I smiled, something heavy in my chest lifting and lightening. A burden I didn’t even realize I was carrying shifting and being lifted by him. “Then let’s go down and meet your family.”
He released me so suddenly, I almost fell over. He turned his back on me and started reciting the multiplication tables. I laughed at his sudden change in demeanor. “What are you doing?”
“Trying to get in the right frame of mind for seeing my family,” he said. “You should put your shirt back on.”
“Yes, sir.” I couldn’t resist teasing him.
“Not helping,” he said on a groan. “Although save that for later. I think I like it.”
I laughed and dressed. He continued to recite multiplication tables until he was ready to head downstairs.
He led me down the stairs and toward the back of the house into a large room with books on floor-to-ceiling shelves and no one outside. “Do you want to get something to eat before we go out there?”
I released his hand and walked to the nearest bookcase, reading the titles of the books lining the shelves. “I’m not hungry, but I wouldn’t mind spending a day or two here.”
“We can spend all day in here tomorrow if you want, but for now we should find my brothers and sisters before they get too drunk.”
That gave me pause and I spun to face him. “Drunk?”
“We tend to drink when we’re all together.” He shrugged. “It’s just what we do.”
“Huh,” I said. “Then let’s go.”
We walked past a study and an enormous guest bathroom before we reached the back door. We stepped out onto a slate patio to the sound of raucous laughter. “Shit,” he said. “We’re too late.”
A fire blazed in the center of a group of people, all of them seated in wrought iron chairs. A woman, short and thin and wearing a flowing sun dress stood and walked over to us. “Thank goodness you’re finally here, Cody,” the woman said. Her hand on his arm made me irrationally jealous. Which was stupid, since she was likely one of his sisters.
Cody bent forward and kissed her cheek. “It’s good to see you, Aubrey.”
Aubrey, his brother Noah’s assistant and not one of his sisters. Jealousy flared brighter. “You know it’s not normal for families to drink to excess every time they’re re-united, right?”
“Actually,” Cody said. “I think it’s probably more normal than you realize. Aubrey, this is my friend, Carrie Harrison.”
The fire was behind Aubrey, so I couldn’t see her facial expression, but I could see her bounce onto her toes. “The fake fiancée,” she said. She stuck out her hand and I shook it. “I’m so glad to have another non-family member to keep me sane. Come on, I’ll introduce you and then we can psychoanalyze them while they drink themselves stupid.”
My irrational jealousy was eased by Aubrey’s words. “Sounds like my favorite way to spend an evening.”
Aubrey introduced me around and Cody’s siblings all said hello very politely, but they were distracted by Cody’s presence and enveloped him in hugs and questions. Aubrey pulled me away from the circle to the edge of the patio. From that viewpoint, we could see the lights of the city blocking out the stars. “I don’t mean to be pushy,” she said. “But I’ve found that the best way to understand the Reynolds clan is to observe them from a distance, especially when they’ve been drinking. It is immensely revealing. If you’d rather stand next to your man, feel free.”
She spoke with a frankness and a sincerity that made me feel immediately at ease with her. I liked her and could imagine her becoming a friend if Cody and I were a real couple. “He’s not my man. He’s my pretend fiancé, and I’m quite happy to watch him from a distance.”
Cody chose that moment to seek me out, he shot me a warm smile and returned to the conversation he was having with one of his sisters.
“Doesn’t look so fake from where I’m standing,” she said. “Can I get you anything to drink?”
“No, thank you. I’m still hung over from the last time I got drunk.”
Aubrey laughed. “You are much wiser than me my friend.” She put her glass to her lips and took a long swallow. “Drinking is the only way I’ve found to survive all the time I’ve been forced to spend with Noah.”
“Is he that difficult?”
She gave me a sad smile, the firelight flickering prettily over her sharp, angular features, her bright eyes flashing. “Quite the opposite, I’m afraid,” she said. “But he doesn’t see me. I’m just one of the guys to him.”
