Page 52 of California Waves

He shook his head slowly at her. “We need to stop at the store, stat.”

She merely raised her brows at him, and he said, “Where I come from, when you finish a meal like that, you have to have s’mores.”

She had to hold back her laugh. “Now you’re getting fancy.”

“I want to make a good impression on your family.”

When they’d cleaned up and dressed for the family barbecue, they stopped at the corner store on their way to the Davenport home. She’d taken time to message the family group and let them know she was bringing Hersch, just to avoid any awkward exclamations. The replies were all positive—lots of thumbs-up, and of course Arch sent the heart symbol. She was hoping that the sibs might be a little more cool about things when she and Hersch arrived and act like she brought men to their family barbecues all the time, when in fact the only man she’d ever brought here was Travis, and that hadn’t exactly turned out well.

But she was a different Mila now, and Hersch was nothing like her ex.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Mila felt slightly nervous when they arrived at her parents’ house to join the family for dinner. Before she opened the door, she turned to Hersch.

“Do we need a signal? If you’re really not having a good time, maybe we should have a word you can say so I’ll know to get you out of there.”

His eyebrows rose. “You mean like a safe word?”

Immediately, she thought of all the kinky sexual positions they could be in that would involve a safe word and shook her head. “No. Well, not exactly. But my family can be a little much en masse.”

He put an arm around her shoulders. “I think I’ll be okay.”

She realized that he wasn’t as nervous as she was. In fact, he didn’t seem nervous at all. He’d dressed in casual jeans and a relaxed white shirt, and he looked gorgeous. Moustache and all. She’d thrown on a black cotton dress and hoop earrings and let her hair hang loose down her back.

As she opened the door, she turned to look over her shoulder. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Tessa and Erin were in the main room with Crystal, unpacking wedding decorations. Hersch immediately went up to Tessa and said, “You need no introduction. Your painting of the Carmel cypresses is one of the things I love most about my new home.”

Tessa turned pink with pleasure.

As Crystal shook his hand, she shot a puzzled look at Mila. Then she said, quite seriously, “You know this wedding’s top secret, right? If word gets out—”

“You can trust Hersch, Crystal,” Mila said. Did she really think she’d invite someone into their family who would blow a secret wedding operation? And then it occurred to her that she’d trusted Hersch from the beginning. She wasn’t even sure she’d emphasized enough that this first wedding was a deep, dark secret, but she knew as well as she knew her own name that Hersch would never betray them to the media.

Herschel assured Crystal that he would keep the wedding in absolute confidence and was honored to be entrusted with such an important secret. That seemed to mollify Crystal, who said, “If anyone asks about the activity that’s been going on around here, Howie and Betsy are throwing a wedding anniversary party.” She went back to separating out the bows and balloons that had been delivered.

“Dad is loving the subterfuge,” Erin said with a grin. She greeted Hersch with a hug and went to get him a beer.

In the backyard, Mila’s brothers and dad were gathered around the fire pit. Each had a beer in hand, and the family resemblance was striking.

Betsy was setting the table. They’d pulled the picnic table and an extra fold-up patio table together, which they always did when there was a big crowd. Betsy was an old hand at catering for large numbers. She’d been doing it forever. She had a way of pulling together a dinner in no time and somehow making it work. She looked up when Mila called her name and put down the napkins she was folding to come forward.

Mila felt almost shy as she said, “Mom, I want you to meet Herschel Greenfield.”

Betsy shook his hand and gave him her beautiful smile, but Mila could see she was appraising him as well. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Herschel. You’re a man who needs no introduction. I remember how we were all glued to the TV during that terrifying rescue operation.” She put her other hand over the back of his so his hand was sandwiched between hers. “I’m so glad you’re with us today.”

There were so many ways to interpret that. Mila gave her mom credit for being both genuine and tactful.

“Thank you very much for having me, Mrs. Davenport,” Herschel said.

Her mom just patted his hand. “In this house, I’m either Mom or Betsy.”

He laughed. “I’ll choose Betsy.” And then, so softly Mila barely heard him, he said, “For now.”

Then she led him toward the clump of testosterone around the fire pit. The five Davenport men seemed to rock back on their heels and narrow their eyes at Herschel as though they’d planned to do it in sync. She swore that if one of them gave him a hard time, she’d plant her fist in his belly.

Then Howie came forward with his big hand outstretched. “How’s the painting going?”

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