Her face fell. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to sound ungrateful. I know you were doing your best, and you were doing great. I just—”
Chuckling, I held up a hand. “I was messing with you. I knew my cooking was shit, but I didn’t want to leave it up to Val and Will all the time.”
“Still, that wasn’t a nice thing to say.”
I kissed her forehead. “We’re good, kiddo.”
“So, what did Will and Jace do to mess with you?”
“Just the usual.”
“They went ahead with that bet, didn’t they? I told them not to.”
Was everyone in the family five steps ahead of me? I bit into the veggie burger.
“But it worked, huh?” she asked.
“Oh, there was a purpose to it?”
“Well... thinking their territory is under threat usually makes alphas react.”
“Territory?”
She waved her hand away. “It’s a figure of speech.”
I continued to chew on my burger, aware that Hailey was nearing exasperation waiting for me to talk.
“We all want you to be happy, Landon. It might be easier than you think... if you tried. You’re not really trying, though.”
“We’re really having this conversation?”
“Hey! I’m eating your tuna salad. The least you can do is listen to me.”
I inspected her plate, noticing the careful way in which she’d pushed my salad to one side, as if to make sure it wouldn’t contaminate the rest of the food.
“It is as terrible as you remember, isn’t it? You were just buttering me up.”
She looked down at her plate, then smiled sheepishly. “Possibly. So, we noticed you’ve been spending time with Maddie.”
“You’ve all talked about this?”
“We simply exchanged information,” she said with a straight face. “And my analytical mind immediately saw a pattern. So, care to explain yourself? I’m here. You’d better take my amazing sisterly advice.”
“I can’t stay away from her.” I knew Maddie deserved more than I could offer her, but I still couldn’t stay away. “We’re going out tonight.”
“That’s so great, Landon.” Hailey sighed, but instead of dishing sisterly advice, her gaze followed Val as she moved from the picnic table to the buffet, and she said, “Is it just me or does Val look like she’s carrying a hundred-pound weight on her shoulders?”
“She’s got an important meeting tomorrow,?
?? I explained. Val had told me that she’d try her best to relax today, and she’d go into the office early tomorrow to go through her pitch one last time. I could relate to the worrying. I had a partnership going from bad to worse waiting for me in San Jose, but I was determined to enjoy these last few days here.
“I know. But it’s the Fourth of July. I love how Val preaches to you all about how you should relax on your vacation, and she’s just as bad. I’m going to try to get her to relax. But don’t think you’re off the hook,” she said.
“Wasn’t dreaming of it.”
I spent the afternoon chatting about everything and nothing with my family, the way we always did when we got together. Maddie fit in so well that I couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like if she was part of my life permanently. I had a hard time keeping my hands off her. Every time she was within my reach, I touched her. Christ, I needed to be alone with her.
When the sun began to set, she headed to the bonfire, skewering marshmallows and holding them over the flame. I didn’t take my eyes off her, and every few seconds, she glanced my way, which might have something to do with all her marshmallows melting off their stick. I watched her melt off six before heading to her.