“How can you be sure? If you haven’t told him how you feel, maybe he’s secretly harboring feelings for you.”
She sighed. “I gave him the test and he didn’t even notice.”
“The test?”
She looked at me, her eyes narrowing slightly. “I don’t often share my tricks with strangers, but I’m more than a little tipsy and it’s nice to have a non-Reynolds to speak to, so I’m going to tell you something you must never reveal to anyone.”
“I promise.” I was beginning to suspect this woman was crazy, but her friendliness and likability made it a tolerable crazy.
“I had…A bad experience when I was younger and it made me wary of men. I could have hidden away and cowered like a scared little rabbit, but I created a system of tests and tricks to be sure I understood the men I came into contact with and their intentions. Men are generally very simple and very easy to read, but Noah is better than most at keeping his feelings hidden. I know he’s kind and generous, loyal to his family and his family’s business, but I didn’t know for sure how he felt about me. I’ve had to resort to more elaborate games to figure out what secrets lurked in the recesses of his mind.”
This woman should write a book. “You should write a book,” I said. “You’d make millions.”
She smiled. “I’m not so sure. I think most people prefer the mystery. The truth is rarely pretty or palatable. I’ve never been afraid of the truth. The truth makes me feel safe.”
“What was this test of yours?”
“Noah has destroyed every one of my theories, so I had to create a new test for him. It’s called the compassion test.”
“Okay.”
“I’m not an emotional person and Noah knows me better than I’ve ever let anyone know me. He’s never seen me cry or be more than the efficient and capable assistant and friend he expects me to be. Since we’ve started living together, though, I’ve had the opportunity to do more. I waited until I knew he’d be home and I dropped onto the couch and sobbed.”
“Impressive.” I was no actress, I could never pull that off.
She shrugged. “He walked in, saw me crying, and stayed on his side of the room. He asked what was wrong and what he could do.”
“That was nice of him.”
She shook her head. “No. What he was really asking was how soon he could get back to his day and his friend could get back to normal. A man who really cared would have held me while I cried, would have been sad that I was sad.”
“Cody punched my nephew for making me cry.”
She grinned and bounced a bit. “I told you he’s crazy about you. He doesn’t just care for you, he feels empathy for you, he wants to hurt what’s making you hurt.”
“We weren’t even…That was before the fake fiancé stuff. I’m pretty sure he didn’t even like me.”
“What he did proves he likes you, even if he didn’t admit it to himself. Noah didn’t do any of that. My tears were a nuisance, not something that bothered him on a compassionate or empathetic level.”
“Maybe tears make him uncomfortable, and he didn’t know how to react.”
She pointed a slim, well-manicured finger at me. “I had the same thought. So I upped the ante. I told him I was crying because my heart was broken by my stupid boyfriend, who I’d caught in bed with another woman.”
“What did he do?”
“He told me I was better off without the idiot and went back to his office to work, just like he does every single day.
”
“Wow. I thought you said he’s your best friend. Even a good friend would do more than that.”
She looked at Noah who was smiling at a story May was telling. “He had my favorite sushi delivered. Our relationship has never been one of effusive emotion. He’s a reserved man. Just watch him.”
So, I watched. I watched the siblings talk and laugh and tease each other and Aubrey was right, a very definite dynamic did reveal itself. Noah, the tall, lean, dark-haired one with glasses and a firm, harsh stroke of a mouth on an otherwise handsome face, held himself back from the others, not quite aloof, but more watchful, offering input only when asked. The next oldest, Jill, had a sad look in her eyes, but she smiled fondly at her family. She was the shortest of the Reynolds siblings, probably about my height, and the only one with blond hair and pale skin. She seemed to be the one the others looked to for approval or advice, even though she was their sister. There was just something innately maternal about her. Jenna, the college professor, was calm and cool like her older siblings, but that seemed more her nature than a purposeful restraint. She had to be five-ten and was rail-thin, with thick, dark hair that fell midway down her back. Her eyes danced with constant amusement and she was the first to laugh when anyone made a joke. Her own jokes fell flat, but she found herself infinitely amusing. Next was Cody and he acted differently than I’d ever seen him before. He was a goofball, making the others laugh with tales of his failures and faults. The others played along and wondered how he survived from day to day with a sincere astonishment that pissed me off. How did they not see how bright and capable he was? I might not have seen him go to a job every day, but I’d seen him doing research and making plans for his vineyards, cooking a good meal every night, doing repairs around the house even though it was just a rental, and chatting with the neighbors like they were family.
