"That was not you who cooked it, and you know it." He smirks at me and kisses my shoulder.
"You’re lucky I like you." I glare at him, walking out of the bathroom and going to the kitchen. I open the freezer and cheer when I see that I have a couple of frozen meals that my grandmother made for me. I slip them into the oven and hear him walking out of the room wearing his boxers.
"I found two meals. I don’t know what they are but my grandmother made them, so they should be good," I explain, and he wraps his arms around my waist.
"Then I think we are safe.” He laughs loud, letting me go and then going to sit down on the chair.
"There is the family barbecue." I look over at him. "Tomorrow for lunch."
I watch his face and see the nerves settle in. "Well, better now than on our wedding day." He laughs nervously and my heart speeds up. In this whole thing I never even thought about what happens next. "Hey," he says and I look up at him. "Later," he tells me. "Tell me who will be there?"
"Pretty much my whole family," I share and he groans and puts his head back.
"Good, so everyone who wants to shoot me in the ass," he says and I can’t help but laugh.
"Not everyone." I look over at him. "My grandmother might still like you."
"Good to know." He shakes his head and we spend the night, just us, together.
When I pull up to the house the next day, the number of cars is staggering. "Jesus, it looks like it’s doubled since I was here last."
"Lots of kids grew up," I reply, getting out and walking in front of the car to meet him. He’s wearing blue jeans and a white shirt and he looks just as handsome as he did when I first saw him. He slips his hand over mine as we walk toward the back of the house.
"Oh, look, it’s the Bobbsey twins,” Reed says when we see him. "Did you guys really have to dress the same to get that united-front look?”
Travis laughs and leans down to kiss my head. "I want to make sure everyone knows she’s mine."
All Reed does is fake vomit and then yells across the lawn, "Harlow is here and she brought a boy!” All eyes turn to us and he squeezes my hand a little tighter than he should. He slaps Travis on the shoulder. "Welcome back." He snickers and then takes off to find Hazel.
"It’s going to be fine," I mumble under my breath. "The first thing we have to do is say hello to my grandparents and then work our way down the family."
"That sounds like a plan," he mumbles back. "I mean, he’s older now, so chances are if he shot me, he would miss."
I can’t help but laugh as we walk toward my grandparents who are sitting together. "Well, well, well," my grandmother says with her head tilted to the side. "Look at what the cat dragged in."
"Oh, dear," I say, suddenly thinking that maybe this wasn’t the brightest idea I’ve ever had. Perhaps I should have eased into it instead of just jumping into the deepest part of the river.
"Hello," Travis greets from beside me. "Mr. and Mrs. Barnes, good to see you again."
"Is it?" my grandfather inquires, leaning back in his chair. He wears his jeans and button-down checkered shirt with his white cowboy hat that he never goes without. He looks at me, and even though he’s got the tough exterior, I can see the lightness in his eyes. There isn’t anything he wouldn’t do for his family, even accepting Travis after he hurt me. "Heard you got married." He glares at Travis.
Chapter 27
Travis
"Hello," I say nervously from beside Harlow. "Mr. and Mrs. Barnes, good to see you again." I nod politely and ignore the need to vomit. My eyes go from her grandmother to her grandfather.
"Is it?" her grandfather, Billy, says. He is the stamp of what a cowboy is. Every single time I’ve met him he’s wore his white cowboy hat and jeans. He also has always scared the shit out of me. "Heard you got married." He glares at me.
"You must have heard wrong," I say, the pit of my stomach sinking.
"I’m a lot of things," he replies, sitting up in his chair. "But hard of hearing isn’t one of them." His eyes go even smaller, and the glare would have anyone quaking in their boots.
"Oh, please." I hear laughter from beside him and turn to see Charlotte just shaking her head. "It took me six times to call you for breakfast this morning."
"Dammit, woman," he says, chuckling. "I’m trying to be serious." He leans and kisses her lips. "He was scared." He points at me, and I can’t disagree with him.