Page 197 of Between Hate and Desire

Her sisters walk up, and Sophie suggests we need more photos. I know they probably took a ton already. Maddie takes Lennon’s phone and begins snapping photos of Lennon and the baby.

“Okay, Daddy, get in too,” Maddie demands, physically pushing me into the photo.

“It sounds so dirty when you call him that.” Lennon gives her a pointed look and shakes her head before bursting into laughter.

Maddie wiggles her eyebrows, and I shake my head. That girl is a handful.

“Where’s your boyfriend?” I ask when I notice Sophie is alone because I invited them both.

“Oh, he couldn’t make it. Got caught up at work,” she tells me with a smile.

Lennon glares at Sophie, and they hold a silent conversation, but I don’t question it. I’ve tried several times to send an invite to our guys’ nights so we could get to know him, but he always hassomethingcome up. Weston’s weird as fuck. Liam and Mason both hate him with a passion, though I haven’t quite figured out why yet, considering he’s never around.

“Right,” Mason says from behind us.

Sophie rolls her eyes, but he ignores her. Something he’s good at. Their weird behavior toward each other after all this time makes me think something has happened between them—and both are hiding it. There has to be a reason, otherwise, it’s just plain ridiculous at this point. Ever since Brandon died and my focus has primarily been on Lennon and the baby, the four of them have hung out, but I never ask for details. Perhaps I should have. Maybe one of them would’ve cracked by now.

Maddie lights up when she sees Liam even though he still pretends she doesn’t exist—though I know better. The way they all act has me cracking up. Lennon notices and laughs too, but she’s paying more attention to Allie than her sisters.

As they go back and forth with each other, the Corrigans come over and pull us to the side to tell us how much they love and support us. Lennon’s mom takes the chance to steal Allie and hold her.

“So happy you’re gonna be a part of the family…for real this time,” Mr. Corrigan tells me.

“Dad,” Lennon jumps in, but all he does is laugh.

They ask when we’re going to get married, and Lennon has to remind them that we just got engaged. After about ten minutes of chatting, Hayden pulls me away to chat, then I’m met face-to-face with my parents. My expression drops when I see them because I didn’t expect them to come. They’ve never wanted to be a part of my life before, so why start now?

Hayden stands guard, ready to interfere at any moment.

“Hi, son,” my dad says, and my mother gives me a small, hopeful smile.

“Hello,” I say, crossing my arms.

Lennon walks over and stands beside me, and she’s the only thing that calms me down. Her sweet voice brings me back to reality as she introduces herself to my parents. We have no secrets between us, so she knows all about our history and my childhood.

Savannah approaches, and I finally introduce her to Lennon as well. As they’re caught up in conversation, giggling like they’ve known each other forever, my mother looks at me.

“She’s lovely, Hunter. Seems like you found your match.” There’s sincerity in her voice.

“I’m proud of you, son,” my father finally says, leaving me speechless.

Even Hayden does a double take when the words leave his mouth.

“What?” I say, too shocked to form more words.

“I know I haven’t been the best father over the years…” He trails off, and I halfway wonder if he fell and hit his head. By Hayden’s expression, I know he’s thinking the same thing. “But I’d like to change that. I’m sorry.”

“You can’t show up like this and expect all to be forgiven with an apology. You’ll need to prove you mean it.”

I’m not sure what the heck happened for this change of heart, but I’m still guarded when it comes to him. My mother’s expression doesn’t change and neither does Hayden’s.

“That’s fair,” he says. “Maybe we can have a family dinner, like old times.”

My mother nods, and I hate to disappoint her when she wants our family back together more than ever.

“Okay,” I agree.

Lennon comes back over and tells them it was nice meeting them before thankfully leading me away from them.

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