Chapter 7

(Lux)

The love language of food and laughter

I brought steaks with loaded baked potatoes and steamed broccoli drizzled with cheese. I’d picked up half a pie too, eggnog cheesecake from the bakery, smooth and sprinkled with nutmeg and cinnamon sugar on top.

River was swamped, but the moment he laid eyes on me his face split into a grin, and he waved, then pointed me to the door behind him. I stepped into a homey little break room with all the touches of home, including a bookcase shelf full of paperbacks and magazines, a PlayStation 3, and two game controllers.

They had a low table on the floor, too, and overstuffed bean bag chairs, as well as a cool selection of children’s books and toys which must be for when his niece and nephew came over. River had told me a little about them. That they were his sister Meadow’s children and that she’d lost her husband almost a year ago. I couldn’t imagine how difficult it was trying to run a business and raise little ones and admired the willingness of her brothers to help with them, even if it meant longer hours for them.

There was a small sink in the corner, and real dishes stacked in a rack on the counter beside a paper towel holder, so I grabbed a couple plates and arranged our food on them, cracked open the drinks I’d brought and poured them into glasses before chucking the bottles in the recycle bin. When River stepped through the door moments later and closed it behind him, I was shocked.

“What did you do, kick everyone out?” I asked as he sat down.

“Naa, Haven took over for me,” he explained.

“I’ll have to thank him.”

“I already did,” he said as he grinned down at the plate then back up at me. “This looks delicious.”

“Smells delicious too, but now I feel bad about leaving your brother out there to deal with all of those people while we’re back here pigging out.”

“Don’t,” he told me as we dug in. “His Daddy will be here soon with dinner for them. He comes every night when it’s time to shut down. Says he knows it’s a small town but that doesn’t mean there aren’t bad people lurking around to take advantage of easy opportunities.”

“He’s not wrong.”

“I know, and I love that he’s so protective of my brother, and me,” River explained. “He says it’s because he loves Haven, which makes it easy to love the people who are important to him.”

“He sounds like an awesome Daddy,” I said, hoping this conversation was going to lead to the segway I needed to ask the question that had been plaguing me all weekend.

“He really is,” River said, flushing a little. “My brother got lucky, but he deserves it after everything he’s been through.”

“I heard someone say something about him being in prison for a couple years,” I said, keeping my tone neutral, needing him to know that I wasn’t being judgy.

“It was more than a couple, and he didn’t deserve to spend a single second in there,” River spat, eyes narrowing while fury made his cheeks pink up until it was almost as bright as his hair.

His anger was a palatable thing as he stabbed his fork into his steak and started sawing away at the tender, medium rare meat. If the cow wasn’t already dead, I’d swear he was trying to butcher it, words rolling low and growled as he cut.

“Fuckin’ Archer. That’s who deserved to spend time behind bars! He fucked up and let Haven pay for it. Not ever gonna forgive him for that.”

I let the words sink in, hating the bitterness that had darkened both his tone and mood. “Sounds like a story there.”

“Not one I wanna tell right now,” he said, the edge to his voice even more pronounced. “It always leaves me too pissed off.”

Well, we couldn’t have that. Not when he looked so murderously enraged that I feared his meal might not survive the rage I glimpsed each time he speared a piece of broccoli on his fork. The tines hit the glass with a brief screech, scraping as he dragged his vegetables through the cheese.

“When you say your brother got lucky when he met his Daddy, does that imply that you hope to get that lucky one day?” I asked, diving in and hoping I wasn’t about to smash into concrete.

“Me and Jeremy both,” He admitted. “That’s Haven’s best friend. They work in the shop together. Haven’s Daddy lets us have sleepovers on family game night, which is awesome, ‘cause he always makes amazing food and has a bunch of new games for us to play.”

When River started biting his lip, I started to wonder about what he wasn’t saying.

“Are…” He started, stopping, shaking his head, and turning his attention back to his meal.

“No, go ahead and finish your question,” I encouraged.

“Did you ask if I was interested in a Daddy because you are one?” he asked after he’d eaten a few more bites of food.

“Yes.”

Our eyes met over the table, his lighting up again the moment the words sunk in. He was biting his lip again though, which I was coming to realize was a tell for when he wanted to ask a question but was taking the time to work up the nerve. That was okay. I was happy to consume my meal while waiting him out, giving him the time and space to make up his mind about what he wanted to do.

“Family Game night is next Saturday,” River declared, words coming out a bit breathy and rushed, like he wanted to hurry and get them out before he lost his nerve. “We’re doing a Christmas theme, since it’s only gonna be a few days away by then. Would you wanna come with me or is it too soon to want to do family things together? It’s okay if it is, I get it, which is why I wasn’t gonna ask.”

