Page 19 of Love In The Spotlight

When she walked into the family room, there was Jamie Wilde talking on the TV. He had a black pinstriped suit on, a light pink shirt and a darker pink pocket square in. His tie was a mixture of pinks and he had black sneakers on his feet with white soles on them.

He was standing next to a few other broadcasters and they started to laugh and pick up footballs and toss them while Jamie talked about the spiral and release of the quarterbacks playing today.

“Earth to Laken,” Rowan said.

“What?” she asked.

“I asked you to pass over the plate with the cheese and meat on it. If I reach over you Mom will see it and come lecture me on manners,” Rowan said.

“You always had the worst of them,” Nelson said.

Those two brothers got along the best even though they didn’t see much of each other anymore.

“You’re one to talk,” Elias said. “All of you.”

“I’m getting a beer,” Foster said. “Who else wants one?”

“I stocked up,” Elias said. When everyone’s hands went up but hers and Abby’s, Elias stood up to help Foster bring them in.

“You don’t drink beer either?” Abby asked.

“I have and can. Just not in the mood for one now. Maybe later.”

“Since when have you been so interested in football?” Nelson asked.

She looked at West. He wasn’t one to announce to everyone his business deals if they weren’t public knowledge yet.

West shook his head at her and that was all she needed to know and decided to stop talking about work.

“It’s all you guys watch on Thanksgiving. I’m just trying to keep up.”

“So you can retain it in your memory and have something to talk about the next time you’re meeting with a bunch of jocks,” Rowan said, laughing. It was a joke, but her younger brother had no idea how close he actually was.

6

MILK AND COOKIES

“How was your holiday?” Jamie asked Laken on Wednesday.

“It was good,” she said. “We flew home to spend it with my mother.”

“We?” he asked.

He figured she knew enough about him that it would be time to learn some about her.

Or maybe it had to do with the fact he couldn’t get her out of his mind.

She wasn’t a woman he’d ever think twice about spending a lot of time with. Definitely not date.

And yet when he closed his eyes at night, the vision of her popped into his head.

“West, his girlfriend, Abby, Foster and I flew to North Carolina where our mother lives. I know you’ve met Braylon, but he spent Thanksgiving with his girlfriend’s family.”

“It was only a few of you there?” he asked.

She shut one eye at him as if she was trying to figure out what was going on. “No. It was seven out of eight of us. My mother likes her kids all home for the holidays. Though you know how many of us there are, you might not know we are spread out.”

“One brother in North Carolina has a brewery,” he said.

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