“You come, too, peanut.” Luke takes Jovie’s hand. “You get the joy of helping me set the table. All the cool kids are doing it.”
“Dad.” Jovie’s whine echoes around the room. “You’re so embarrassing.”
“I know, kiddo. That’s my job.”
They disappear through a doorway into the rear of the house, Jovie’s grumblings drifting behind them. The living room is cozy, with a big comfy couch and several armchairs. The coffee table has books on it, each with a bookmark as if the person reading just stepped away. The shelves on the far wall are filled with a mishmash of books, mementos, photographs, rocks, trinkets, and special papers. The blanket thrown over one chair looks so soft, I’m tempted to burrow underneath it and take a nap.
The room’s well-loved appearance makes something in my throat catch. This isn’t an interior designer’s showcase where everything has to look flawless and untouched. It’s someone’shome.
I want to stay forever.
“Did you get anything else at the fair?” Lucy asks me.
I pull myself out of thoughts of flopping onto the couch and snuggling in. “No. I had my eye on a mug with flowers carved into it, but I couldn’t take the leap. Now I regret it.”
“I feel that. I have so much non-buyer’s remorse now.”
I can’t help my delighted laugh. “I’m writing that one down. I love it.”
“How were the fish today?” Graham asks Reed. “Catch anything?”
He shifts at my side. “I didn’t go fishing this morning.”
All three of them stare at him as if he sprouted a tail.
“You always fish on Sundays,” Nathan says in a flat voice.
Reed lifts a shoulder. “Not today.”
Nathan’s momentary frown slowly lifts into a look of ecstasy.
I turn to Reed, searching his eyes as a fresh bout of nerves crawls through my stomach. “Did I keep you from something you wanted to do this morning?”
His frown eases, his gaze softening. “I did exactly what I wanted to do.”
“That’s pretty much Reed’s motto: he does exactly what he wants to.” Nathan drags me away from Reed and against him into a side-hug, his arm slung across my shoulders. “We’re sure glad to have you with us, Rose. You’re going to liven things up here, I can tell.”
He turns on the charm, his good-natured grin so bright it’s almost blinding. I exhale a soft laugh at his over-the-top welcome.
From my other side, Reed tugs me back to him, locking me against him with a hand on my hip. Our sides are plastered together, his arm warm and protective around me as he shoots invisible daggers at his brother.
Nathan’s gaze doesn’t lose its sparkle. “Look at that. Things are livening up already.”
Jovie bounds over to us. “I’m supposed to tell you dinner’s ready. Come on!”
She takes my free hand, peeling me away from Reed yet again. We stream into the dining room, the huge table laid out for nine. Reed and I take places together, with Jovie on my other side. Luke gives me an apologetic look, but I have no problem with this arrangement. She’s the easiest Bridger to impress.
Dinner starts out about as chaotic as Reed once described it—everyone chatters as we pass around dishes of gnocchi, a green salad, and fresh bread, and start to eat. Jovie relays personal notes about each dish: when they last had it, that she picks the tomatoes from her salad, how she wishes she was two inches tall so she could use her grandma’s bread as a bed and a pat of butter as a pillow.
I love her.
“Rose is a pretty name,” she says. “Lots of my friends have flower names. Lily. Poppy. Clover.”
“Your name’s pretty, too. I’ve always wondered if you were named after the character inElf,” I tell her. “That’s the only place I’ve heard it before.”
She nods, chewing away on a big mouthful of bread before she swallows with a gulp. “I am. It was my mom’s favorite movie.”
“That’s sweet.”