“Ha ha,” she deadpanned.
Her dad tucked her against his side, keeping one arm firmly around her. With the other he extended his hand to Jamar.
“I’m Colonel Powell,” he said.
“Jamar Dixon,” Jamar said, shaking his hand.
“Oh, I know who you are,” her dad said. Taylor stiffened. This could go one of two ways. “I’m a Packers fan, but I keep up with the Bears,” her dad finished.
Thank God. It went the non-apocalyptic way.
Jamar’s brow arched. “A Packers fan in Panthers country? If you don’t mind my asking, how did that happen, sir?”
Oh, good one, Twenty-Three. Tacking that sir on at the end would definitely score him some brownie points with the Colonel. Taylor knew those impeccable manners of his would come in handy.
“I was stationed at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, a long, long time ago. It’s halfway between Green Bay and Minneapolis. My drill sergeant was a Vikings fan, which explains why I hate them to this day.”
“That also explains why so many of his soldiers probably hate the Packers,” Taylor said. She gestured to the shiny black coupe in the driveway. “I see Darwin bought himself a new toy.”
“The hell he did. That’s mine,” her dad said. “A man only turns sixty years old once.”
He took Taylor’s bag from Jamar and led them inside.
A couple of years ago, her parents undertook a massive renovation, tearing down walls and going with an open-concept design that left the living room, dining room, and much of the kitchen visible from the foyer. Taylor spotted her mother sitting at the dining room table with her niece, Fredericka.
They were tying gold ribbons around little black boxes, which Taylor surmised were the party favors for tomorrow night. The fact that they were making the favors out in the open also meant that her father knew about the party. There was no need to pretend that she’d flown all the way from Austin for a small family get-together.
Taylor went straight to her mother and gave her a hug. She turned to Fredericka and signed Hello, Beautiful. I’ve missed you. Her niece signed back I’ve missed you too. I like your hair.
“Don’t you dare offer to dye her hair,” her mother told Taylor. “You know your brother won’t let you.”
“It won’t matter if we do it before he finds out.” Taylor signed the words as she spoke them.
She motioned Jamar over and made introductions, and then spent ten minutes relaying questions Freddie had about football and how many cities he’d traveled to while playing. Her niece suffered from a severe case of wanderlust and didn’t hold back when it came to her displeasure at never having left the United States. She maintained that the one time she visited her grandparents and aunt in Germany didn’t count since she was still a baby at the time.
“There are finger foods in the kitchen,” her mother said. “I’m sure you two are hungry after traveling all day.”
Taylor guided Jamar to the kitchen and took down two plates. When she turned back to him, he was staring at her with a mixture of wonder and appreciation in his eyes.
“What?” Taylor asked.
“You never mentioned you’re fluent in sign language,” he said.
“It’s not as if it ever came up in conversation,” she said.
“I don’t understand how you ever thought you weren’t college material, Taylor. Every day I learn something even more remarkable about you.”
An infusion of warmth filled her chest and then spread throughout the rest of her. Taylor closed the distance between them, cupped his face in her hands, and placed a kiss on the tip of his nose.
“Do you know those are, by far, the nicest words that have ever been said about me while standing in this particular kitchen? If my parents weren’t just a few yards away, I would strip your clothes off and do all kinds of nasty things to you right this second.”
Jamar closed his eyes and released a guttural sound from deep in his throat. “Please don’t say things like that while we’re here. I want your dad to like me. That will never happen if he notices me walking around his house with a hard-on.”
“Hmm, no, I don’t suspect the Colonel would take too kindly to that,” Taylor said. She slipped one hand from his jaw and trailed it down his chest and torso. “But you have to admit there’s something exciting about the thought of getting caught.”
He sucked in a breath. “Don’t.”
Just then, the front door opened and Darwin, along with his wife, Rebecca, entered the house. At the exact same time, Jesamyn and Chester came through the side door that led to the backyard. The volume of the chatter in the house quadrupled. It also put an end to any clandestine sexy times in her parents’ kitchen. That was probably a good thing.
They all flocked to the great room, and for the first time in ages, Taylor didn’t feel an overwhelming urge to escape. The finger sandwiches, chips and dip, and cocktail wieners her mom had prepared lasted all of ten minutes, so the Colonel ordered pizza, which they ate while relaxing on the sofa and in the comfortable armchairs Taylor instantly declared were the best pieces of furniture in the house.
Jamar fell right in with her family, charming her mother and sister-in-law, and as Taylor had predicted, going toe-to-toe with Jesamyn on every topic, from politics to climate change to the winner of the best picture at the Oscars this year. He cemented his place in the Powell family when he joined Freddie in learning a new dance on TikTok, then convinced her dad to join them.
Taylor laughed so hard she could barely catch her breath. But as she observed the jovial scene from the comfort of her plush armchair, she became increasingly uncomfortable with the sense of envy that began to take root. Was she…jealous?
Don’t be ridiculous.
The idea that she was anything but happy to see Jamar getting along so well with her family was laughable.