I laid down my fork and knife so I could reach across the table and place my hand over the one he had resting on the table.

“I’m glad you worked up the courage to ask anyway,” I told him. “Now I get to tell you that I’d love to spend family game night with you.”

His eyes let up even more then, even as his smile grew. “Even the sleepover?”

“Of course, the sleepover,” I assured him. “I bet that’s the best part.”

“It’s all awesome.”

“If Haven’s Daddy is okay with it, I’ll even help him with meals and anything else that can be made easier when two people share the load.

Now his mouth dropped open, and I could tell he was both pleased and excited about the prospect. “You’d really do that?”

The look he shot me was a mix of hopeful and shocked, so I gave his hand a squeeze, understanding his hesitation. It would take time for him to learn that I was a man who meant the things I said and did my best to follow through on them.

“I’d be happy to,” I told him. “I think it would be a fun way to spend time together and get to know the people who are important to you. I don’t believe in following other people’s timelines. If we’re both good with me going with you, then I don’t think we need to worry about whether some people might consider it too soon. I know that this past weekend was one of the best of my life and I want more days like that.”

“So do I. I’m glad you weren’t making fun of me when you asked me out.”

“You’d better never point out someone who has, or they might see a side of me that I won’t want you to witness.”

“Does that mean you keep a bail fund the way Maddox does?”

His question caught me so off guard I nearly choked on the swallow of peach iced tea I’d ingested. Color me curious but I was suddenly very intrigued to meet Haven’s Daddy and learn what kind of man could be viewed so highly by River while still seeing the need to keep an active bail fund on hand for when shit went wrong. Something told me he’d be very interesting, indeed.

“I’ve never felt the need for a bail fund,” I explained. “But then I’ve never been arrested, so I wouldn’t have a clue about how much I’d need if I was going to start one. I came close, once. I’ve never been so furious and humiliated in my life.”

“What happened?”

“I was in the mall with friends from school when this shop manager pointed a security guard my way and told him I was the one who’d shoplifted a bunch of crap from his store. I’d never even been in the store, but when I tried to explain that to security, they wouldn’t let me get a word in edgewise. Then they tried to cuff me, which there was no way I was letting happen peacefully, so I wouldn’t cooperate. The guard wound up tossing me on the ground, kneeling on my back and clamping the cuffs on so tight I wound up having bruises for a week.”

“What the hell?” He said, puffing up and growing indignant on my behalf. “Why didn’t they look at the video feed first, or give you the chance to prove you’d been somewhere else?”

“Because in situations like those they are always going to believe the store owner, even a nearsighted one with a nervous condition and grainy cameras.”

“That’s such bullshit,” he grumbled. “But I thought you said you were almost arrested. If they cuffed you, isn’t that arrested, arrested?”

“If it had been a police officer and they’d read me my rights, maybe, but I think they have to go through the whole process of calling in actual cops and booking someone before an arrest can be completed, but don’t quote me on that,” I said. “Fortunately, the situation never got that far. When the real cops showed up, one of them was a friend’s father. She begged him to take a closer look at the security footage before hauling me away. When he did, he saw that the thief had several things I didn’t, including long hair and the edge of a tattoo sticking out from beneath the cuff of his shirt. It was a no brainer at that point. He showed the shopkeeper the tattoo and my arm, where there was nothing but unblemished skin, ordered the security guard to take the cuffs off me, and told me I was free to go.”

“Nice.”

“If that had been the story that was going around school the next day, maybe, but the rumors that had started flying ranged from claims that I’d beat up the security guard to ones saying I had a whole criminal enterprise going, where I sold the merchandise I’d stolen on online sites and made a ton of money doing it too.”

“Damn.”

“Tell me about it,” I muttered, grimacing at the memory. “My mother was already upset about what had happened and started talking about suing the security guard and the shopkeeper. When she found out about what was going on at school, she marched down to the shop with me in tow and cursed him out in front of half the city. I swear there were people in the shop that day who I’d never even seen wandering around the mall before and I was there a lot. The worst part was when she called me one of the many pet names she had for me and insisted that I would never do anything like what he’d accused me of. Then she demanded he go to the school and make an announcement over the PA system so everyone would know the truth. Hell, she considered asking them to hold an assembly, which I barely talked her out of doing.”

His eyes were bugging out by the time I reached the last part, and he whistled and shook his head, looking an equal mix terrified and impressed. “Sounds like she was in full mama bear mode.”

