Love In Between(50)

Luke went to the refrigerator, grabbed two bottles of beer, twisted the caps off, and handed one to me. “Come on, babe; let me show you the house.”

He took me on a tour and up to his old bedroom. The blue walls were lined at the top with a football border. In fact, everything in his room was football themed, right down to the lamp that sat upon the dresser. A twin bed sat in the corner of the room with a blue comforter and matching pillow. There were pictures on the wall of Luke and his family. I scanned the room to see if there were any pictures of Callie, but there weren’t. My eyes traveled to the closet door where a poster of my father hung. He was sitting on a stool with his guitar. I walked over to where it hung and stared into his eyes. Tears started to fill my eyes as Luke came up behind me and wrapped his arms around me.

“I’m sorry, Lily. I forgot it was still hanging up,” he said as he kissed my head.

“It’s fine,” I said as I wiped my eye. The anger I thought I’d buried when my father died began to emerge.

“Wait until I show you the backyard,” Luke said as he walked me out of the bedroom.

Just as we were going to look at the backyard, Annie announced that dinner was ready. Everyone took their seat in the dining room, but before Luke sat down, he poured some wine in everyone’s wine glass. He walked over to where Charley was sitting and pretended like he was going to fill her glass.

“Uncle Luke, I can’t drink wine; I’m not old enough.” She giggled.

“I’m so sorry, Madame, I thought you were at least the age of twenty-five.”

I smiled as Charley laughed at him. To see him with her tugged at my heart strings. You can see and feel the love when he’s around her. Luke looked at me and winked.

“Lily, tell us about your family. What do your mom and dad do? Do you have any siblings?” Annie asked innocently.

“Mom, not now,” Luke interrupted.

“Luke, don’t be silly, I want to know all about Lily.”

At that moment, Charley decided to chime in. “Uncle Luke spent the night at Lily’s. He answered her door this morning only wearing a pair of jeans and his hair was messy, like he just got out of bed.”

“Charley!” Maddie exclaimed.

Luke shot her a look across the table.

“Well, I’m sure Lily had him over for coffee,” Annie said.

“I saw them kissing in the hallway the other day, and he sent her pretty red roses today.” She smiled.

“Peanut, you need to be quiet and eat your dinner or I’m eating your dessert.”

“No you’re not!” she whined.

“Watch me!”

“Mom, tell him to stop it!” she whined.

“For goodness sake, the two of you need to stop and eat your dinner,” Annie said.

I leaned over to Annie and whispered to her, “I’ll tell you about my family after dinner. I really don’t want to do it in front of Charley.”

She patted my hand and smiled. “I understand.”

Dinner turned out great. The atmosphere was something I’ve always dreamed of. The Matthews are a tight-knit family who would do anything for each other. This is the kind of family I’ve craved my whole life. I helped clean up the table as Charley, Luke, and Tom went outside in the backyard per Annie’s orders. Charley came running into the kitchen, asking if she could change into her bathing suit and go swimming. Luke walked over to me and put his hands on my hips.

“Do you want to go swimming with us?” he asked as he put his forehead on mine.

“I’m going to hang back with your mom and dad so we can get to know each other better. You go and swim with Charley; I’ll be watching.” I smiled.

As Luke leaned in to kiss me, there was a knock on the door. Suddenly, we heard a familiar voice.

“Hey, Mrs. Matthews, how was your cruise?” Sam’s voice echoed through the hallway.

“Sam’s here?” I asked as I looked at Luke confused.

“Sam is mom’s second son, and she always invites him, but I thought he said he had plans tonight with Gretchen.”

Sam walked into the kitchen, gave Luke a high-five, and kissed me on the cheek.

“I thought you couldn’t make it tonight, man,” Luke said.

“Gretchen got called on a last minute photo shoot. The model they had got sick at the last minute, so they needed a replacement.”

Charley came running down the stairs in her pink, frilly bathing suit and ran straight to Sam.

“Uncle Sammy, are you going to go swimming with us?!” she excitedly asked.

“You bet I am!”

Sam and Luke changed into their bathing suits and took Charley into the pool. I sat on the patio with Annie, Tom, and Maddie as we talked and drank margaritas.

***

Annie and Tom’s backyard was simply breathtaking. The beauty of the stone patio and perfectly placed palm trees gave way to the infinity shaped pool and hot tub that sat next to it. There was a built-in grill over to the side and a large glass patio set that sat in the middle. Exquisite flowers were planted in stone pots, surrounding the space, and the in-ground lights began lighting up the area as the sun had set, and dusk was setting in.

“So, tell me about your family,” Annie said.

I smiled lightly because I knew it was inevitable. If Luke and I were going to continue our relationship, then they would need to know everything about me.