He sobers quickly. “Secret plays? Uh…no.”
I narrow my eyes. “Then what?” His reaction was too strong for that simple answer. We might be pretending now, but I suddenly want to know—when else has he put those acting skills to use? What’s he hiding?
He shakes his head. “Nothing. Let’s just say…I can handle this.”
“If only Mom had said no to Dylan.” I shake my head. “She’s still friends with his parents and her motto is, it’s just one more potato.”
“More like one more douche bag.”
As I chuckle, he takes my hand, warm and steady, his fingers sliding between mine like it’s second nature. My pulse stutters. We step up to the door together. He glances at me, like he’s waiting for me to knock, but when I push it open instead, he just nods.
And then, thunder down the hallway. “Aunt Lynny,” Jesse barrels toward me like a pint-sized missile.
I drop the wine on the side table and throw my arms wide. “Jesse. Look at you. You’re getting so big!”
“I’m seven and a half,” he says proudly. Then his gaze shifts to Penn. His eyes go saucer-wide, his body locking up like he just spotted Bigfoot—or, more accurately, his sports idol.
“You know Penn?” I tease.
“Penn Radford,” he whispers. “I…I…”
“Nice to meet you, Jesse.” Penn dips down onto one knee so they’re eye level. “Are you a Bucks fan?”
Jesse can only nod, still star struck.
“Want me to sign something?”
Another nod, and then he’s gone in a blur, yelling, “Mom! Dad! Penn Radford is here!” as he disappears down the hall.
Penn chuckles, straightening, and I give him a nudge. “Well, that was quite the welcome. I knew you had that effect on women. Just didn’t know it extended to grade-schoolers.”
“Women, huh? That include you?”
The question hits like a body check—half joke, half something else—and before I can figure out what to say, my sister-in-law Bella and my brother Oliver appear with Jesse in tow.
“Hey, sis,” Oliver greets, without actually looking at me. His attention is all for Penn. “Penn, I didn’t know you’d be joining us. Welcome home. Congrats on getting called up to the Bucks.”
“Thanks.” Penn shakes my brother’s hand, but I catch the shift in him, the faint stiffening, the less-certain posture.
“Mom said you were bringing a plus-one,” Oliver adds, “We had no idea it was Penn.”
Which means Dylan isn’t here yet. Or worse, he is here, lurking somewhere inside, waiting to make his move and turn this night into exactly the kind of spectacle he wants.
The other two kids—Gillian and Liam—come tearing down the hall, voices shrill with excitement. They’re younger than Jesse and, judging by the way they dive straight into my arms, they have no idea who Penn is.
After a round of hugs and exaggerated squeezes, I make the introductions. Gillian gives Penn a shy wave. Liam just grins at him like he’s trying to figure out whether this giant in a Bucks jacket is friend or foe.
We follow the stampede into the living room, where a game of cards is in full swing. Conversation halts mid-sentence. Every head lifts—first toward me, then locking on Penn like he just stepped out of the TV and into their Christmas.
“Look who’s here,” Oliver says, pointing at Penn.
“Excuse me? What am I, the lump of coal no one asked for?”
He laughs, catching me in a brotherly headlock, his knuckles dragging across my scalp in an ancient sibling move I’d hoped he’d outgrown. I squeal, squirm, and pinch his side hard enough to make him yelp and let go.
“Jaylynn, darling.” Mom sweeps in, pulling me into a hug before turning her attention to Penn. “I didn’t know you were bringing Penn home.”
“You said plus one,” I remind her.