“That’s putting it mildly,” I said. “She was insulted on my behalf and upset that the kids who’d been with me hadn’t set the rumors straight. Even when I tried to explain that they’d tried, she didn’t want to hear any of it.”

“How long did it take her to calm down?”

Chuckling, I downed the last of the tea in my glass. “Months.”

“Seriously?”

“Man, she learned how to use social media just so she could tell the story on every forum she could find,” I admitted. “It got to the point where she’d drawn so much attention to what had taken place that the newspaper wanted to do a story, which I refused to cooperate with, so the reporter interviewed her instead. It was a good piece, all about how easy it was for someone’s reputation to be ruined by people who don’t take the time to learn all the facts.”

“She had a point.”

“I know,” I replied. “But I kept hoping the whole thing would blow over so people would stop talking about it. Instead, they kept talking while she kept protesting and getting pissed because the things they were saying were lies. It just sucked all the way around and made it hard to want to tell her about anything going on in my life.”

“My mom would have been pissed too,” River admitted. “But knowing her and how in your face she could be when she felt like an injustice had been committed, she’d have marched over to each kids house and demanded their parents make them stop spreading lies before she filed defamation suits on every last one of them.”

“Sounds like she knew her way around the law?”

“More like every early morning court show to ever pop up on television.”

“Who could blame her, Judge Mathis has always been one of my guilty pleasures.”

“She loved him, and Judge Judy, but her favorite was always The People’s Court,” River explained. “It was my grandmother’s favorite too. They’d watch it together and yell at the television when one of the litigants said something stupid or something they knew would get the person’s case thrown out.”

I chuckled at that, recalling a few of my favorite episodes. “Some of the folks on there were real idiots.”

“That was always the best part,” he replied.

“I loved the blank looks they’d give the judges after one of them proposed a reasonable solution that would have resulted in them avoiding court. It was like they hadn’t even paused to consider any other option besides filing a lawsuit.”

“I never understood why people could be so stubborn that they let it get that far,” River said. “Especially when there was no clear right or wrong, just a series of events that took place and everyone rushing to point the finger of blame rather than looking at the ways they might have contributed to the situation.”

“No shit,” I said. “There were some pretty petty, and extreme reactions that got people in hot water, too.”

“Yeah, the bullshit that came about because someone was trying to get revenge on someone else was usually epically and tragically ridiculous. I always got the best ideas for sketches after I’d watched a few shows.”

“I hope you kept them,” I said. “I’d love to see what you came up with.”

“Mom didn’t believe in throwing artwork away,” River admitted. “She even made scrapbooks of my earliest squiggles.”

“And called you Squiggle Butt too,” Haven said from the doorway, shocking us both.

I couldn’t help the laughter that spilled over at hearing the nickname and seeing the blush on River’s face because of it.

“Dude, you can’t just go around telling people that!” He declared, brandishing his fork at his brother.

“Of course I can,” Haven replied, impish and indignant at the same time. “Mom’s not here to do it and Meadow is busy. That leaves me. Count yourself lucky I don’t have time to run upstairs and hunt up a photo of you in the tub.”

This one was a character, and judging from the way River’s lips kept twitching, he was barely holding back the urge to laugh.

“There are photos in there of you too, you know.”

“Which I’d very much like to see,” a rough, growly voice said from somewhere behind Haven, who stepped all the way inside the room to allow the man to enter the doorway.

“Deal,” River said, sticking his tongue out at his brother.

“I’d call it a fair exchange, wouldn’t you?” I said to Haven, who grinned.

“Hell yeah, I can show you his and he can show my Daddy mine,” he declared, ducking when River threw a balled-up paper towel at his head.

“Lux,” I said, offering my hand after Haven’s Daddy had set down the bags he was carrying.

“Maddox.”

“I invited him to family game night,” River blurted. “That’s okay, right? Haven said I could.”

Maddox’s chuckle was deep as he shook his head at the siblings. I could see the fondness he had for them, and the closeness that existed between the pair as they bantered with one another.

“That is perfectly okay,” Maddox replied. “The more the merrier. We’ll finally have enough people to really get into all the Cards Against Humanity sets.”

“Best game ever,” I declared, earning a nod from Maddox, who winked when River glanced his way.

“I knew you had good taste,” Maddox declared as River huffed and shook his head.

Despite how hard he was trying to look exasperated; he couldn’t keep the smile off his face. If their snark and the easy way they laughed with one another was any indication of how family game night would go, I couldn’t wait for the cards to hit the table.