Where the Heart Is (5 page)

 

C
HLOE SPENT
most of Saturday shopping for the perfect party outfit and some other items, including a few pairs of much-needed shoes, as best her meager funds would allow. She was sliding some sparkly gloss over her lips when the doorbell rang. She glanced at the clock, 5:55. She liked an early guy. Especially when that guy was Derek Sumner.

Grabbing her coat and then hanging it back up—really, the party was only a handful of footsteps away—she flew through the door and down the stairs. She opened the door and nearly sighed out loud. His black leather jacket was unzipped to reveal a midnight blue button-down shirt. It was a great color on him.

“Hey there, stranger,” she said.

“It has been a long time, hasn't it?” He held out his arm in a superbly gentlemanly fashion. Her mother would swoon.

Chloe closed the door and locked the deadbolt, then slid the keys into the pocket of her new black skinny pants. They weren't fancy, but they weren't from Target either. She'd driven forty-five minutes to an outlet mall with some great stores.

He eyed her new dark red sweater, his gaze heating her in spite of the cold. “You look great,” he said.

“Thanks, so do you.”

“Do you want to walk around to the front, or is it okay if we just sneak in through the mudroom?” he asked, looking down at her. She loved how tall he was.

She contemplated the much longer walk around to the front door. “Is it sneaking in if we're just trying to avoid freezing?”

He chuckled. “Not at all. Mudroom it is.” He led her—quickly—to the door leading from the porte cochere.

Her first impression of the interior of the Archer home was the same as that of the exterior: that it was homey, despite its size. The mudroom contained hooks and cubbies with everyone's name on them. Wow, there were a lot of kids, which meant the monstrous house was for more than just show. The floor was a rich brown tile, perfect for coming in out of the rain. Everything was neat and organized, and the pine wreath on the door had warmly invited them inside.

“This way,” Derek said. He took her hand and though his fingers were cold, she still felt a warmth from his touch. No one had held her hand in a very long time. She didn't remember the last time Ed had done something so simply romantic.

Derek led her down a hallway toward the sounds and smells of a party. Christmas music filled the air along with the telltale scent of pine. As they passed a dining room on their right, she caught sight of a massive Christmas tree, decked out in sparkling elegance in the corner of a two-story living room. She tried not to gape at the sleigh in the center of the oval-shaped hall that served as a central hub; it connected the entry, the great room, and the gallery hallways leading to other wings of the house, one of which they'd just come from.

“What's that for?” she asked, staring at the nearly life-sized sleigh decorated with garland, lights, and gold accents.

“People bring donations for families in need.”

Chloe inwardly cringed. “You should've told me so I could bring something.”

He squeezed her hand. “You just lost everything in a fire. No one expects you to donate anything.”

Of course not, but she would've. But she also didn't want him to feel guilty for not telling her so she smiled up at him. “I'll bring something tomorrow.”

“Derek, Chloe!” Emily came forward. Dressed in a sparkly gold blouse and sleek black slacks, she was elegance personified. She embraced Derek warmly, then hugged Chloe.

“How's Ashley?” she asked.

“Seeing better all the time. She's becoming quite playful.” And cuddly. Last night, she'd curled up beside Chloe's pillow and purred softly. It had been a wonderfully soothing and heartwarming sound to fall asleep to—precisely what Chloe needed.

“That's wonderful to hear. And you look so lovely tonight. Come, you must meet everyone.” She looped her arm through Chloe's and guided her into the great room.

The party was still young. Maybe two dozen people were scattered around the tree, near the fireplace, and in one of the seating areas near the windows. The sound of arrivals came from the entryway behind them, and Chloe suspected the party would be in full swing before long.

Harry Connick Jr.'s voice blasted over the sound system as Emily led her to the seating area in front of the two-story wall of windows facing the backyard, where a group of five were gathered. At least one of them, a petite blonde, was Emily's offspring judging by her looks, but Chloe wondered if they were all related.

Emily withdrew her arm from Chloe's. “I'll have to introduce you to my husband Rob later—he's working the front door—but for now you can meet the rest of the brood. Most of them anyway. Everyone, this is Chloe English, Derek's friend. Be nice to her,” she warned and Chloe felt certain they'd all been briefed about her house fire. “I need to see about the food for a few minutes, but I know you're in good hands with Derek. I promise to find you later so we can talk about him behind his back.” She gave Chloe a mischievous smile that she transferred to Derek before she took herself away.

Chloe looked toward Derek, but he was staring after Emily with an uncomfortable expression wrinkling his brow. Not for the first time, Chloe wondered at the relationship between Derek and her—indeed, with this entire family. She was also very curious about this house of his and why Emily seemed to think he'd offered it to her.

“Hi, Chloe.” A slender young woman with long, straight auburn hair standing in front of the middle window came forward and offered her hand. “I'm Tori. It's nice to meet you. I don't remember the last time Derek brought a friend to something.” She shot Derek a questioning glance. Chloe had to surmise he was quite familiar with this family.

A guy wearing a black sweater that accentuated his broad shoulders and set off his light brown hair stood up from a leather sofa and took her hand. “Hi Chloe, I'm Hayden.” He nodded at Derek. “Well done.”

Chloe blushed. “Uh, thanks. Nice to meet you.”

“Ignore him,” said the other young woman, the blonde who was clearly Emily's daughter. “I'm Sara, or number six, if you prefer. This is Evan.” She gestured to the tallest of all of them—he even had an inch on Derek. With dark brown hair and piercing gray eyes, he looked a little stand-offish compared to the rest of them, perhaps because he was standing the furthest away, but he quirked a small smile and Chloe relaxed. He didn't say a word, though.

