Scarlett Bound

Chapter 16

“Thanks for carrying me to the endzone,” I tell Devin as I look up at him with a toothy smile.

“Anytime.” He whispers to me. When we get to the concrete I reluctantly unwrap myself from him. When everyone is in the house except for the two of us Devin’s large palm lands on my ass. The unexpected smack makes me jump in the air. “I owed you one.” Grinning, he goes into the house leaving me there stunned.

When I’m done composing myself, I grab my shoes and join everyone else in the house. Mom has outdone herself. The table is covered in different dishes of food. She even made her famous homemade rolls which is a sign that tonight is very special.

As I pass by Jackson I give his ear a flick. He swats toward me but I dodge his hand and snicker as I take my seat next to Gabe. Across from me is Devin and next to him, Will. My parents both sit at the heads of the table. The last spot next to Will that's empty tonight and has been for the last several months is Emmett’s.

“Hands together everyone. Honey, would you mind leading us through a prayer tonight?” My mom asks our father. He gives thanks and says a short prayer. We all mumble an amen then fill our plates.

“What’s going on mom. You’re starting to freak us all out.” Gabe says as he dumps a giant spoonful of mashed potatoes on his plate. The only bowl on the table that hasn’t been attacked is the one holding the salad. Rolling my eyes, I serve myself a large portion and pass it over to my mom next.

“We’ve got official dates for our summer family trip. We’ll be going from July twelfth to the twenty-second. I know that’s a little longer than usual but Emmett was approved for leave and will be able to join us this year!” My mom claps her hands together in excitement as she shares the news with us. All around the table we each share our elation in different ways. 

It’s been too long since Emmett was last able to come home. I know he doesn’t mind the long periods away from home but going from seeing someone every day to not at all for unknowing amounts of time was hard. It still is. He’s proud of what he does and so am I even if it does scare me but I miss him like crazy when he’s not able to visit for chunks of time this long.

“How much time did he get off?” I ask leaving my salad covered plate forgotten. My mother and our conversation have my full attention.

“A month and a half. We’ll have plenty of time for him to hang out with us at home after the trip. By the time his trip is done, I’m sure he’ll be driving you nuts and you’ll be happy to drive his ass to the airport.” A chorus of laughter lifts from the table. A nudge on my arm brings my attention to Gabe. He’s tilting the bowl of rolls at me in offering. I grab one for me and mom and place them on our plates.

“Are we getting our usual spot in Tahoe?” Will ask as he shoves a gravy-soaked roll into his gigantic mouth.

“Of course we did,” My dad answers around a mouth full of food, “and of course you are welcome to come to Devin. You know you’ve always been family to us.”

“That won’t be a problem, right?” Jackson asks and all the eyes at the table land on me. I scrunch my nose at the attention and serve myself some mashed potatoes. My mom makes the best. I’ve never been able to recreate their creamy garlic perfection.

“What the hell is everyone looking at me for,” I grumble at all of them.

“We’re just checking.” My mom answers, “You two talking after ignoring each other for years is new and we didn’t know if you guys had any boundaries set.” 

“Yeah, no nude photoshoots.” I deadpan as I get a bite of salad ready on my fork. At the other end of the table, my dad starts coughing and pounding on his chest.

“Damn straight.” He says once he’s gotten his coughing under control. I look up at Devin who’s giving me the biggest grin I've seen from him yet. He mouths the word ‘yet’ at me. I shake my head at him and roll my eyes but I can't help smiling back at him. At least the smile is only a small one. Hopefully, it doesn't give him the wrong idea.

“We were also thinking that you could invite your girlfriend along, Gabe.” My dad offers to try to keep the vibe light and carefree but we all know his answer is a big deal. No one except family is ever allowed on these trips. I couldn’t even convince my parents to let me invite Rye. They weren’t worried he’d make a move on me because they knew he was gay but they wouldn’t say yes because he wasn’t family. As if Rye and I aren't family. The two of us have been inseparable since I bothered him to the point he realized he was stuck with me.

We’ve only ever invited one other person who wasn’t family and that was William’s girlfriend. They aren’t together anymore but at the time they had been together for a little over two years. I guess that's the magic amount of time because that’s how long Gabe has been with his girlfriend. Although if you count the number of times they broke up during those two years it's probably more like ten months tops.

“Wait a minute, I thought she cheated on you and you guys broke up?” I ask Gabe, confused. Those two are so hard to keep up with. They change their minds like the weather. At this point, I'm starting to think they enjoy all the drama.

“She didn’t cheat on me. At the time we were on a break and she decided to talk to some other dude. I’m not sure what went on between the two of them. She told me that nothing happened but I’ve heard differently from others.” He explains. 

I look at him wide-eyed. He can be such a dumbass sometimes. Whether something happened or not those two need to know when to call it quits. At this point, they are delaying the inevitable. Why keep wasting each other's time?

I mouth the word ‘toxic’ to Devin. He quickly nods his head in agreement and takes a sip from his beer. Gabe says he’ll think about it which in my mind is a no. That could also be because I'm biased. Not only does my brother deserve better but so does that girl. 

