Wild Man (Dream Man #2)(56)

“Yeah, heard about that too.”

I tensed at Brock’s side; Brock felt it and his arm came around my shoulders.

“It’s Thanksgiving, I got my boys, I got my family and I got my woman. What I don’t wanna get is pissed off,” Brock said low and Levi held his eyes.

Standoff and I didn’t think this was good. Levi was questioning his brother’s judgment and it might be for protective reasons but Brock was the kind of man who wouldn’t appreciate that. Brock had also both said and demonstrated that he intended to protect me and a full frontal assault to test me within ten minutes of arriving for Thanksgiving, if Levi didn’t back down, was not going to go down well.

It was time to institute damage control and I did it by looking to Lenore who was studying Levi with both concern and bafflement.

I took her in and then said, “Lenore, I really like your boots.”

Her body jerked and her eyes came to me. Then she whispered, “Uh… thanks. I was, uh…” her eyes shifted to Levi then back to me, “thinking the same thing about yours. And that’s a really nice sweater.”

“I have a friend who works at Neiman’s,” I told her and now I did for with Elvira came Gwen, Tracy and Cam and Tracy was generous with her discount. My sweater cost a whack but, as all girls knew, I needed the perfect sweater for Thanksgiving dinner with Brock and his family so, like the nightie, I’d splurged. And, unfortunately, that wasn’t the only thing I bought.

I really needed to sell more cupcakes.

“Employee discount,” Elvira muttered over her potatoes.

Lenore gave another searching glance to Levi then, to me, “Cool.”

I studied her and it hit me. She liked Levi like, a lot. He was with his family and she was just his latest piece. But to her, this was important. To her, this was meeting his family and she was reading this as a hopeful occasion when, with the way Levi was behaving with her, it was not. She was noting this and therefore understandably confused. And, with the way Levi was behaving, in the not-too-distant future, she was going to be heartbroken.

I looked back at Levi to see him opening his mouth to say something but Fern got there first.

“Men, out, you’re underfoot, you have no intention of helping and if you tried, you’d mess it up. Go turn on a TV somewhere. Take those crackers and cheeseball with you. And the bowls of nuts. And the chips and dip.”

Elvira looked over her shoulder at me then with her head she gestured to the kitchen table which was covered in bowls and plates filled with pre-Thanksgiving nibbles that might defeat the purpose of Thanksgiving. Then she gave me an approving look that said Fern was not Ada and this clear plus was to be reported to Martha at her earliest opportunity.

“Tess! These pies are just beautiful! ” Laura exclaimed and I looked to her.

She was right. My pies were gorgeous. I’d gone all out. The pumpkin ones had a border of egg-washed pumpkin cutouts I’d stamped out of pie crust and I’d even rolled out then arranged curly miniature vines that I’d attached to the pumpkin stems. The apple one had an apple cutout border. The maple buttermilk, maple leaves. And with the pecan, I’d painstakingly fashioned a decorative pie edge that was experimental but came out looking great.

It wasn’t just cakes that deserved to be pretty.

“Jesus, f**k me, flashback,” Levi muttered under his breath, eyeing the unveiled pies on his mother’s kitchen counter then he looked to Brock. “Olivia used to make you cinnamon nut muffins. Granted, they didn’t look that good or taste good but she did it.”

The air in the room went static as Laura snapped, “Levi!” Austin said low, “Dude, uncool,” Fritz muttered under his breath, “Jesus,” Elvira muttered under hers, “Oh boy,”

Kellie and Kalie whispered in unison, “Ohmigod,” Brock’s body went solid and Fern whirled on her son.

“Tell me you did not just say that,” she demanded and Lenore slid closer to her man who was not her man.

“Am I wrong?” Levi asked his mother.

“What you’re wrong about is thinking you’re too old to get a slap across the mouth from your mother,” Fern shot back.

“Outside,” Brock growled and everyone looked to him but Brock only had eyes for his brother.

“Seriously?” Levi asked.

“Now,” Brock rumbled and, again, within ten minutes of arrival, it was time for damage control and I got close to him, curling my hands on his arm and tugging.

“Leave it,” I whispered and his flashing, mercury eyes tipped down to me.

“Tess –”

I shook my head and gave his arm a squeeze. “The options available, have a brother who doesn’t give a shit or have a brother who does. You’re pissed now, honey, so you don’t get, with those options, you lucked out.”

Brock’s jaw got hard and I looked to Levi.

“I get it, your brother was f**ked over, you care about him and you’re cautious. Thank you for being that way.”

Levi blinked at me.

I let Brock go and moved to Fern asking, “Now what can I do?”

Fern didn’t answer because she was committed to the act of glaring at her youngest son so Jill said, “You can help me lay the tables, Tess.”

I ignored the family tension and followed Jill’s lead setting the table.