Page 37 of Home Sweet Home

Della’s eyes twinkled. “I can only take credit for the ribs. West here made the bread.”

Evie looked at West. “Am I finally getting to try one of your famous loaves?”

“I do believe you are,” West said with a grin.

Evie grabbed a slice of bread still warm from the oven. She loved warm, fresh bread, and it was hard to come by in Creek Water. Despite Evie’s baking prowess, she’d never quite mastered bread. She held the slice to her nose, inhaling the pure comfort of yeast, salt, and a hint of something herbal. After a second, she recognized it as rosemary.

She took a bite. The inside was light and airy, and the crust chewy and crispy. Her eyes floated close. “Mmm.”

When she opened them a few seconds later, West was looking at her, a smirk tugging at his lips. “Good, huh?”

Evie nodded, heat rising in her cheeks.Did I just… moan? At a dinner table with West and his mother and my brother?But they didn’t seem to notice, eating their dinners.

Della took a bite of the bread. “I hear you’re quite the natural, Josh.”

Josh shrugged, a stray bit of rib clinging to his upper lip, and Evie resisted the urge to dab at it with a napkin. “I guess.”

Evie elbowed Josh. “All the shooting games.”

“That right?” West asked. “What games, Josh?”

Josh froze, like everyone at the table looking at him and asking him questions had short-circuited him. “Call of Duty mostly. I used to play Halo.”

Despite how uncomfortable she’d been at the idea, Evie was glad Della had invited them. It was the most he’d talked in what felt like months.

West bit off a chunk of rib. “Went downhill after Spartan Assault, in my humble opinion.”

Josh’s eyes lit up. “Yeah. Same.”

“Since when is your opinion ever humble?” Evie asked, one eyebrow raised, and West smirked in response.

“You’re gonna be a senior, right?” Della asked, and Josh nodded as he chomped on his sweet corn like a cartoon beaver whittling down a wooden log. “Where are you thinking about college?”

Evie put on a smile she hoped was convincing, feeling familiar palpitations as a six-figure bill for Josh’s higher education flashed through her mind. Underneath it was jealousy. She still had her own crisp white envelope from Butler tucked away in a closet, useless and forgotten. “We’re still working on that.”

“Nothing but good things to say about Purdue,” West said.

Della scoffed. “If I remember correctly—and believe me, I do—he spent more time partying and playing baseball than going to class.”

The devilish grin that crossed West’s face was confirmation as he said, “What do you want to study, Josh?”

“Computer science,” Josh said.

“You want to be a software engineer?” Della asked.

Josh nodded. “I want to make video games.”

Has he told me that before?Evie didn’t think so, but she should just be happy he had an idea of what he wanted to do. When Evie was his age, she had no clue. She’d just wanted to get the hell out of Creek Water.

A gold and dark-wood plaque on the wall, far enough away Evie couldn’t read the letters, caught Evie’s eye. She asked West, “Another one of your awards?”

He swiveled to look, and when he saw the plaque, a twitch in his jaw replaced the amusement on his face, something dark flashing through his eyes. “My dad’s.”

“I knew he coached,” Evie said. “Didn’t realize he played.”

“Corpus Christi Hooks,” Della said. Evie had never heard of that team, and as if Della could read her mind, she added, “Minor leagues. It’s how we met. I was a waitress at Big Al’s. Best barbeque joint in Texas. The team came in after every game. We would grill up a mountain of ribs when we knew they were coming in, because those boys could eat. And that man could charm the panties off a nun. Just after Rex won that”—Della pointed at the plaque—“I found out I was pregnant with West.”

Della looked at West with such warmth, it made Evie’s heart ache. Her mother used to look at her the same way, like Evie was the greatest person on the planet.God, I miss that.

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