If someone had told him this morning that he would be standing here praying that Vanessa got along with his mom, he would have told them they were insane. But here he was, hoping it all went well because he was crazy about her.
Vanessa nodded. “Okay. I can have tea.”
“I’m JT.” His brother was holding Ryder, and Jasper was attached to his leg. JT was grinning like a loon.
Vanessa smiled and held out a hand. “Vanessa Jones.”
“She bakes the best cookies, and she can do all kinds of voices,” Jasper said. “And she makes awesome shark fins.”
JT shook her hand. “And she also makes your Uncle Michael happy, apparently. It’s good to meet you, and I hope we haven’t scared you off.”
“Not at all.” She seemed to steady herself. “Your boys are wonderful. We had a good time. It’s very nice to meet you.”
JT kept grinning. “You, too.”
She turned to go and got to the kitchen before she pivoted, looking back his way. “Hey, does anyone know if Chelsea managed to save the world?”
Michael shrugged. “Hasn’t blown up yet.” Chelsea saved the world one keystroke at a time. She had her own business, one she co-owned with a group of former MT agents. But the CIA still came calling from time to time. Especially in an emergency. “I think we can assume everything is fine.”
Vanessa nodded. “Good to know.”
She disappeared into the kitchen.
JT’s free hand came up to pat him on the shoulder. “You’re in trouble, brother. The best kind. Come on. Let’s clean your place up and let Momma work her magic.”
Michael sighed as Jasper started to play shark again.
He was definitely in trouble because he was almost certain he was falling in love with that woman.
* * * *
Vanessa had stared down some scary things before. A coked-up director who thought a death scene needed a little more realism. The press outside George’s funeral. The tiger she’d been told absolutely wouldn’t eat her but then sounded like he wanted to. That tiger had been a good actor.
She’d pretty much never been more intimidated by anything than that one petite woman.
Ava Malone had a kettle on, proving she was more than comfortable in her son’s kitchen. She already had a tin of tea leaves out and a pretty ceramic pot.
Sophy was happily munching on the chocolate chip cookies they’d made after she’d served them all lunch. The little girl was smart and helpful and would likely be a hell of an actress someday.
“Then Vanessa came up with the idea to play sea captain versus shark,” Sophy was saying. “And she told Jasper that if he was the shark, he could only swim.”
Ava’s laughter rang out through the kitchen, and she looked up, catching sight of Vanessa. “That was clever of you, dear. You managed to keep Jasper from scaling the furniture without tying him down somewhere.”
“I wouldn’t do that. I promise.” She still wasn’t sure how this could go well. Michael…well, she honestly hadn’t expected him to even mention her to his mother much less introduce them.
“Oh, you only say that because you don’t have any of your own yet,” Ava said with a smile. “They can’t all be as perfect as our Sophy. But then I could have told you that any son of JT’s was likely to be hell on wheels, as my husband would say. Jasper will probably inherit the ranch. He’ll need all that energy. JT was always running as a child. Michael was the quiet one.”
She wanted to ask a thousand questions, but she was nervous. If she asked questions, then Ava would likely feel comfortable asking her own.
When was the last time she had to meet someone’s family? Even most of her friends didn’t introduce her to their moms. Not that she had any.
The last time she’d been to a family gathering she’d been accused of flirting with a cousin’s husband, and she’d had to leave.
“That doesn’t mean he wasn’t a delightful child,” Ava was saying. “He was simply less outrageous than his brother. He liked puzzles. JT would run wild across the range during the summers. Sophy’s father, Simon, would come and visit, and they would both ride and play, and I would find Michael working a puzzle inside or reading a book. It can be hard to not fit in.”
“My dad wears suits. It’s weird to see my dad in a cowboy hat,” Sophy said.
“And yet he wore one every single summer.” Ava leaned over and kissed the top of Sophy’s head. “Run along, darling. I’m sure your uncle is making a perfect hash of taking care of the boys.”
“Well, they’re all boys, aren’t they?” Sophy asked, snatching a cookie as she skipped out of the kitchen.
“She’s a helpful girl,” Ava said, turning back to her kettle. “I worried when Chelsea said she was only having one. It can be lonely, especially when your parents are as intellectual as hers. But then I realized their family isn’t like others.”