And yet…
Taylor couldn’t understand how he could seem so at ease with people he just met, while she walked around in a constant state of self-doubt whenever she was near them. Then again, it wasn’t all that difficult to understand how he was able to fit in. He’d matched wits with her sister and talked sports with her dad and brother. He fit in better with her family than she did.
She reminded herself that her family welcoming Jamar into the fold was a good thing. She wanted them to like him. Taylor forced a smile that she wasn’t really feeling and tried her hardest to suppress her resentment.
As the evening progressed, her dad made a pot of his famous hot chocolate and directed everyone to carry their mugs outside to the stone fire pit he’d had installed. When Jesamyn brought a bag of marshmallows for toasting, Taylor had to take a mental step back to make sure she was at the right house. Everything seemed too perfect.
And then her brother ruined it all.
Sitting in one of the Adirondack chairs circling the fire pit, Darwin said, “Did I mention that Caleb Mitchell started at our firm this past week? That’s yet another one of Taylor’s classmates who’s gone on to do big things.”
Taylor spun around in her chair and glared at her brother. “What is that supposed to mean?”
Darwin’s eyes grew wide. As if she would ever buy that innocent look from him. “It means that we just hired Caleb Mitchell at the firm,” he said.
“Why do you have to be such an asshole, Darwin?”
“Taylor.” Her mother’s strident tone rankled. Why in the hell didn’t she say anything to her son?
“He’s so transparent,” Taylor said. “You know he only brought up Caleb so that he could compare him to me.”
“No, I didn’t,” Darwin said. “I was making small talk.”
“By pointing out that one of my classmates is now a fancy lawyer at your fancy law firm?”
“Look, if you’re feeling some kind of way about Caleb’s success, that’s on you.”
“Oh, screw you.” Taylor tossed her wooden skewer into the fire pit and stood. “I’m tired, and I need a shower.” She looked to Jamar. �
��Where are the suitcases?”
“I put yours in your old bedroom,” her dad called from his chair on the other side of the pit. “The young man’s is in the spare room, where he will be sleeping.”
Taylor didn’t even attempt to argue. She’d known better than to expect her parents would be okay with her and Jamar sleeping in the same room. She went back into the house and upstairs to her old bedroom, her anger at Darwin’s attempt to belittle her intensifying by the minute.
Once in her room, Taylor hefted her carry-on onto the bed and unzipped it.
There was a knock at her door.
“Taylor?” came Jamar’s voice.
“Come in,” she called. She continued with her unpacking, taking out the jumpsuit she planned to wear to tomorrow night’s party.
“Are you okay?” Jamar asked, leaning against the closed door.
“I’m fine.” She sighed. “What you witnessed down there was par for the course when it comes to my brother.”
“Umm.” His forehead creased as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Taylor, I’m trying to figure out what your brother said that caused you to go off the way you did.”
“Excuse me?” She tossed the gym shorts she usually slept in back into the open carry-on. “You’re trying to figure out what he said? Did you not hear what he said about Caleb Mitchell and his fancy new job?”
Jamar held his hands up. “I don’t understand how you took that as a slight against you.”
“‘Another one of Taylor’s classmates doing big things’?” she said, doing an exaggerated impersonation of Darwin’s voice.
“Is Caleb a classmate of yours?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t you think it’s a pretty big deal that he got hired as a lawyer?” Jamar said. “It seemed to me that’s all your brother was pointing out.”
His words felt like two swift punches to the gut. Taylor took a step back and crossed her arms over her chest.
“Is that how you saw it? Well, given that I’ve known Darwin my entire life, and not just for a couple of hours, I may have a better handle on how to read between the lines when it comes to my brother.”
“Taylor, I—” He reached for her, but she stepped out of his grasp.
“I’m going to take a shower and then I’m going to bed,” she said, grabbing her T-shirt and shorts from where she’d tossed them in the open suitcase.
“It’s not even eight o’clock yet,” he said. “What am I supposed to do for the rest of the evening?”
“You seem to get along with my family better than I do,” she said. “I’m sure you’ll be just fine.”
She pushed past him on her way out the door, not bothering to answer as he called after her.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
As he stood outside Taylor’s bedroom, Jamar couldn’t tell if the faint strip of light that beamed on the hallway’s wooden floors came from the sun or from the ceiling fan light. He didn’t want to wake her if she was still sleeping, but the thought of her lying in bed brooding over the way things ended last night made his stomach turn.
Sucking in a fortifying breath, he knocked on the door. “Taylor?”
He didn’t have to keep his voice down. The rest of her family was already awake and eating from the buffet-style breakfast someone had laid out downstairs.
The activity in the kitchen had woken him just after seven this morning. As far as Jamar could tell, the room he’d been assigned had once been a small office or maybe a den that had been converted into an extra room for guests.
He knocked again. “Taylor?”
A moment later, the door swung open and Taylor appeared on the other side. He couldn’t read her flat expression, but he erred on the side of her still being upset with him.
“Umm, hey,” he said.
“Hey,” she murmured. She opened the door wider, an invitation to enter.
Jamar stuffed his hands into his pockets as he followed her inside. She cut across the room, settling near the chest of drawers, but something stopped him from going farther than the few tentative steps he’d taken just inside the door.
