Time to Pretend (32 page)

This is something the three of us should discuss together.” Relieved, Alaina nodded.

* * * *

The suburban colonial where the DiMarcos lived wasn’t very far from Alaina’s house. It had feel of quiet anticipation a place takes on just before hordes of people arrive. Alaina stopped on the walk just below the porch and took it in.

“Who is coming to this?” She really wanted to know if she would know anyone besides him and Evan.

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“Everybody.”

She ripped her eyes from the house that was very similar to her own. She sighed and glanced over at the handsome man standing next to her. She was coming to appreciate his sense of humor. “Daniel.” He slung an arm around her shoulders. “Nervous, Lainie?”

“Aren’t you?”

“I think you can hold your own.” He grinned down at her.

“You’re little, but you’re tough. Besides, they’ll all be too busy tripping over themselves to get a look at you to give you any grief.” With that, he pulled her close and gave her one of those spine-melting kisses. If he had suggested leaving right then, he would have heard no argument from her. Just as the kiss was about to morph into something indecent, a low whistle caught Alaina’s attention. She opened her eyes to see Drew Snow’s million-kilowatt smile.

He wasn’t as tall as Daniel, but he was devastating nonetheless, especially when he watched the kiss with undisguised enjoyment.

Sophia came up behind him, her eyes glued to her cell phone as she finished a text. She looked up just before she crashed into Drew’s arm.

“What are you...Oh.” Confusion turned to joy, and Sophia’s mouth curved in a magnetic smile that was very similar to Daniel’s.

Dressed in a simple tank top and jean shorts, she was just as beautiful as always. She shook her finger at Alaina. “You sly little vixen.” Over a week had elapsed since her girls’ night out with Sophia, and there had been no opportunity for them to have any kind of a conversation at the last self-defense class. Alaina had no idea what Sophia was talking about. A glance up at Daniel showed him equally confused.

Sophia wasn’t done with her finger. She unleashed it on Daniel next. “You’ve spent years giving me shit about having threesomes, and now you’re in a ménage relationship. How’s that crow tasting?” Daniel’s chest rumbled with a choking laughter. He hugged Alaina closer. “Pretty damn good.”

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Drew slid his arm around Sophia, resting his hand on her hip, and grinned even wider at Daniel. “I told you so. I like the way that sounds. I think I’m going to say it over and over, just for fun.”

“You do, and I’ll mess up that pretty face of yours.” Daniel didn’t temper his threat with anything that might have made it less threatening.

It rolled away unnoticed. Drew smacked a kiss on Sophia’s cheek.

“Hear that, honey? He called me pretty.” Sophia rolled her eyes. “Way to feed his ego.” She tapped him on the chest. “C’mon, pretty boy, let’s head inside so my mom can put you in your place.”

She was nearly to the door when she whirled on her heel. “Daniel, where is Evan? It’s not a threesome with only two people.” Feeling decadent and brazen, Alaina fielded this one. “He’s coming later. Don’t worry, Sophia. We’ll all leave together.” Daniel’s arms tightened around her, and she thought he was laughing, but the strange expression crossing Sophia’s face had her second-guessing her analysis.

“You better come inside, Daniel, or Mom will send Dad out here to put your ass to work. No slackers allowed on Labor Day.” Sophia’s quiet admonition returned all the butterflies to Alaina’s stomach. When Daniel turned to follow her, Alaina stopped him with a hand on his arm. She waited until they were alone before voicing her question.

“You did tell your family, right?”

“Yeah.” His face was once more unreadable.

“How did they take it?”

He shrugged. “I think they think I’m lying, which puzzles them because I’m not known for lying.” He tugged at her arm. “This will be proof, and then we’ll get to see their reactions live and in person.” That didn’t make Alaina feel better. She followed him inside.

The living room was empty. Noise came from the back of the house where the kitchen was located. Daniel headed there without
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hesitating. He squeezed her hand. “It’ll be fine, Lainie. They won’t be able to help loving you.”

Sophia’s voice drifted through the open doorway. “Anyway, so I told Daniel that if he and Evan didn’t snatch her up, somebody else would. It’s amazing she was still single.” As they rounded the corner and crossed the threshold, conversation halted. Sophia stood next to the island counter with a large knife in her hands and the guts of a watermelon splayed in front of her. Drew stirred something boiling in a pot on the stove that smelled strongly of ginger. He winked at her and returned his attention to the sauce.

