Aside from Brenden’s cackle, silence fills the room as another picture from a different angle appears just before I’m able to cast off.
My mother, who is somehow now standing behind me, speaks up, patting my shoulder. “Well, clearly, the man works out. Good for you, Sweet Pea.”
“Gain whit! Butt gain!” Peyton roars in command as I shake my head, humiliated.
Diverting my gaze away from scrutinizing eyes, I scold my niece as Thatch stalks into the living room with Serena hot on his heels.
“Gracie!” I say, turning off my phone, “I did not give you permission to check my text messages!”
“I was just looking at the makeup pictures I took of you, and they came on the screen!”
“Do not ask for my phone again,” I scold.
“Fine,” she huffs, her expression going postal in a nanosecond as she stands and makes a declaration at the top of her lungs. “I hate Christmas!”
It’s Thatch’s boom that has us all jumping in our seats. “That’s enough, Gracie! Go to our room this instant!”
Gracie’s eyes go wide. “But Daddy, I didn’t do anything!”
“You’ve been nothing but a nightmare since we left Nashville, and I’ve had enough! We’ve all had enough! You’re making everyone miserable. You know better, and until you can act better, I don’t want to see you. Go!”
Gracie’s lips quiver just before she bursts into tears and sprints out of the living room, sobs erupting from her as we all turn to Thatch, confused by his tongue lashing. Thatch rarely, if ever, scolds Gracie like that, which has the whole living room going silent.
Tension grows unbearably thick as Thatch speaks up abruptly as if he’s going to burst. “Jesus, I’m sorry.” He glances at each of us apologetically. “I’m sorry that I can’t manage to get my daughter to act like a well-behaved human being for a single day.” His posture and defeated tone have my eyes watering as he stalks out of the living room toward the front door. “Please excuse me.” Thatch quickly exits, closing the door softly behind him. Serena stands stunned before turning to eye me and then Peyton for permission, and I nod.
Seeing Peyton’s confused expression, feeling his shaky hesitance, I snatch him from the room, grabbing his coat off the hall tree and make a beeline for the back door before stepping outside onto the back deck.
Ten minutes into playing with Peyton on the chair on the back porch, the sliding door opens, and Eli comes into view in running gear.
“Still working out twice a day?”
“Nah, I’m not as hard on myself as I used to be. But I’ve been distracted the last few mornings.”
His dates with Peyton.
“Lie, patty take?” Peyton greets, wanting in on the conversation.
“Playing patty cake?”
“Bakers man!” Peyton exclaims, the tension from his parents minutes ago completely forgotten. If only adults could recover so quickly.
I look up to Eli, who studies me as if he’s trying to solve me.
Good luck pal, it’s been thirty-eight years, and I’m completely unsure of who’s writing this shit show.
“If you had a boyfriend, all you had to do was say so.”
“I don’t. Those texts were from my friend Sophie. She just landed her dream man and felt the need to overshare.”
“Thank Christ. Did you see the ass on that guy? No competition.”
Unable to help it, I glance up to see him smiling and can’t stop my laugh. “Credit me with having better taste. No boyfriend of mine would be taking pictures of his own ass or ask someone else to take them.”
“I’ll admit that was highly suspect, but you know… modern dating and twenty-first-century vanity seem to go hand in hand.”
“Call me old-fashioned, but I prefer touch to sight.”
“Couldn’t agree more.” His delivery sends a few pink parts tingling, and I ignore it, trying to keep up with Peyton’s untimely ‘patty take’ claps.
“Try to restrain yourself with my nephew in my lap, sir. And who says you’re in the running?” I give him a sideways glance. “Wasn’t that you I passed oh, about 100 yards back seventeen years ago?”
“I’ve got home-field advantage and an ass…er butt you can touch.”
“Butt!” Peyton repeats.
“Speaking of, let’s go change yours.” I stand with Peyton in my arms, shoulder to bicep with Eli. “I’m surprised that outburst didn’t send you running for the hills. This isn’t you Eli. You don’t do family or serious or domestic situations.”