He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, unsure of where to start. He hated this feeling, not knowing where things stood between them. There was one thing he had learned in the past twelve hours—just how much Taylor Powell had come to mean to him in this short time. The intense regret over how their night had ended was just one indication. How he ached to hold her right now was another. He needed her.
“Look, Taylor, I know I screwed up last night by sharing my…umm…my unsolicited opinion, but—”
“Stop,” she said, holding up a hand.
Jamar’s throat grew intensely tight. One of the worst-case scenarios on the massive list of worst-case scenarios he’d dreamed up last night was Taylor demanding they go back to pretending they were dating for the rest of the weekend and then dumping his ass as soon as they returned to Austin.
She’d walked him through the complicated relationship she had with her family, had opened up about how inadequate she felt when compared to them. And in her eyes, he’d sided with her family—with her archenemy of a brother—over her. Could he really blame her for her hostility?
“I…um.” She glanced at the bed, the chair in the corner, out the window. She released a deep breath and continued. “I was mad at Darwin and took it out on you. I shouldn’t have.”
It took Jamar a moment to process her words.
She finally directed her gaze to him. “Things were going so well last night that I let my guard down around Darwin. I knew better than to do that. The two of us have always gotten along like expensive taste and bad credit.” She hunched her shoulders. “Like I said, I shouldn’t have taken it out on you.”
Jamar was almost afraid to ask, “So does this mean we’re okay?”
She stretched out both her hands, capturing his and bringing herself into him. She lifted her face to his and placed a kiss on his chin.
“We’re okay,” she said.
The sudden release of tension made his limbs go weak. He still had so many questions about her outburst at her brother, but he didn’t want to chance a repeat of what happened last night. He wasn’t in the right headspace for navigating that tricky conversation.
“Taylor, can we maybe, I don’t know, go for a drive or something? I just need to get away for a bit to clear my head.” He paused for a moment before he said, “Today is kind of a rough day for me.”
He saw the moment that understanding dawned.
“Of course,” she said with an emphatic nod. “Let me change into something warmer.”
She went over to the chest of drawers and grabbed a dark blue sweatshirt from the second drawer from the top and pulled it over the plain white T-shirt she wore. When she turned around, Jamar frowned at the letters across the front.
“Navy?”
She stretched out the hem, looking down at the shirt. “I bought it to piss off my dad.” She hunched her shoulders again. “I can be a bit of an asshole.”
She grabbed one of those ties she used for her hair and pulled her braids together, securing them at the base of her neck.
“Let’s get out of here,” she said. She took him by the hand as she led the way out of the bedroom. “We can take a tour of Fayetteville. It’s a pretty cool town with interesting architecture, if you’re into that kind of stuff.”
He was into anything that included her, especially on a day like today.
As was the case on this day for the past eight years, his first thought when he woke up this morning was that call from Drea, asking him to get to the hospital. He selfishly wanted—no, he needed—Taylor to help take his mind off those horrible memories.
“Have you had breakfast?” she asked over her shoulder as they made their way downstairs.
“I’m not really hungry,” Jamar answered.
Once in the kitchen, she went straight to the walk-in pantry and came out with two squares of aluminum foil. She piled scrambled e
ggs and bacon inside two biscuits before wrapping them in foil; then she grabbed two bottles of orange juice from the refrigerator.
“I’m going to show Jamar around town,” she called to her mother.
“Make sure you’re back in time for our pre-party toast,” her mother said. “We’re doing a private one here at the house first.”
The front door opened, and Darwin walked in. Taylor took Jamar by the hand and exited through the side door just off the kitchen.
“I’m not up for a fight,” she said, handing him one of the biscuit sandwiches and a bottle of juice. “You may get hungry later,” she explained.
Taylor handled driving duties since she knew the area better than he did. She unwrapped her biscuit and placed it on her lap, eating with one hand while steering with the other.
Jamar appreciated the quiet. He appreciated her innate understanding that meaningless chatter would do him no good right now. He needed to just exist for a moment. To come to terms with what today signified.
They headed down Highway 210, straight into the heart of the city. She took him past the U.S. Army Airborne & Special Operations Museum so that he could see the unique, modern architecture of the building’s entrance, and then on to the historic downtown area.
“Are you up for a walk?” Taylor asked.
“A walk or a hike? I’ve known you long enough now to know a walk is never just a walk.”
Her lips tipped up in a rueful smile. “A little of both. The Cape Fear River Trail is nearby. It’s beautiful, even at this time of the year. Peaceful. I think you’d enjoy it.”
He captured her free hand and placed a kiss on the back of it. “That sounds perfect.”
Ten minutes later, she pulled the Lincoln into a parking lot surrounded by near-leafless trees. They maintained a comfortable silence as they set out on the trail, strolling along a wooden platform that snaked through the bare forest, walking underneath a covered bridge and past several gurgling streams with short waterfalls. Growing up in one of the flattest parts of Texas, Jamar rarely saw this side of nature.
A couple of joggers ran past them, but for the most part, they were alone. Taylor had been right. It was peaceful. It was exactly what he needed today.
The Dating Playbook Page 24
