The Strength of the Pack (Suncoast Society #30)(46)

“A couple of years. I wouldn’t come without Leo.”

She didn’t reach for her seat belt right away and he thought maybe this was it, that she was making the call.

But she finally unbuckled and flashed him a sick-looking smile before reaching for the door handle.

“Uh-uh. You wait for me.”

“Sorry, Sir. I forgot.”

He got out and walked around, opening the door for her and getting the small gift bag and card out of the backseat. She’d bought her sister a couple of small gifts with cats on them, as well as a gift card to Ann’s favorite coffee store.

He considered it a thoughtful, personal gift.

Eva’s grip nearly crushed his left hand as he slowed his stride to hers and walked with her to the front door. He stepped in front of her and rang the bell before she could.

Somewhere along the walk from the car to the front door, Eva’s energy shifted, darkened, withdrew. She wasn’t a woman happy to visit her parents and see her sisters and other family.

This woman acted like she was being marched to her execution.

He turned to the door as it opened, an older woman offering him a polite smile that widened when she looked past him and spotted Eva. “Eva, sweetheart, you came!”

He shifted his stance to block Eva as he smiled and held out his right hand. “We haven’t met. Nathaniel Crawford. So nice to meet you, Mrs. Banks.”

The older woman was good, but not good enough. Her smile slipped a fraction as she shook hands with him. “So nice to meet you, Nathaniel. Call me Lorie.”

He didn’t want these people calling him Nate. Only people he liked were allowed to shorten his name, although people he barely knew sometimes tried that. And he really didn’t care to call her parents by their first names, either.

Since there was a very likely chance he might never see any of these people again, he wasn’t inclined to start out on a casual footing with them.

In fact, he preferred not to, keeping them at arm’s length.

Mrs. Banks led them inside and he didn’t miss that Eva gave her a one-armed hug, not releasing him or the gift bag, which she held in her left hand.

“Everyone’s out back. Your sisters will be delighted to see you, and your father’s looking forward to seeing you and meeting your new man.”

Nate just bet he was.

Nate followed Eva’s mother as she led them through the house to the lanai where a screened pool cage overlooked a canal. Several people turned at their arrival and he quickly scanned everyone’s expressions.

The man he suspected was Eva’s father stood over by a grill, a bottle of beer in one hand and a spatula in the other, and was talking to another man.

“Everyone,” her mom said, “this is Nathaniel Crawford, Eva’s boyfriend.”

Abraham Banks finally turned to study Nate, lifting his chin as if sniffing the air.

Nate waited until her father had turned to the man he was talking with to shift his own focus back to Eva. She’d let go of his hand and was now hugging a woman.

“Nate, this is my sister, Ann.”

He offered her a warm smile for Eva’s sake. “Congratulations.”

“This is for you,” Eva said, handing it over.

“Oh, thank you!”

Apparently her father was part cat, because he spoke from right behind Nate before he realized the man was there. “Well, at least you brought something. Surprised you’re not having to pay child support to that man you divorced. And I use the term loosely.”

Nate slowly turned as Ann scolded her father in what was supposed to be a playfully meant way, but Nate picked up the tight, stressed tones in her voice. Nate stood nearly six inches taller than the man, something he hadn’t been able to judge while he’d stood by the grill.

Nate didn’t move, didn’t step back, even though the man was practically in his personal space. “Mr. Banks, I presume? Nathaniel Crawford. So very nice to meet you.” He didn’t offer a hand, because the guy still held the beer and the spatula.

The man finally had to step back. It was either that, or keep craning his head up at an uncomfortable angle for any man to maintain against another he wasn’t romantically involved in. “You’re not gay, are you?” the man snarked.

“Dad!” another woman chastised. She’d come up behind him and now slid between him and Nate, a nervous look on her face as she backed up and forced her father away. “Hi, sorry. Look up grumpy in the dictionary, you’ll see his face. I’m Gayle. Nice to meet you.” She stuck out her hand.

Nate shook with her, because her energy also read nervous.

But neither sister seemed to bear the dread that Eva did.

He also noticed that both sisters had brown hair that didn’t look like it came from a bottle. But in pictures he’d spied in the living room on their way through, he’d seen two dark-haired girls and one with fair, almost blonde hair.

Likely Eva. He knew she colored her hair, and that her natural hair was very fair.

Another puzzle piece.

No one else apparently noticed the exchange except the sisters and their mother. And as Nate was introduced to various cousins, Eva looked around.

“Where’s Grandma?”

Ann leaned in. “She didn’t come. Mom offered to go get her but…” She pointed over her shoulder toward where their father stood. “You know she doesn’t get along with him. I went and saw her yesterday and took her out for dinner.”