright and obnoxiously perfect.
“We better help the boys before they fall out,” Dayton said.
He popped open the backseat door. Lawson jumped out before we could stop him, not caring about the person who would have to deal with him if he got hurt. Lee climbed over carefully and let Dayton help him out. Such a good boy.
They were wide-eyed as they stared at all the open space, all the freedom that was in their sight. All the freedom I was going to have to squash.
“Rules!” I called out before they had a chance to take off and leave me in their dust.
“Aww,” Lawson said, dipping his head down in complete disappointment. He acted like the world was ending. I mean, if he wanted to see what the world was like when it ended, I didn’t mind showing him. I was hoping he’d make it to his teen years first, though. I heard their newly found teenage hormones made it all the more fun to destroy their carefully created worlds.
Lee didn’t seem to mind and waited for me to speak.
I wasn’t even sure what kind of rules to make. If I were them, I’d want to be everywhere. I’d want to climb every tree, jump off the tire swing a million and one times, and find my way to the rooftop of the house.
Man, I was such a bad influence. I needed to keep those amazing adventures to myself.
“You have to be in sight of an adult at all times,” I stressed. “If you run into the woods, you must drag an adult with you. If you want to climb a tree, make sure an adult goes up first in case you get stuck. If you want to go on the rooftop, you need a ladder and an adult helping you. Probably some rope to tie you off too in case you fall.”
“Those are your rules?” Dayton asked in disbelief.
I gave the man a pitying look. “You’re a teacher. How do you not know the basic rules? They’re six. They’re going to do everything. If they’re going to be stupid, they should at least do it with an adult. Preferably me.”
“Oh. So that’s what this is about.” Dayton shook his head and chuckled. “You want to do it.”
“The twins too.” I turned to Lawson and Lee. “Right?”
“That sounds fun,” Lawson replied like I knew he would.
Lee was more reserved, more thoughtful. “As long as no one gets hurt. It does sound fun.”
“See! Of course it does.” I nodded enthusiastically.
Dayton moaned. “Oh God. I didn’t realize I brought three children with me.”
I was close enough to elbow him, and so I did. My elbow connected with his gut. He oomphed, grabbing his stomach like I had stabbed him instead.
I rolled my eyes. “I barely touched you.”
“Doesn’t mean it can’t hurt.”
“Right.” I ignored his grumbling and went back to the truck to get our bags. Who was acting like a kid now? Because it definitely wasn’t me.
“Let me get that.” Dayton grabbed the heaviest bag and one of the kids’ bags before I could.
“Is everyone here?” Reality caught up to me, and my nerves skyrocketed about meeting so many strangers. I was born a loner. Got through life as a loner. These last few weeks, there had been a whole lot of people coming into my life.
Dayton glanced around. “Looks like it.” He smiled, looking excited as he led us to the house. We followed behind like little ducklings, the twins walking between us.
The house became more impressive as we got closer and the smaller details came into focus. Like the fact that there were carvings of flowers and vines in the railings. It was very pretty.
The screen door was closed, but the main door was open, giving us a sneak peek into the house. Inside was lit up, and what I could see looked open.
“Dayton, are you finally here,” an older woman called out. Her voice was soft and warm, all the things that would be attached to the term ‘motherly.’ I hadn’t seen the owner of the voice, but anticipation of finding the owner thrummed through me. It was an amazing voice.
“Yeah! Coming in now!”
I glanced at Dayton, thinking about how often his voice sounded smooth and warm, just like this woman’s. “I see,” I said.
“What?” Dayton looked at me as he reached for the screen door.
Shaking my head, I said, “Nothing. Nothing at all.” Could a voice be something that was passed down a family line. Inherited from one generation to another?
I didn’t think Dayton would appreciate being told he sounded like his mother.
We didn’t last long in the house before we were engulfed by bodies. Lots of bodies. More than I thought was possible.
“Oh my! They are so cute!”
“Are these them? Bryce didn’t do them justice.”
“Oh, she looks absolutely adorable.”
This was a family of huggers. I’d walked into a family of huggers. If I could see Dayton, I would be sending murderous thoughts his way. I was a hugger, but walking into a mob of them was dangerous without having the correct information. If he’d told me beforehand, I would have known that I needed to squeeze them just as hard to prove they couldn’t overwhelm me with hugs.
Doing a hug right the first time meeting someone was important. I wanted to make the right impression. Like a handshake. Had to be firm, squeeze tight, and prove I won’t lose out to them.
Dayton robbed me of that.
“Ladies, give us space,” Dayton snapped out.
Laughter surrounded us, but at least a moment later I was able to pick people out instead of the whirlwind blurb I had been pulled into. Mobs were scary.
The woman before me was only slightly taller than me. She looked to be in her forties with the same warm blue eyes that Dayton had. Her brown hair was curly, falling around her face, softening her features.
I’d just found the older female version of Dayton.
Yes, he’d definitely not appreciate me saying he took after his mother. If he’d been born a female, he would have been her younger twin. It was absolutely amazing.
“I’m so sorry.” She tried to smooth out her clothes as she pulled herself together.
I smiled. “No worries, Mrs. Killison. I’ve gone a little hug-crazy a time or two in my life.”