“You're the sixth child?” Chloe asked Sara, noting that she didn't look particularly younger than any of the rest. “How many of you are there?” She glanced around the semicircle and counted six, plus Derek. Her inventory also revealed two who appeared to be twins, though she wasn't sure. One was seated in a large, comfy leather chair with an oxygen tank hooked to his nose. The other stood next to him and was the most expensively dressed, with a crisply-starched espresso-colored shirt and perfectly pressed navy slacks. With his thick, waving brown hair, blue-gray eyes, and deep dimples, she pegged him as a heartbreaker, but then they were all uncommonly attractive. Great genes. She glanced over at Derek. Was he somehow . . . related? She didn't see any resemblance, but they all seemed so familiar with each other.

The heartbreaker drew her attention with a pointed look of interest. “You don't know how many of us there are?”

Chloe looked at Derek and wondered what else he was supposed to have told her. “Should I?”

The heartbreaker shook his head with a small smile. “I guess not. That's . . . refreshing. I'm Liam. It's a pleasure to meet you.” He shook her hand with genuine warmth.

The twin in the chair smiled at her. “Liam's beside himself that you haven't heard of us. The Archer Sextuplets?”

Chloe looked around at all of them, nonplussed. “Um, no? Sorry.” Now she felt embarrassed and shot Derek a slightly disgruntled look.

Derek stepped to her side. “Do you think I name-drop you losers to pick up girls? Get over yourselves.” He directed an irritated stare at Liam, and for a moment things seemed tense.

Then Liam started to laugh and soon they were all cracking up. Chloe stared at them, bemused. What was so funny?

“Oh, you poor thing. You've stumbled into an inside joke of sorts,” Hayden said. “Fill her in guys, come on.”

“It's remarkable you haven't heard of us, given your age,” Tori said, still smiling. “We were quite popular for a while there in the mid to late nineties.”

Chloe still had no idea what they were talking about.

“We had our own ridiculous television show,” Liam explained. “
Seven Is Enough
. The name was a take on that seventies TV show,
Eight Is Enough
.” The derision in his tone made his opinion on the entire matter quite clear.

“It wasn't that bad,” said the twin in the chair. “And I'm Alex, by the way. He pointed to each sibling as he said their name, “Liam, my twin, Tori, Evan, Sara. And Hayden, but he's not one of the six.”

“I'm the seventh ‘oops' kid,” Hayden said with a grin. “Apparently after you undergo a lot of fertility treatments, you shouldn't assume you're still lacking in the fertility department.”

Chloe tried to track all of it. Five of the six were here, which explained why Emily had said “most” of them were present. “So there was a television show about you back in the day?” She tried to recall if she'd ever heard of it, but she just couldn't remember anything like it.

“Yes, and the fact that you've never seen it makes you the best girl Derek could have ever brought here,” Liam said.

“She's from Pittsburgh, that's why,” Hayden said. Derek had been talking about her to them. Yes, these were close friends of his. There were so many things she didn't know about him yet, so many things she couldn't wait to learn.

“They carried the stupid show in Pittsburgh,” Tori said with the superiority one directs at a younger sibling. As the middle child, Chloe was well-versed in dishing and receiving it. “It was national, if you recall.”

“How could I forget? But it was fifteen years ago. ” Hayden rolled his eyes. “Good thing Kyle's not here or we'd have another epic debate on our hands.”

Beside her, Derek stiffened. She looked up at him with concern.

“Kyle loved the show. He and Derek used to be best friends,” Hayden said, accurately understanding the unspoken communication between Chloe and Derek. “Before Kyle ran off to Key West to hang with bikini babes.”

“And he didn't come because his bartending job is sooo demanding,” Sara said, frowning.

Kyle was a bartender? Not so different from Derek. She found herself jumping to his defense. “Maybe it is. Maybe he couldn't get the time off, especially if he's coming home for the holidays in a couple of weeks.”

“He's not.” Sara stared at the Christmas tree, a shadow of disappointment over her features and in her tone.

Wanting to lighten the mood, both because her own sadness hovered just beneath the surface and because she wanted to know more about Derek's relationship with these people, she turned to Derek. “Were you in the show, or was that before you knew them?”

Derek nodded slowly. “I was in an episode or two. They'd just started filming after I moved here.”

Hayden laughed out loud suddenly. “Oh God, do you remember their tenth birthday episode?”

Derek brushed his hand over his brow and smiled painfully. “I try not to.”

Curious, Chloe looked at the siblings, who were all smiling and nodding in commiseration.

Tori sipped her wine. “We had this huge party to celebrate our first decade. Mom and Dad converted the backyard into a mini-carnival.”

“I don't think that was Mom and Dad,” Evan said, his deep voice breaking into the light mood. Or maybe it was that he wasn't smiling like the rest of them. “I'm pretty sure the producers were behind that.”

“Right,” Tori said, nodding. “Anyway, there were pony rides too.”

“Please, don't,” Derek said, his eyes beseeching.

“What?” Chloe looked at him, but he was staring at the floor with a resigned expression. She transferred her gaze to Tori. “What?”

“Derek was afraid of the ponies,” Liam said, his eyes crinkling with laugh lines.

“Ponies? You were afraid of ponies?” Chloe asked.

Derek widened his eyes in an expression that clearly said “What?” in the most comically defensive way possible. “I lived in the city before I moved here. The only animals I saw that were larger than a dog or cat were in a zoo.”

“We talked him into riding one though,” Hayden said, as laughter erupted from both Tori and Sara. Even Evan had cracked a smile finally.

Liam rested his hip against the back of Alex's chair. “Kyle promised him a hundred dollars.”

“Though he never planned to pay him,” Alex said. “This was before Kyle and Derek became buddies.”