Page 254 of The Last Good Man

“She’s not a guest,” Jax says.

“I can see that,” she chides him with humor. “Still, you could’ve told me.”

Shaking her head, she spins around and moves back to the kitchen, mumbling words.

“I could’ve put a different dress on.”

“Don’t fret, Mom. She’s fine.”

I’m more than fine now that the focus is no longer on me.

“Noah? Rylee?” Renata calls from the kitchen. “I need your help.”

“I can help,” I say, turning to Jax. “Where can I leave my things?”

He shows me around the house before I trade my fancy blazer and stilettos for slippers and a sweater.

He removes his jacket, and we all enter the kitchen.

I meet Rylee there.

She’s quiet and shy, but once she tells me her name and our hands connect, I sense more than a flicker of resoluteness in her frame.

She is curious like her mother, but unlike her, she shows me a healthy dose of distrust. Noah, on the other hand, is overly excited, and his sincere admiration for his brother extends to me.

The food is almost ready: fish stew, lasagna, freshly baked bread, salad, and steak. Two trays of cookies sit on the racks inside the oven.

We drink coffee,andJax uncorks a bottle of wine before the table is set, and we start eating.

The more we do that, the awkwardness of meeting someone new dissipates.

They are warm and funny and make me feel at home.

The most reserved is Rylee, but only because she is at that age when you wish you had an instructions manual on how to live your life.

By the timewe eat cookies and talk about life in New York, Rylee cracks a smile or two and even refuses to take a friend’s call, texting her back that she is busy.

We leave late.

Neither of us has checked the time throughout the afternoon, but I know it’s late.

The lights have come on in the neighborhood.

Our trip back is different from the trip to his house.

I’m in a good mood, my stomach isfull, and I have a bag of goodies in the back seat to take home.

“I like them,” I say, which shouldn’tbe a surprise.

Jax is amazing, and their dynamic is great.

Their love for each other is palpable, reminiscent of the interactions in my parents’ house.

I miss going home more often.

Hopefully,I’ll be able to do that soon.

“They like you too.”

---