Jared didn’t stop smiling the whole night. Aubrey told me he loved having his family together. He was just shy of Cody’s height and could have been his twin, except for the extra laugh lines around Cody’s eyes. May was the youngest and she was a stunner in bright colors. Where the other girls in her family were model-thin, she was curvy and voluptuous, her thick brown hair framing a face that would have been at home on an angel, even as the devil sparkled in her brown eyes. The others seemed to cater to her every whim, telling her at turns how capable and smart she was and how lucky she was to have her curves and good fashion sense. As Aubrey had said, everyone had their box and some of Cody’s words, about being a fuck-up, made more sense. He hadn’t just blown one big deal, he’d been treated as a goofball and a ne’er-do-well by his family for a long time.
My own observations were augmented by stories Aubrey told me about all the kids. According to her, Noah was the most astute and reliable, Jill was the hardest worker, Jenna was the smartest, Jared had the biggest heart and a love of animals that exceeded his love of people, and May had made a career of never settling on a career and avoiding failure and negativity all together. Of Cody, she said that his goofball routine was something she suspected he’d started as a kid to distract the others from their parents’ fights and their financial struggles. A coping mechanism he’d wrongly accepted as a truth about himself.
Shortly after we joined the group on the patio, the matriarch of the family emerged. She sat next to Noah and teased her family with love and understanding. She argued that Cody wasn’t a goofball and May was capable of great things. She suggested Noah needed to loosen up and Jill needed to stop hiding from life. She told Jenna she should stop turning down every date offered and Jared that being a good person meant sometimes you couldn’t save everyone. She glowed in the center of her family’s love and affection.
Cody waved me over and I went, aiming for the vacant chair next to him. He grabbed my waist before I got there and pulled me onto his lap, his arms tight around me. The conversation around us stilled and Mrs. Reynolds’ eyebrows went high. “I thought this relationship was pretend?”
Cody froze beneath me and his arms loosened. He forced a laugh. “I guess we’ve just gotten so used to pretending, that I’d forgotten we don’t have to do that here.”
I stood and moved to the seat next to him. He drained his beer in two swallows and stood. “I’m getting another, anyone else want one?”
“I think you’ve all had enough,” Mrs. Reynolds said. “I will honestly never understand why this is the tradition that stuck with you six.”
“Because we get along so much better when we’re less sober,” Cody said. He raised the bottle high. “Anyone else?”
Three hands went up. Cody swayed on his feet as he pointed at each and turned to make the ten step walk to the cooler.
“So, Carrie,” Jared said, his smile firmly in place. “How’d you have the bad luck of getting pulled into one of Code Red’s messes?”
He might be smiling, but his tone was a bit snide and I didn’t like it. I didn’t like that Cody’s own family seemed to have fun at his expense. “Actually,” I said. “It was the other way around. I got into a mess and Cody helped me out.”
Cody passed the beers out and sat next to me. “It was a matter of mutual messes amazingly well-timed to correspond,” Cody said. “And the only reason we’re still pretending is because I’m trying to demonstrate how invested I am in the town to convince Bart Gregory to sell me his property.”
“You never did learn how to negotiate a deal the normal way, did you?” Noah asked, his tone teasing.
“You two must be incredibly well-suited with your matching messes,” Jenna said.
Cody frowned and his fist tightened on his beer bottle. “Carrie is nothing like me. She’s a wonderful teacher and well-respected in the town. She has a history of successes, not a history of fuck-ups.”
