“Will, can you help me grab the beer from the garage?” Luke asked.
“I’m mashing the potatoes.”
“I got it,” Corey said, taking the hand mixer from him.
Will shrugged and followed Luke to the garage.
The door hadn’t even shut behind them before the words were out of Luke’s mouth. “You need to take a breather.”
“Are you giving me a hard time for getting rid of the pie?” Will asked. “Because f—” He stopped himself. His sister had a no cursing rule in her house, and he respected her enough to follow it even if she wasn’t in earshot. “Get over yourself. I have an EpiPen in the car and one in Andy’s bag. There are two in my house and one at the gym. He won’t be able to breathe if even a trace amount of nuts ends up in his food.”
Luke sighed. His blue eyes locked on Will like he was attempting to do the twin thing. The thing where Luke just knew. Although Luke loved their connection, Will didn’t most of the time. “You called himyourkid.”
Will cocked his head and frowned. “What?”
“Inside, you said, ‘I won’t let you kill my kid.’”
Had he really said that? It wasn’t that far out of left field. With every day that went by, Will wanted to take more responsibility for him. He wanted to be the man Andy looked up to. The one who taught him the important things in life.
Luke moved closer and put his hand on Will’s shoulder. “Look, man, I think what you’re doing with Andy is great. But now you’re calling Andy your kid and you’re looking at Aly like you want to stake a claim there too, and—”
There his twin went again. Butting in where he didn’t belong and reading too deeply into the situation.
“And what? You need to jump in and tell me what’s best because you know better than me?” Will shook his head. “Andy’s my kid because he’s my responsibility. Like how I call the kids on swim team my kids. And sure, Aly’s hot. I won’t pretend I’m blind to it. But unlike you, I don’t lead with my dick. I use the head above my shoulder to make decisions. Get off your high horse, stop butting into the lives of everyone around you, and eat some turkey.” Will pushed away and stomped back into the house.
“This has disaster written all over it,” his brother muttered from behind him.
CHAPTER11
Too many namesand too many faces. Just too many people in general. They all talked at once, gave each other a hard time, and yet seamlessly worked together to get all the food to the enormous table.
The bright spot in the chaos was Andy. He’d helped Corey plate the turkey, and then he’d brought dishes to the table. The way he interacted with the family made it clear how well he fit into this group. A tall, bearded man took the platter out of Andy’s hands.
“Thanks, Uncle Joey. That was heavy.” Andy vibrated with excitement.
She hadn’t loved the aunt and uncle thing at first, but the adults treated Andy exactly like they did Steve. Like he was family. Knowing her brother was surrounded with so much love eased the sting she felt every time he used the terms.
“You and Steve better eat a lot of that turkey so you get big and strong.” This dark-haired man was the size of a tank and former military. Maybe. Aly couldn’t remember. “You don’t want to be scrawny pretty boys like these two.” The man smirked as he tipped his chin to Will and Marc.
A very pregnant redhead smacked him in the stomach. “Stop harassing your brothers, Nick.”
In a lot of ways, it was like being on a set or one of the publicity shows she’d done over the years. Every person in the room was gorgeous. All the Evans men were tall, built like they spent hours in a gym, and handsome. The Evans gene pool wasstellar. Too bad Lily had plans with her family today because she would have loved the eye candy. And the women? Beth and Corey’s girlfriend were tiny, adorable girl-next-door types. The redhead and the younger dark-haired woman pretty much defined gorgeous leggy beauties. If Aly hadn’t spent years surrounded by the beautiful people of television, she’d be overwhelmed.
“Where’s Danny?” someone asked.
Who the heck was Danny?That would be the better question.
“Danny?” Aly whispered to Will, who was in the seat next to her. Since he’d reappeared a few minutes ago, he’d been wearing a perma-frown.
“Danny’s one of my younger brothers.”
“He’s at Grant’s,” the redhead answered, lowering herself into a chair slowly. The size of her stomach made Aly wonder how close she was to her due date.
“Grant’s my older brother. He and his wife and kids live on his farm in Pennsylvania. They sell Christmas trees. This weekend is too busy for them to get away,” Will explained. “And Clayton, my youngest brother, is in Detroit. He’s playing against the Lions later today.”
“That’s going to be a blowout.” Marc pulled out the seat at the head of the table.
“Maybe not. Clay might choke.” Corey chuckled as he sat next to Will.