As he made his way into the kitchen, he helped take things to the oversized table in the dining room. He had already made two trips and on his third time back into the kitchen, he stopped in his tracks when he came face-to-face with . . . “Cheyenne.” Her name passed his lips at the same time she came through the kitchen door, and his heartbeat picked up speed.
“Hey,” she said softly, looking around the room. “Your mom invited me. I hope that’s okay.”
“That’s . . .” Brendon had no idea what to say to that, but luckily for him, everyone else noticed that she’d arrived and the women came over to greet her. He watched as his mother pulled Cheyenne in for a hug, thanking her for coming.
“No, thank you for inviting me.”
“Well, you’re gonna be spendin’ a lot of time here on Sundays. Especially since you’re movin’ here and all. Still a few months out?”
“Yes, ma’am. I’m lookin’ to be here in May.”
Brendon’s ears perked up at that news. He knew that Cheyenne had bought a house, knew that Kylie was renovating it for her, but he hadn’t known exactly when she’d be moving in permanently.
As though she sensed his eyes on her, Cheyenne looked his way, a concerned glimmer in her beautiful emerald eyes. Forcing a smile, Brendon nodded and then made his way back to the dining room. Part of him wished Cheyenne had told him about her upcoming relocation, but the other part knew that was stupid. No matter how infatuated he was with her, Brendon knew that she didn’t owe him anything.
When the others joined him in the dining room, he noticed his mother had taken it upon herself to assign seats. It didn’t take long for him to realize why that was. As he pulled out his chair, Cheyenne made her way around the table to stand beside the chair next to his. When their eyes met, he saw the insecurity reflected back at him.
So it wasn’t just him? Or maybe that was just wishful thinking.
Either way, he was raised to be a gentleman, so he pulled her chair out and waited for her to take a seat. The smile she gifted him with was like a shot of pure adrenaline straight into his veins.
Okay, so maybe it wasn’t just him.
A feeling he wasn’t familiar with bubbled up in his chest. As he glanced down at the table, trying to rationalize just what it was, that was the moment it hit him. That feeling, the one that had just consumed him . . . That was hope.
CURTIS SAT IN the living room, taking in everything going on around him. Sunday dinner, as always, had been incredible, but that was nothing new, because Lorrie was still the best cook in the world. Now that she was passing on some of her recipes to Zoey, Kylie, and Jessie, he was getting to enjoy more of his favorites, which he certainly couldn’t complain about.
The one thing he noticed was how loud the house was, similar to the way it had been when the boys had been growing up. He much preferred the noise to the silence that had become so familiar since they’d all moved out. Now that Jared wasn’t living in the house, rather moving to Kaleb’s old house—the one that still stood vacant since Kaleb had moved in with Zoey—with his son, Derrick, it’d gotten really quiet around there. So, yeah, he looked forward to Sunday dinners, although he did his best not to let on.
“What’re you thinkin’ about, Pop?” Sawyer asked, dropping down onto the sofa closest to him, Kennedy by his side.
During dinner, Curtis had watched the two of them. He’d known for some time that his boy was interested in the pretty veterinarian, but he hadn’t been privy to the fact that they were clearly dating. Maybe more than that, based on the way the two of them looked at one another. It was . . . refreshing to see. Sawyer was a good man, with a good heart, even if he hadn’t always known quite how to express himself.
Then again, Sawyer had always been the one to take everyone else’s burdens on himself. He was the protector, much as Curtis had always been. Of all his boys, Curtis knew Sawyer was the most like him. So, to see him so happy filled a void in Curtis’s heart where his boy was concerned.
“I’m thinkin’ y’all make an awful lot of noise,” he said gruffly, hiding his smile.
Curtis watched as Derrick and Mason played on the floor. Jared’s son had taken to Mason right off the bat after coming to live with Jared a few months ago. Although he was a year older, he didn’t have any problems being entertained by Kaleb’s boy, and they were rather amusing to watch. Especially after Lorrie had retrieved some of the toys she’d hoarded over the years, having refused to throw away some of the boys’ things and hiding them in the attic. Her theory had been that they’d have grandkids one day and she wanted to make sure that her sons’ children got to enjoy them as well. Granted, there were more toys thrown away before Zane even outgrew them because . . . well, because his boys had been a rowdy bunch since the day they were born and they hadn’t seemed to ever slow down.