David DiMarco squished hamburger patties together near the sink.

When the silence fell, he glanced over his shoulder, a welcoming smile lighting his face.

A short blonde woman with full, generous curves presided over an oval table shoved against a wall. Her hair fell to just below her ears, and her face was lined with years of laughter, though no smile rested there presently. The ripping of the plastic seal on a package of deli meats tore through the silent room.

“Well, that was faster than I thought you’d make it.” Sophia tempered her observation with a wrinkled nose, and Alaina understood that her relationship with Daniel was now fair game in the DiMarco sibling wars.

Though nobody seemed overtly hostile, some strange undercurrent filled the room, and Alaina was thankful Daniel didn’t drop her hand. She followed him to his mother. He dropped a kiss on her upturned cheek.

“Mom, this is Lainie.”

The woman’s eyes traveled over Alaina, assessing her for something she didn’t seem to find. Though her lips smiled and her face maintained a polite, neutral expression, shades of bafflement were evident behind her brown eyes. She offered a hand to Alaina.

“It’s nice to finally meet you, Lainie.”
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Alaina had to disengage her hand from Daniel’s before taking his mother’s hand. “Likewise, Mrs. DiMarco. I’ve heard such great things about you.”

She snorted and let loose a short chuckle. “Call me Anna, dear.

I’m sure you didn’t hear anything great from Danny.” Alaina laughed, mostly because Anna was correct. “I heard a little from him, but most of it I got from Evan and Sophia.” Anna looked Alaina up and down again, curiosity spilling from her eyes. “Evan’s a nice boy.”

“Where is Evan?” The stack of raw hamburgers next to David grew steadily. He threw another look over his shoulder to Alaina.

“I’m glad you could come today.”

Daniel headed over to the sink and washed his hands before diving into the mound of ground beef to help his father. “He’ll be here around four. He has to make an appearance at another party.”

“His parents are still coming?”

“And his sister. I think two or three brothers, too.” Daniel favored Alaina with a smug smile. “They want to meet Lainie.”

“Well, of course. We didn’t think there was a woman in existence who could domesticate you two.” Anna’s voice held enough humor to make her statement seem like a joke, but Alaina knew enough about body language to wonder what Anna wasn’t saying.

Alaina fidgeted under the constant speculative stare from Anna.

The direct approach wouldn’t work. Anna was obviously saving her questions for when Daniel wasn’t around. Alaina tried to redirect the flow of conversation. “Can I do anything to help?” Sophia pointed her knife at a stack of cheeses. “You can cube those. Danny, make sure we have enough ice. I hate warm cheese.” Two hours later, the buffet was ready. Daniel’s family knew how to put people to work. The second Alaina finished with one task, Anna or Sophia seemed to have another thing that needed to be done.

Alaina didn’t mind. It gave her a chance to study the family dynamics.

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Anna was the unequivocal boss. Though David seemed like the kind of man who didn’t take orders from a woman, Alaina quickly came to realize he was nothing like her own father. He not only did what Anna asked without question, he managed to accomplish a good number of tasks she hadn’t assigned.

And his mood stayed positive. Under these circumstances, her own father would have turned into a complete jerk by now. Alaina could now clearly see where her earlier assumptions about Daniel had been wrong. Yes, he was incredibly masculine. However, he wasn’t raised to differentiate between “women’s work” and “men’s work” the way Alaina had been. He and Sophia had spent summers mowing lawns for their father’s landscaping company.

Sophia and Daniel sparred verbally, but the teasing was all good-natured. Their close bond was evident and enviable. Until Zach came along, Alaina had been an only child. She had always wanted a sibling relationship like the one Sophia and Daniel seemed to have.

And now that she was with Daniel, Sophia seemed to treat Alaina as a sister.

They settled into a comfortable pattern. The conversation ebbed and flowed, easily including Alaina as part of the family. Still, she caught Anna peering at her a few times, a thoughtful frown on her face. The unasked questions would come out sooner or later. Alaina banked on sooner with this woman.

Jennifer Carrico was simple to identify. Sporting Evan’s straight brown hair, sparkling blue eyes, and angular face, she was definitely his mother. She breezed in with the man who had given Evan his broad shoulders and infectious smile. They greeted Anna and David DiMarco with open affection.