For the rest of the night, light conversation fills the table along with the sounds of chewing. The guys need to learn how to chew with their mouths closed. It’s like eating in a field with a bunch of cows. If they ever expect a woman to want to be serious with any of them that's something they’ve got to work on, immediately.

“Oh, I almost forgot the other good news I have. One of the moms who joined our book club recently, Margaret, lives a couple of blocks away and has a son who's around your age. If I remember correctly he’s twenty-six. She showed me a picture of him and the man looks good enough to eat.” My mom says dreamily. Her eyes glaze over a bit as she stares off into space.

“Mom!” My brothers all shout at the same time. Silverware smacks against plates and Jack cleans up the beer he spit on the table. My mother waves off their dramatics.

“It’s true! Anyway, I showed her a picture of you and Margaret said you were just his type. We set you guys up for a date this Sunday. I passed your number along so you should be hearing from him this weekend to get the details.” She beams proudly and now it's my turn to shout mom.

“I asked you to stop setting me up with random people's sons. It’s weird! And I’m not interested in dating anyone right now.” I whine for what must be the thousandth time. If we were in the olden day my mouth would have sold me off to some dude for marriage by now. She has been making it quite clear recently that she wants me to start getting out there. Unlike my brothers, it’s been a while since I’ve been on a date or been in a relationship. I don’t count the random dates my mom has set up over the years. It’s always only one date and each one ends with me even more disappointed than the last.

“You aren’t getting any younger baby. You gotta start putting yourself out there. You’re a beautiful young woman. A guy will snatch you up in a heartbeat if you just put yourself out there.” She glances over to Devin then back over at me with a smile. I place my head in my hands. Groaning, I shake my head in disagreement but that’s not the answer that comes out of my mouth.

“Fine, I’ll go on the stupid date.” I give in, “But momma you have to stop! I can’t take these setups anymore. I’ll find my own man, okay?”

She raises her hands up in surrender. “I promise to give it a rest for a while but if I don’t see you putting in the effort to put yourself out there then I’m going to start up again.” She warns. 

I look over to Devin to see if he might be able to help me out of the situation but he’s not looking at me. Instead, he’s grimacing at his plate of food. He stabs at the food on his plate more forcefully than necessary. As if he’s picturing someone's face instead of an already dead piece of chicken. 

It seems I won't be getting any help from him. Luck must be on my side because the topic gets changed from my nonexistent dating life. Instead, we get to hear about Jackson’s latest girlfriend who sounds like she's one step away from the looney bin. Apparently he found her poking holes into the condoms in his bedside dresser. If I were him I would have immediately kicked her out but apparently she’s too hot to say goodbye to yet. God my brothers can be such pigs sometimes.

“Thank you so much for dinner momma. That was delicious.” I groan as I push my plate away and lean back in my chair. Stuffed beyond belief doesn't quite describe how full I am right now. I for sure ate way too much but it was worth it.

I start gathering plates and dishes to clear off the table. Devin and Gabe get up to help me out. After a few trips back and forth the table is cleared off but there's now a huge mess in the kitchen.

“This is going to take forever.” Gabe groans. Now that everyone else is out of the house his designated chore is to do the dishes. I cut my baby brother a break and relieve him of his duties for the night.

“I’ve got Devin to help me out. You go hang out in the living room with everyone else. We’ll join you all when we’re done.” I give him a nudge toward the door with my shoulder. He gives me a side hug and kiss on the cheek quickly before leaving to go to the living room. 

“Apparently I'm here to help you out,” Devin says as he steps up beside me.

“Hell yes you are. I’m not cleaning all this up by myself. I’ll be in here for a week.” Looking around, almost every surface is covered with a dirty dish. My mom is an amazing cook and I love it when I get the chance to have one of her home-cooked meals but it’s like the woman tries to use every dish in the kitchen on purpose.

“It’s like old times. You bat those pretty brown eyes at me and I can't resist.”

“Your charming words will get you everywhere in life,” I say with a wink. “Now how about I clean and you dry.” He gives me a salute and grabs a dry dish towel. Before I start cleaning all the pans I rinse off all the dishes that’ll fit in the dishwasher. I pass them over to Devin who places them in the washer.

We work together in companionable silence. Once the dishwasher is full I start working on cleaning what’s remaining. While I do that, Devin packages up the leftovers. When he’s done with that he comes back over to dry the dishes I've set up in the drying rack.

“Are you going to go on Sunday?” He asks, breaking the silence. I take my eyes off the pan I'm scrubbing to look at him with scrunched brows. “On the date.” He adds to clarify what he’s asking about. The thought of another one of my moms dating attempts has me groaning.

“Yes, I’m going to go. It’ll make mom happy and you know I can’t say no to her. Besides, she guilt trips better than anyone else in this world and I can't handle that crap.”

I wait for him to respond but he never does. When I hand him the next dish to dry instead of making eye contact with me he keeps his eyes on my hand. The frown he was wearing at dinner is back on his face and it looks like he's deep in thought. Instead of interrupting him, I keep my mouth shut. Frowning, we finish the rest of the dishes in silence.