Page 40 of Take Me Home

Delicious smells were starting to waft around the kitchen, cinnamon from the muffins I made chief among them. Thunder rumbled over the house as the storm continued.

“So Jake, are you ready to meet Darcy’s huge crazy family?” Brianna asked.

I quirked an eyebrow. I hadn’t known I was about to meet her family.

“Oh yeah, I don’t know if I said it outright, but we’d love to have you at our big Fourth of July party,” Darcy said, turning to me as she wiped her fingers on a dish towel. “Though we’re having it on the third this year. We eat a bunch, pick peaches, and play Wiffle ball in the evening. Maybe even fireworks if my cousins get a wild hair. You’re welcome to come for as much or as little as you like. Eli will be there, so you’ll know someone other than us.”

Even if I’d had plans, I’d be clearing my damn calendar for this. And while Eli was a friend, it wasn’t about him. “Sounds fun,” I said, flashing my dimples. How did I know? I’d spent plenty of my youth practicing my smile in the mirror to know which ones gave off those dimples that made girls swoon starting sometime in middle school. “I’ll be in the lab working on robots some that day, but I’ll come by after.”

“Sure,” Darcy nodded. “No pressure, just come if you want. You don’t want to miss my aunt’s pasta salad. And I hear Uncle Bill is going to break out of the rehab for the day to come hang out. You could meet him.”

“Oh wow! How’s his hip?” I asked.

“First one’s done and dusted. He’ll be starting on the next one next week, so this is his last hurrah before round 2,” Darcy said. “I’m a little nervous to see him. I’m afraid he’s going to give me a performance review.”

“Darcy, you know you’re doing a good job,” Brianna chimed in. “Don’t doubt yourself.”

“You think he’ll have a reason to criticize you? I don’t think he has any reason to be disappointed in you. Look at all the extra money you’re bringing in by thinking outside the box,” I added.

Darcy wore a half smile and I caught Brianna’s approving look over what I said. “Thanks, guys.”

“So big family, huh? How big we talking?” I asked.

Darcy and Brianna laughed.

“Big,” Brianna said.

“My grandparents had 6 kids, 3 boys, 3 girls. Then the grandkids, and some of my cousins have kids, too. I think there are around 30-some of us now,” Darcy said. “My parents won’t be there, though. They live in Italy now. I know they’ll be missing everybody.”

“There are so many of them that they have no trouble filling out the Wiffle ball teams,” Brianna explained.

“Now that I’ll definitely come over for,” I said. A chance to show off my athletic prowess in front of my crush? I couldn’t pass that up.

“What about you, Jake? Big family?” Brianna asked, eyeing Darcy. A positive sign: Darcy’s best friend was on a recon mission to get all my vital details. Meaning, maybe Darcy had said something about me to her best friend. I told them about my big gaggle of cousins and my middle-child status, surrounded by sisters.

“Where are your sisters now?” Darcy asked.

“Older, Jamie, lives in DC, married, and trying to have kids. Younger, Jackie, is in New York doing God knows what, but having fun doing it,” I said.

“Do you think you’ll move to be close to them at some point?” Brianna drilled on. Damn, Brianna. Get it all out there. Save Darcy some first date questions.

“I don’t really know. New York and DC are fun, but so expensive. I’ve really enjoyed my time here, actually. West Virginia’s got problems, but it’s really special, too. I might just stay here. I’ll graduate in December, so I have a little time to decide where I want to look for jobs.”

Darcy’s face went soft like I’d personally paid her a compliment by complimenting West Virginia. “It’s really nice to hear you say that,” she said wistfully. “The whole time I was gone, I missed it. It’s been different for me since I’ve been back, but it’s still my favorite place.”

I opened the oven door to put my muffins in to bake, a blast of humid heat blanketing the kitchen. A close crack of thunder shook the windows, making Brianna and Darcy jump.

“We definitely watched Twister too many times as kids,” Brianna laughed.

Darcy looked out the window over the kitchen sink. “I just hope the creek doesn’t rise too much. The flash floods can get pretty bad. We need to be able to get out in the morning to go to the market.”

I stepped to her side, looking at the sky as I dropped my dirty bowl in the sink. “Shouldn’t be too bad with the trucks, right?” I asked. I hip-bumped Darcy to move her out of the way, and I didn’t miss her little smirk at my touch.

“We’ll just have to see,” she said cryptically. I wasn’t sure if she was talking about the weather or something else entirely, but one thing was for sure: Darcy had solidly landed herself a spot in my fantasies for the foreseeable future. It could be ages before I’d forget how she gobbled me up with her eyes, and it would be a fun game guessing what specifically had been on her mind while she did.

14

DARCY

---