Evan’s father, Jason, spotted Alaina first. She had graduated from cubing cheese to slicing vegetables. She set down the knife and dried her hands on a nearby dish towel. She held a hand out to him, intending to shake, but he pulled her into a bone-crushing hug.

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Air whooshed from Alaina’s lungs as a man who had to be the same age as her father lifted her from the ground and planted a kiss on her cheek. Behind her, Daniel peeled Jason’s arms away.

“Jay, she’s little. You’re going to break her.” Alaina sent a grateful glance over her shoulder. Daniel’s arm slid around her waist protectively. “You must be Evan’s dad. I’m Alaina.” Daniel’s laugh rumbled through her back. “These are Evan’s parents, Jason and Jennifer Carrico. Jen and Jay, this is Dr. Alaina Miles.”

Now he shook her hand. “I know who she is, boy. I’m not senile.” Jennifer Carrico slapped her husband’s chest. “You could have fooled me.” To Alaina, she offered a smile. “It’s nice to meet you, Alaina. Evan has told us so much about you. Lots of good things. I was beginning to think he made you up.” Alaina murmured the appropriate responses, all the while wondering why Evan’s mother would think he made her up.

More guests arrived. In a short amount of time, Alaina met a myriad of people, including three of Evan’s siblings and too many of Daniel’s aunts and uncles to count. They peeled Daniel away for his shift on the grill, and time flew. Alaina wasn’t allowed a moment alone until she excused herself to use the bathroom.

She refreshed her braid and shook her head. Fighting humidity never worked. Three times, she had smacked Daniel’s hand away when he tried to undo her braid. The man had no idea what heat like this could do to her stubborn curls. Alaina didn’t mind the corkscrews, but she drew the line at the frizz-fest.

Luckily, the light amount of makeup had held under the extreme conditions. She cleaned up her eyeliner and smiled into the mirror. It amused her that people found her an interesting oddity because she was the first woman Daniel had brought home. All this time, she thought they would be drawn or repelled by the fact they were a threesome or the age difference. Those factors hadn’t seemed to
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matter nearly as much as the novelty of Daniel or Evan with a steady girlfriend.

When she finally convinced herself that her break was over, Alaina emerged to find Jennifer Carrico waiting for the restroom.

Immediately aware of how long she’d taken, heat crept up Alaina’s neck.

“Sorry,” she said. “I didn’t know anyone was waiting.” She should have known. This was a large party, and the DiMarcos only had two bathrooms. Alaina had purposely sought out the one upstairs for the additional privacy.

A sad smile stretched her lips. “That’s okay. I wasn’t waiting for the bathroom. I was waiting for you. We need to talk.”
Here it comes.
This was the part Alaina dreaded, though she thought Daniel or Evan would have been with her when it happened.

Alaina nodded and followed Jennifer to a bedroom across the hall. At least, it had originally been a bedroom. Now it was a computer and storage room. Sterilite containers were stacked along one wall. An older model computer sat on a massive desk on another wall, and a futon took up space across the room.

Jennifer sat on the futon. Alaina closed the door and joined her.

The urge to blurt out reasoning and reassurances almost overwhelmed Alaina, but she held fast to the belief that she needed to listen before she spoke. This was, technically, Jennifer’s emotional trauma, and she had to come to terms with it on her own.

Alaina watched as Jennifer studied her in silence. Finally, Jennifer looked away.

“I wonder if you know what you’re doing.” It was a strong opening statement that threw the ball in Alaina’s court. With a concerned frown, Alaina tossed it back. “I do.” Jennifer drew in a deep breath, held it for a moment, and exhaled slowly. She fidgeted with her hands, picking at her fingernails rather than meeting Alaina’s eyes. “I have six kids, and I love them each.

Evan is my youngest, my baby. Maybe I’m a bit overprotective, but I
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know my son, Alaina. He might dabble with women, but his heart’s not in it. I know he doesn’t fit the gay stereotype, but he is who he is.” Keeping any sort of judgmental reaction from her face was a skill Alaina had practiced for years, yet she still found it challenging to do when the topics were personal. “Evan hasn’t mentioned anything about that to me yet, but we’ve only been together for a couple of weeks. However, I can assure you that, if you want to label him, he’s bisexual.”