“Cody,” Jill said. “We’re all just teasing. You know we think you’re brilliant and talented. You can coax a grape crop from dust.”
I was almost certain Cody didn’t know they were just teasing and, judging by the expression on his face, he didn’t believe a word Jill said. “You kids have always been too harsh with each other,” Mrs. Reynolds said. “You take after your father that way, and I didn’t step in as often as I should have. But I say enough is enough. Family is supposed to support one another.”
Cody drained his beer while she spoke and stood. This time he didn’t ask anyone else if they wanted one, he just went to the cooler and got another. I didn’t have a big family, but it didn’t seem right that they needed to drink like this to be around one another. Although, everyone else seemed relatively sober compared to Cody. “We support each other,” Jill said. “But teasing is how we show love.”
Mrs. Reynolds sighed. “I know. Just be careful not to take it too far. Don’t get personal.”
“If we have to be nice to each other,” May said. “Let’s play truth or dare.”
“And that’s my cue to leave.” Mrs. Reynolds stood, kissed each of us, even me, good night, and headed inside.
“We’re too old to play truth or dare,” Noah said. “I was too old for it when I was ten.”
May rolled her eyes. “Yes, we all know you matured well before your time. It’s why you’re the pride of the family and the rest of us can never live up to the bar you set.”
“I’ve never played truth or dare,” I said. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at me like they were shocked I’d spoken. “I’ve always wanted to try it.”
“Great.” May bounced in her seat and clapped her hands. “I’ll start with you.”
“Go easy on her,” Cody said.
I bumped his elbow with my own. “I can handle whatever you throw at me, May.”
She squealed. “Okay, truth or dare?”
“Truth.” I was brave, but I wasn’t picking dare until I’d seen what sorts of dares they invented.
“Damn it,” Cody said in what I think he meant to be a whisper, but which came out loud enough that everyone could hear. “You never choose truth when it’s May doing th
e asking.”
“You shut it, idiot maximus,” May said. She narrowed her eyes and looked me up and down.
“What’s your favorite thing about my brother?”
I considered her question, pretty sure I’d gotten off easy. “Other than his willingness to help me out when I needed a fake fiancé?” I asked, giving myself more time. I wanted to be honest, but I was also more than a little annoyed with his family’s negative opinion of him, and I wanted to give them something to think about. “I like the way he’s been there for me, even though he’s got his own priorities and his own plans. He watches out for me and he’s kind to all our neighbors, no matter how nosy they get. He can cheer me up, even when I think I’ll never smile again. And he’s an amazing cook and happy to share the food he makes.” I smiled. “The food is probably my absolute favorite.”
“The way to a woman’s heart is through her stomach,” Jared said with a laugh. May smiled, her eyes twinkling with mischief, and I was sure I’d missed something. I turned to Cody, but he wasn’t looking at me, he was looking at his hands, rolling his empty beer bottle between them.
“Okay,” May said. “It’s your turn, Carrie.”
I wasn’t at all prepared, but I looked around the circle and considered my options. Cody was still staring at his hands, so I chose the person I knew second best. “Aubrey,” I said. “Truth or dare?”
“Dare,” Aubrey said, her chin high, her eyes everywhere but on Noah.
“Okay. I dare you to demonstrate a hidden talent that no one here is aware of.”
“Oooh,” May said. “Good one.”
Aubrey leaned back in her seat and considered. “Well,” she said at last. “I have a talent, but I’m not exactly dressed for it.” She gestured to her long, flowing dress. “Play one without me while I change.”
“That won’t work,” May said. “You’re next.”
Aubrey sat back down. “Okay. Cody, truth or dare?”
Cody lifted his head. His eyes were glazed and heavy lidded and it took him several long seconds to focus on Aubrey. “I’m pretty sure I can’t get out of my seat. Truth it is.”
The Deadbeat Next Door Page 18
