I try my best to mask my flinch. “Morning, Sir.”
“Lord, the man is testing me. Give me strength,” Ruby mutters as golden toast pops up in front of her where she stands at the counter.
“So, where are we going?” I ask Serena to test the waters, and she ignores me. Thatch rolls his eyes and speaks up.
“Town square. Today is mystery Rudolph. All the adults get assigned someone to shop for because we used to buy for the kids only. It’s a deal we made when all of us started multiplying.”
“So I don’t get left out,” Whitney mutters dryly.
“That’s not true,” Ruby cuts in, buttering the toast.
“It’s pity Rudolph,” Whitney declares defiantly. “And I don’t need it. Just make them happy.” She nods towards her nieces and nephews.
“It’s not pity Rudolph,” Ruby refutes. “You shouldn’t be left out because you don’t have a husband or kids.”
“So you and I are in this together,” I say. Whitney’s grip on her fork tightens. She no longer seems to be a morning person. And by the look she’s giving me, I expect fire to singe off my face and jugular any second. It becomes even scarier when she flashes me her entire upper and lower deck of teeth. “It appears we are.”
Serena’s chest bounces and Thatch elbows her in the boob. She levels him with one look. “Do you want to die today?”
“Watching Die Hard today?” Allen belts from next to me, making me jump in my seat. “They have deemed it as a Christmas movie, you know. Alexa! Is Die Hard a Christmas Movie?!”
Alexa: “It certainly is. Some would argue it is the best.”
“That’s my girl,” he screams with a nod.
“Allen!” Ruby belts, matching his deafening tone. “Put your ears in, honey. They’re on the dresser!” Allen doesn’t so much as glance her way.
“Actually, Bruce Willis debunked that during his Comedy Central roast,” Brenden interjects.
“Mystery Rudolph is so fun, Eli,” Gracie pipes. “We all choose somebody to shop for, but the present has to show how well you know the person you pick, so you have to make it special.” Gracie leans toward me, her voice dropping. “Grandma gives weird presents.”
“I heard that, Gracie. For the record, your grandfather is the only one in denial about losing his hearing.”
Gracie’s eyes widen. “Oops, sorry, Grammy.”
“Forgiven, and my presents aren’t weird. It just takes you all a while to figure them out. Which only goes to show I know you all better than you know yourselves.”
Brenden chimes in. “She got me a coin bank for two consecutive years before I started college. I thought it was a hint to get a job to help pay for tuition.”
“But I knew you would be our finance guru,” Ruby declares proudly. “He had a knack for numbers and was really good with his money. Being a lawyer would have bored him to death.”
“True,” Brenden agrees.
“We all know Serena’s favorite,” Ruby adds.
“A tape measurer,” Serena says affectionately, grabbing Thatch’s hand.
Thatch squeezes Serena’s hand before his eyes flick to mine. “I answered a want ad Allen placed for help to build a deck at their home in Nashville. I had no idea what I was doing. I just turned twenty, and I was broke. It took us months to finish it, and only because he made painstaking effort to show me the ins and outs.”
“Then I invited him over for a celebratory dinner when Serena came home for Christmas break during her first year of college,” Ruby interjects. “That was all she wrote.”
“That night, I snuck over after they went to bed,” Thatch says with a chuckle.
“And almost every night after,” Ruby scolds lightly. Thatch’s jaw goes slack. “Oh please, we knew you two met in Allen’s tool shed every night for months.”
“It was our love shack,” Serena admits.
“Barf,” Gracie says with a mouthful.
“That’s only because I was too broke to take you out on real dates,” Thatch confesses, slight shame in his tone.
“I didn’t care. We’ve been together ever since,” Serena finishes the story as she stares fondly at Thatch, looking for some acknowledgment just as he releases her hand. Her expression dims significantly before she glances around the table. Her misty eyes land on mine and narrow in a new threat, and I quickly dart my gaze away.
“The brother I always wanted,” Whitney declares fondly as Brenden shoots her a death glare.