Chapter 1

Chapter

One

J acob knew he should have let the call go to voicemail. He wasn’t psychic; he’d just recognized his mother’s number and knew exactly why she was calling. It was the same reason she’d called a few days before, and the week before that.

The Brood clan was having their biannual reunion, and his presence was requested—demanded really. He’d missed the last one, two years ago, and they were making sure he made it this time.

If he didn’t answer the phone, it would be his siblings calling next, and it would never stop. He sighed and hit the green circle. “Hi, Mom.”

“Oh, Jacob, good. I caught you. I think it was about to go to voicemail.” Gretchen Brood practically oozed motherly warmth through the phone.

He should be so lucky. “I was just on my way out the door, so I had to drop a bunch of stuff to get it.” He was currently sprawled on his comfy overstuffed couch, wearing nothing but boxers and socks, but she wouldn’t know that. Maybe guilt for inconveniencing him would put her on the defensive for a change.

“Great, good thing I caught you before you left then,” she said. No guilt there. “I wanted to remind you about the?—”

“Reunion, yes, I know. Mom this is the thirtieth call about it.”

“Don’t exaggerate. I’ve only called you three times,” she said with a sniff.

“You, yeah. But Dad, Grandma, Gavin and hell, pretty much everyone else in the family has also called.”

She laughed. “I guess that should show you how much we all want you to be there.”

“It’s just not a good time of year, Mom. There’s a lot going on and it’s not always easy to get the days off.” There was more to it than that, of course. But he didn’t like talking about his anxiety issues.

Their family was descended from three brothers who married three sisters, and all of them had been prolific, which meant the Brood family was huge. These reunions were practically mob scenes with five generations of people descending on the town like a flock of birds hitting Florida for the winter.

They took up every available hotel room, and every family member with a spare floor to sleep on crammed in as many as they could. It was too much. Especially since Jacob never really felt like he fit in with the rest of them.

As if sensing where his thoughts had gone, his mother suddenly spoke up, “Jacob… Is this about your little… issue? Because I can assure you, no one even thinks about that.”

“Mom. C’mon. Every time I go home, they push and push and push. I can’t make myself into something I’m not. They act like I’m broken, and they can fix me if they just push me enough.”

And it never ended. From the moment he showed up in town his siblings and cousins would be on him with suggestions. “Have you tried…” “What if you…” And the older generations were worse. They didn’t offer advice, they outright tried to force him into uncomfortable situations where he would have no choice but to react the way they wanted.

Only it never worked. It was exhausting and it made him a nervous wreck, but it never got the desired result.

Instead he ended up a shaky and uncoordinated mess, which wasn’t who he liked to be. It wasn’t who he was in California. Here he was in control of everything.

He managed his own distribution company. It was still small, but it was growing and in the black. He was on top of things and people looked to him for advice. They respected him.

Hell, he was even Dominant in the bedroom.

But back home, all of that confidence and self-assurance dropped away, and he was once again an awkward teenager waiting for puberty to sort him out. Well, he’d given up expecting to be sorted and it was time they did too.

After the last visit he’d decided to do everyone, including himself, a favor and just stay away. Except his family couldn’t accept that either.

A long sigh gusted over the phone speaker. “Honey, you know they just want to help. There’s no one else like this in our family history, so there’s no reason to think that you have to be like this . Obviously, there’s an issue, so there has to be a solution.”

“The solution is to just let me be who I am. I don’t have to be like everyone else in the family. I wish you’d all just… let it go.” There was a snap to his voice that he didn’t intend, and he winced. “Sorry, Mom.”

There was a long silence, and he began to wonder if she was going to say anything else. “I’m the one who’s sorry. I just… it doesn’t seem fair that you’re the only one who can’t…”

“I don’t mind. Not anymore. I admit it bothered me for years, but I’ve moved past it.”

“Are you sure? Because it feels like you’ve put as much distance between yourself and your family as possible so that you aren’t reminded. That’s not quite the same as moving on,” she said in a gentle tone.

“Mom…” He wanted to argue, but she was right. He hadn’t so much adjusted to the reality, as he’d given up and tried not to think about it. But maybe that was the only thing he could do.

Wanting to be like everyone else wasn’t enough to make it true. He was always going to be the outsider in his family. Maybe he’d never fully get over that, but he could fake it.

“Jacob, please come home. I miss you. Everyone misses you.” There was a low huskiness to the words, hinting at emotions being held in check. “I promise to talk with them. I’ll tell them not to bring up the subject or push you to try new things. Please?”

He sighed. “Okay, Mom. I’ll see what I can do about getting the time off. It might be too late, but I’ll try.” There was a pretty good chance he was going to regret it, but it was hard to say no when his mother so rarely asked her children for anything.

Her tone immediately brightened, “That’s all I ask, sweetie. I’m so glad. Oh, did you hear about…” And she was off rambling about family gossip.

Since he was probably going to be seeing everyone soon, he made an effort to pay attention to the list of who was dating, who had found love, who was starting a new career. At least on the last point he could hold his own. He was proud of how much he’d achieved.

But suddenly something caught his attention. “Wait, go back. Did you say Gavin was engaged?” Holy shit.

“Yes, remember I told you he met a nice girl a while back? She’s the one who took over the used bookstore.”

He had absolutely no recollection. He’d probably tuned it out with the other news. “Huh, that’s really great.” Except it did mean that Jacob would be the last of his siblings not to have settled down. Most of the cousins were in committed relationships as well.

Just another way he stood out.

Still, he was happy for Gavin. His brother had always been a bit of an introvert and didn’t get out to meet women very often. He wondered if the wedding was set in stone. “Will she… uh, be at the reunion?” he asked.

“Oh yes, Gabby fits in nicely. Everyone loves her,”

He relaxed. A slight smile curved his mouth up at one side. That meant the wedding was probably a sure thing, barring normal relationship issues that might crop up.

The question was an important one. His family could appear cliquish from the outside—with good reason. Even marrying in wasn’t a guarantee of welcome.

There was a process for vetting outsiders and some, no matter how wonderful they were, just didn’t make the cut. Potential partners didn’t tend to last if they weren’t accepted by the whole family. There was no rule about it… they just ended up feeling shut out.

If she’d been invited to join them during the big get-together, it meant she would have no worries on that score. The elders of the family were very careful about extending invitations. Some of their customs could be a little… unusual, and they could startle people who weren’t already invested.

“Gabby and Gavin huh? That’s going to get some teasing.”

“It already has, but I quite like her and her name. She’s a sweet thing, but you’ll meet her when you come home .”

Jacob didn’t miss the emphasis and rolled his eyes. “I promised to try , Mom,” he said with some emphasis of his own. “I own the business, which can make it hard when it comes to getting time off, but I’ll do my best.”

That seemed to please her well enough, though she continued to act like it was a done deal until they hung up a few minutes later.

He sighed, knowing full well that she wasn’t going to accept anything less than his presence. And if he didn’t want half the family showing up to escort him there under duress, he was just going to have to make it happen.

Fuck my life.