Lawson and Lee found their way behind me, pressing close to my legs and threatening to topple me over. They were definitely not used to it from strangers.
“Call me Lina, please. My real name is Angelina, but that’s such a stuffy name.”
“Lina. I like it. I’m Madison, but I prefer Maddie instead.”
“Oh.” Her smile widened. “I like you.” Her gaze flickered between Dayton and me before settling on Lawson and Lee. A new spark entered her eyes. I knew that look. She was going to try to hook us up throughout the entire weekend. I knew it.
Maybe I should have fun with it, like Dayton challenged me to. But I also didn’t want to poke a fire. I didn’t want to fool his mother into thinking my relationship with Dayton was more than what it really was.
“Ma, when are you going to introduce us?” A woman pushed past her and smiled at me. The woman had what I was determining to be the family trade-marked blue eyes, though they were cooler than Dayton or Lina’s. “Hi, Maddie, I’m Emma.”
“Hi!” I held out my hand. She eyed it like it was a travesty against humankind. I sighed and stepped closer, going in for the hug instead. Now that I was prepared, I could give her a proper one. She felt so warm and welcoming, her presence taking me over completely.
“Okay, okay, you can’t have her.” Dayton had to work to pry me from her grasp.
Emma laughed as she relented and let him pull me away. I could see the rivalry between them already.
Introductions went all around. Koen and Bryce were there too, but hiding in the background, away from the chaos of Dayton’s family. His father was there and, surprise surprise, he had blue eyes too, though they were a shade darker.
That explained why it seemed like everyone had the same eyes. Logic said there should have been at least someone with brown eyes, or any other color, but they lucked out. Dayton’s father was tall, broad shouldered, with stubble along a wide jaw, a scar at the corner of his forehead, and a slightly harder expression, though he looked as welcoming as everyone else. He stood out though because he had an edge to him that everyone else lacked.
When hard choices needed to be made, no doubt Lucas Killison was the one to make them.
It took a while to coax the twins out from behind me. Lawson was the quickest to warm up to them and when Lina asked if they wanted lemonade, she finally won over Lee.
As I had planned, she took to them quickly, fawning over them.
“She’s going to spoil them,” I moaned as Dayton led the way into the kitchen. Their house was massive inside. Open too. The living room and dining room were connected without a door, just a beautiful archway to mark off where one room began and the other ended. The kitchen went off from the dining room and was probably the biggest room there. There were other doors, one being a bathroom, another a guest room, and an office space that Ivy claimed.
“We don’t have long,” Ivy said as she munched on a cookie. I kept staring at her chocolate chip goodness until she noticed and handed one to me.
“You’re my new best friend,” I said and took a bite. It was as good as it looked, the cookie soft, the chocolate melting on my tongue in a burst of sweet goodness. “Don’t tell Kenni I said that though. She’ll come out here and fight you for the position.”
The laughter that came from Ivy sounded like the ringing of windchimes. It was beautiful. She handed me another cookie with my having to ask. She knew the exact way to my heart.
The twins got a cup of milk with their plate of cookies. I didn’t mind. They were good sports on the drive there and deserved the treat. And who was I to take away their happiness when I was indulging myself too.
I could be fair. Sometimes.
“All right, we need to head over for the opening,” Lina said.
That was when I realized that all the guys managed to slip away, leaving us in the kitchen, alone, to munch on all the goodness. That was okay. More for me.
“What’s the opening?” I asked.
“A barbeque. Guests who bought a weekend pass to the whole event get a free meal. We say a couple of pretty words, and then let them eat. There’ll be some tours around the orchard, wine tasting, and live entertainment. There are games set out for the kids too.”
“Barbeque food?” My mouth watered.
Lina grinned. “You’re going to love this.” She glanced at the twins. “But let me show you which room you can use. Do you need a separate room for the twins? We have space.”
“Is the bed big?” I asked.
She nodded.
“We can use the same room.”
“Are you sure? Won’t you want privacy.” The twinkle in her eye told me where her thoughts had gone.
I giggled and shook my head. “Nope.”
“Oh.” She looked disappointed, but then she thought of something and her smile sent warning tingles down my spine. She was up to no good. I’d found the trickster of the family. I thought it’d be one of the sisters, or even Dayton. But I didn’t think it’d be the mother.
She showed us to a bedroom. It was big and roomy, the bed situated perfectly for the sun to shine on it, but not shine in the face of whoever slept in the room. It was dressed in pretty cream and pastel colors, the bedding floral, but not obnoxiously so.
“Your bathroom is connected to the other guest bedroom, but I promise no one is going to be using that room. If you think you need some privacy, feel free to make use of the other bedroom.
Ha. So that was what she wanted.
“Thank you,” I said. “This is perfect.”
“Oh, that view looks so cool,” Lawson said.
“There’s a pool,” Lee said. “Can we go swimming?”
“I didn’t realize you had a pool,” I said.
“Can we?” Lawson asked.
“It’s a bit too cold to go swimming outside,” I said. “You’ll get cold.” I went over to the window to look out. There was a massive field behind the house, almost big enough to fit half a football field into. The pool was already covered.
“If you guys come back when the weather gets warm, you can go swimming all you want,” Lina said.
Sizzling Hot Apple Cider Page 9
