Just Give In… (20 page)

I
T WAS
B
ROOKE’S
first Thanksgiving with her family. Gillian and her mother had been baking for three solid days, and there was enough food to feed the masses, but even with all that, Thanksgiving morning had Gillian going on about the giblets, making everyone nervous in the process.

Edie and Tyler had flown down, and Edie was debating with Gillian’s mother about the proper way to mash potatoes. Brooke offered to help, but in the end, it was easier to stand alongside the counter and watch everyone yell and argue with a dreamy look on her face. This. This.

Jason came to stand next to her, a Washington Redskins cap in his hand. “You look like it’s Christmas in November.”

“It’s great, isn’t it?”

“It is.”

She reached up and touched his scar, then his mouth, watching the warm gray gaze grow hot. She felt the heat slide down her spine, contentment settling firmly in her heart.

“What are my brothers doing?” She used the words a lot. My brother this. My brother that, and Jason never laughed at her, which she appreciated.

“Don’t make me break a promise,” he warned.

At that point, Gillian looked up from her stirring, spied Jason, and flashed him an angelic smile. “Jason, darling, can you go find Austen and drag him in here? There’s some placemats in the buffet with needlepoint turkeys, and I’ve got my hands full with the giblets right now.”

Brooke smirked. “You’re going to have to break that promise.”

A
LARMED
, J
ASON LOOKED
at his one true love and mouthed, “Needlepoint turkeys?” But she only smiled.

Sadly realizing he had no choice in the matter, Jason approached the living room, which he had privately termed the DMZ. Austen and Tyler were gone, as was Emmett Wanamaker, and at that point, Jason considered his task complete. But then he sighed because Brooke had high expectations for this family dinner, and while he thought turkey placemats were slightly demeaning, he knew that Brooke was loving it all, and it made all the hell worth it.

Almost all the hell worth it.

Hell, yeah, it was worth it.

He found them outside, four folding chairs huddled around a tiny black and white TV, watching football. Cowboys and Redskins.

Now that was Thanksgiving.

“Who’s winning?” Jason asked, watching as the Cowboy quarterback threw an interception right into the arms of the Skins receiver.

“Skins up by seven,” Austen answered.

Jason shrugged innocently. “Don’t blame me because your boys are playing like girls.”

Emmett Wanamaker glared, but Jason glared back, and frankly, very few people could outglare a one-eyed man. Naturally, Emmett caved. “Gillian wants you to find placemats,” he told Austen, doing what he’d promised. “They’re in the buffet. Somewhere.”

Austen looked at his father-in-law for help. “What placemats?”

Emmett’s eyes were fixed on the screen, watching as the Redskins lined up on the Cowboys’ seven. “Damned needlepoint turkeys. They’re going to be accidentally destroyed in a fire someday, mark my words.”

“Talk to Austen then,” Tyler said with a laugh. “He’s great at accidentally setting fires.”

Austen shoved his brother in the ribs, and then the Redskins scored and Jason let out an all-American hoo-yah. He could just imagine his own family celebrating the same moment.

It was twenty minutes later when Brooke found him there, having pulled up another chair, as she leaned over his back she pressed a small kiss against his ear.

“Happy Thanksgiving,” she whispered.

Jason smiled at her, counting her freckles, counting his blessings, and decided that this family thing was a fine thing after all.