“I am.”

“She’s pretty,” he said over his shoulder to Colin.

“She’s standing right there, Dad.”

Parker laughed.

“Not like that redhead you brought over a couple years ago.” Colin got his height from his father, but hadn’t yet developed the belly. Emmitt leaned in as if no one else could hear him. “Her eyes were too far apart.”

Parker looked at Colin. “Is that right?”

“Yeah. None of us liked her.”

“You can say that again.” This from Matt. “She had cats.”

Emmitt narrowed his eyes. “You don’t have cats, do you?”

“One,” she confessed. “But he lives outside most of the time.”

He winked. “Well, that’s okay, then. What about dogs?”

“They have a black lab, Dad.”

That seemed to do the trick. Emmitt was all smiles.

Grace arrived with the wine. “Enough with the twenty questions.”

“I guess I should have warned you,” Colin said.

“Maybe.” The whole conversation was both overwhelming and strangely charming at the same time. More importantly, she felt completely at home with the Hudsons.

Mallory stepped up, a plate of deviled eggs in her hand. “Try one.”

Colin wasn’t sure what was going through Parker’s mind, but her wide eyes and laughter put him at ease.

The smile that hadn’t left her face since walking in the door did something to him he couldn’t quite name. Even the conversation about his ex he let continue, and allowed himself to be the butt of the joke since it seemed to delight Parker to hear.

She and Grace hit it off.

Grace was only two years older than Parker, and it turned out that they had similar memories of crosstown rival games while in high school.

Still, Colin didn’t mind taking the back seat for the day. He’d get his time.

When dinner was ready, the TV was put on pause and the game suspended until after the meal. Like many family tables, there was an adult table and a kid table. The youngest at the kid table was Austin, but it seemed he was finding something in common with Colin’s youngest cousin. Mallory might have been flirting with Jase, his middle cousin, who had just celebrated his twenty-first birthday.

Colin sat beside Parker and inched his hand toward hers throughout the meal. Every once in a while he’d reach with his little finger and make contact, and she’d look up at him with a blush in her cheeks. It was a look he could get used to and wondered how long he could keep it there.

Once dinner was done, the kid table, and everyone at the kid table, had to help clean up.

The game was turned back on, but by now the tryptophan in the turkey had taken over, and the score was a sideways glance and not the main focus.

The back door to the patio was wide open and Southern California did what it did.

Years ago his father had installed mounted gas heaters that forced heat onto the patio and made the space comfortable for all but a few months out of the year. Most of the time, Mother Nature took care of it for them.

“It’s a rare holiday that we have Matt with us and we’re not taking food to him,” Nora told Parker at one point.

“I get Thanksgiving or Christmas off, but not usually both,” he told her.

“Last year you worked both,” Grace reminded him.

“Paying my dues.” Matt stretched out, his long legs ate up space between him and the rest of the group scattered around the outdoor living space. “Eventually I’ll have a family of my own and want to see my kids on Christmas morning.”

Nora spoke up. “And when is that gonna happen? I’m not getting any younger.”

Matt did what any younger brother would do and pointed at Colin. “Talk to the oldest.”

The statement would have been met with conflict if not for the fact that Parker was sitting right next to him.

Luckily, Grace kicked in. “There’s nothing that says Colin needs to procreate first.”

“Great! You have the uterus . . . you’re up!”

And then his aunt asked, “So how are things with Robert?”

Both his mother and father moaned.

Colin pulled Parker away an hour later when his mom and sister went into the kitchen to start the next round of food featuring every form of sugar possible. “My family is more open than Denny’s on Christmas.”

“They’re delightful.”

“Even the part about Matt’s ex that burped like a trucker?”

She skipped a beat.

“See, TMI.”

“They’re not bad. You don’t even have a family drunk.”

“That was Grandpa Larry. He’s been gone five years now.”

Some of the smile slipped from Parker’s lips. “This is the third holiday season without our parents. The first one we didn’t bother to celebrate.”

“Not even Christmas?”

She shook her head.

He couldn’t imagine life without his family. Just the passing thought made his gut ache.

“Last year sucked, but it wasn’t as bad. It helped that Austin had straightened out.”

“What happened with Austin?”

“Do you have an hour?” she asked with a grin.

“You have as long as it takes.”

“He struggled the most. He skipped school more than he went. Mouthed off to his teachers. Started hanging out with the wrong crowd. His grades were so bad he was almost held back, and the court threatened to put him in foster care.”

Colin glanced back toward the house. “I had no idea.”

“I came home early one day and found him with a friend smoking pot in the garage. I snapped.”

He knew lots of kids who did that when he was in high school. “What did you do?”

“Called the other kid’s parents and waited until one of them came to drive him home. He was older, had his own car. His parents were never around and spoiled their kid. They seemed annoyed that I involved them.”

“That’s messed up.”

“The thing is, I wasn’t pissed that he was smoking pot. I was ticked that he was skipping school and hiding it. I’m the older sister, not the parent. At least that’s what I kept telling him. I kept with the let’s all work together and make this happen, and all that did was take even more away from him. It was a court counselor we were mandated to see who told me that if I wanted my brother to be shipped off to foster care, or worse, end up in juvenile hall, then I should continue to be a big sister instead of his guardian. He needed rules and boundaries. I took away his cell phone and dropped him off and picked him up every day from school. I spoke with each of his teachers and we made contracts for his work that I had to see and sign every Friday. He spent every Saturday available in Saturday school, and only once he was passing did I give him back his phone.”

No wonder Parker seemed older than her years. “He’s obviously earned your trust.”

“Yeah. He changed. Gave up the new friends and found his old ones. I taught him how to drive and reminded him that if there were ever issues like before, I’d take the car without blinking. We’d lost our parents and it wasn’t fair for us to lose each other.”