THE FAMILY DINNER comes as a surprise.
After a day filled with practice, handing over a dangerous weapon to Brownhill, and a conversation with my lawyer to break my contract with my treacherous agent, it’s a nice surprise though.
When I make it back to my apartment, I find it filled with Bukowskis.
Though Hanna and Noah are the only ones making pierogi, everyone’s in here. Gracie’s sitting at the counter, talking to her, not bickering, while Hanna clips Noah’s ear every time he grumbles about the tedium that is making individual dumplings one by one and by hand.
As that goes down, Ollie’s brow is furrowed with his tongue sticking out the side of his mouth as he concentrates on his task, uncannily reminding me of when I’m fixing my laces. The chore is one that Hanna is obviously instructing him on.
Fryd and Kow are complaining about something, and Fryd’s still-thick Polish accent booms across the room like cannon fire, helping me pick out that the Bukowski patriarch isn’t happy with his son’s man-whoring ways. Trent, ignoring everyone, is on his phone, scowling at the screen. Even Cole’s here, bitching with Gracie and Hanna about something.
For a moment, I just lean against the door, taking it in with a soft smile.
This is my family.
It doesn’t take much to figure out that Hanna and Gracie resolved some of their issues this morning and I’m glad. It hurt something in me to know that there was such dissent between them even as I understood it and applauded Gracie for standing up for herself.
Maybe it’s seeing how Ollie’s been included, maybe it’s knowing that they’re all in the same room without trying to kill each other, but it makes me take a step forward—not just literally but figuratively.
Heading straight for Gracie, I don’t stop until I’m by her side.
A wave of greetings pop up at my arrival, and though I was close to beating the shit out of them last night, I just grin at the guys before I press a kiss to Gracie’s head. The greetings morph into boos which I ignore by placing a kiss on her lips instead.
Tasting her smile is the best thing I’ve sampled all day.
“You doing okay?” I ask, checking in. “The exam went well?”
“I’m fine and it did.” She turns her face into my throat, a move that’s becoming more and more common for her. “Thank you for asking. We cleared the air.”
“Good. With the boys too?”
She points to three bunches of gardenias on the kitchen table. “Their version of an apology. You know they’re my favorites.” She gives me the side-eye. “Did you tell them?”
I raise my hands. “Nope. We haven’t spoken since last night. Still, I’ll kick their asses if they give you any crap in the future.”
“We’ll kick them together. I have more than just green dye in my box of magic tricks.”
Grinning, I give her a quick squeeze, then I shift and find Hanna watching us with a soft smile. “Hanna?”
She lights up at my warm tone. “Yes, son?”
“Would you mind if I invite some people over for dinner?”
“Of course not, the more the merrier and it’s a wonderful excuse to enlist Kow, Cole, and Trent into the pierogi production line,” she chirps to a chorus of groans. “Who did you want to invite?”
I swallow. “My dad. And my half-sister.”
Hanna’s eyes widen. “You have a half-sister?”
“I do.” To Gracie, I ask, “You have her number, don’t you?”
“I do.” She shoots me a proud smile. “A real family dinner sounds good to me.”
