Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 70518 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70518 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Hadley and Wes were right behind him. I’d only spent a little time with Hadley, but she embraced me like we were old friends.
“Hey, girl,” she said. “So sorry to crash your Thanksgiving, but my stubborn husband decided about an hour ago that if Sawyer wouldn’t come to us, we were coming to him.”
“Oh.” Panic filled my chest as the room filled with people. “Okay.”
I didn’t have enough food, enough chairs, or enough plates. This was going to be a disaster.
“Don’t freak out,” Hadley said. “We brought a ton of food. I had a bunch of things catered and I made a bunch myself, and everyone brought stuff. We brought a giant ham, two turkeys, and a ton of ribs.”
She was right. Everyone who walked into the room had something in hand, and the counters were filling up.
Sheridan was laughing when she approached me for a hug. “It’ll be fine, I promise. We’ve got paper plates and extra chairs, and more food than you can imagine.”
I met Kon’s gaze across the room, and he winked at me. People I hadn’t met yet introduced themselves, some of them telling me whether the dish they’d brought needed to be kept cold or warm until we ate.
By the time the room cleared, I was in a daze. Sawyer was setting up the football game on the TV in the basement, which was bigger and also had a bar the guys could congregate at. The platter of sausage balls was empty. But somehow, I had a feeling this was all going to work out.
They’d moved Thanksgiving for my brother. I loved that his team was a family, looking out for each other and not asking for permission to do it.
“Want me to finish chopping this?” Sariah asked, picking up the knife on the cutting board with a pile of celery next to it.
“Sure, that would be great. Thanks.”
I walked into the family room to see if we needed to bring in extra chairs, but people were just sitting on the floor. Kids were bouncing from lap to lap.
“What’s that?” a little girl asked me, pointing to the wall of photos behind the couch.
It was Nash’s dick pic. My jaw dropped and I gave Sheridan a panicked look.
“Annalise, Uncle Lars wants you to come play in the basement,” she said.
Annalise’s face lit up and she ran, Sheridan asking someone to move from the couch so she could scoop the offending picture from the wall.
I just laughed because what else could I do? Annalise ran back into the room a few seconds later, breathless.
“Excuse me, where is the basement?” she asked.
“I’ll take you,” I said.
She took my hand as we walked to the basement door, melting my heart.
“Horseshit!” someone yelled as we walked down the stairs.
Annalise looked up at me. “That means the refs are making bad calls.”
I wasn’t sure whose daughter she was, but this little girl was something. It was so easy to imagine her wrapping anyone around her little finger.
“Uncle Lars, let’s play,” she said, running toward Lars as soon as she saw him.
He smiled, picking her up when she reached him.
The Mavericks players were spread out over the couches and standing at the bar. I scanned the faces there, worried I’d see Sawyer with a drink in hand. He wasn’t there, though.
When I finally found him, Sawyer was in the kitchen loading up a plate with appetizers.
“Doing alright?” he asked me.
“Yeah, I’m good.”
Kon approached us, putting his hand on my hip. “What do you need us to help with, Lucy?”
“You can start by getting your hand off her,” Sawyer said with a scowl.
Kon’s gaze darkened as he stared down my brother, not moving his hand.
“Guys, let’s not do this right now,” I said softly.
Kon’s body relaxed and he nodded. “You are right.”
“I need you guys to get the extra tables and chairs set up. Hopefully we can have a chair for everyone when it’s time to eat.”
Sawyer shrugged. “Okay, but don’t sweat it hard, Luce. People can sit on the couches to eat, too.”
I nodded, my gaze landing on the antique sideboard Annie had found in San Francisco when she and Sawyer were traveling. She’d had it stripped and refinished, and it was massive enough to hold a lot of food.
“Go ahead and clear everything off that sideboard, too,” I told them.
“The what?” Sawyer gave me a puzzled look.
I pointed at it. “That big piece of white furniture over there.”
“Ah, gotcha.”
“Actually…” I eyed an empty wall. “If you guys could move it over there, we could fit a table and chairs where it is now.”
“I’ll get Lars to help me move it,” Sawyer said.
Kon glared at him. “I can help you move it.”
“That thing’s a fucking beast. Your little goalie muscles can’t handle it, trust me.”
Kon scoffed. “You have not lifted anything heavier than a beer can in months.”