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Grayson swung his head in my direction.
I did not fucking need this right now.
Ruby bit her lip, and I’m pretty sure she mouthed“Sorry”to Wren. If I didn't know before, I knew now that Wren had told her what happened Friday night.
Damn it all to hell.I ignored her question and shook my head at Grayson, whose piercing gaze hadn’t shifted from me.
Thank God for Zoey, who promptly broke the ice by throwing herself at Wren. “Ms. Winter!”
This time a genuine smile lit up Wren’s face as she hugged my daughter back. Watching the two of them together struck a pang in my heart that Zoey didn’t have these small interactions with her mother anymore. “Hey, Zo! I’m so happy to see you.”
“Ms. Winter was at our house Friday night,” she told the whole room. “Isn’t that the best thing ever?”
Ruby held out her hand for Zoey to take. “Definitely. Why don’t we all go into the kitchen and see if Grammy Rosalyn needs our help?”
Wren promptly turned around, ignoring me. Ruby at least gave me a quick smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.
The second they were out of the room, Grayson spoke. “Spill.”
It wasn’t worth denying that something had happened. “We kissed.”
“No fucking way.” Grayson quickly looked toward the kitchen to ensure no little ears were nearby.
I scrubbed at the back of my neck. “It won’t happen again.”
“Why not?”
“Because it can’t.”
“Why not?” he asked again.
“Damn it, Grayson, you’re starting to sound like a toddler.”
“And you’re avoiding the question.” He tapped his fingers against the arm of the chair before he spoke. “Wren’s a good person, and Zoey adores her. If you two kissed, there’s an attraction, or what I saw here would’ve been far less tense.”
“We agreed to pretend it didn’t happen.” The words were like ash on my tongue.
Grayson let out a loud guffaw and stood. “Good luck with that.”
“It’ll be fine.” I needed to figure out how to smooth things over with Wren. I just didn’t know how.
He slapped my back. “That did not look fine, bro.”
I groaned. “I need to make it fine then. We’re planning the Winter Festival together.”
Grayson continued to laugh and headed into the kitchen, leaving me no other option but to follow.
Thankfully the only seat remaining was not next to Wren. As if anticipating our animosity, or maybe Wren purposely found a way to be at the other end, our chairs were as far from each other as possible.
“Let’s dig in, everyone,” Rosalyn said, gesturing toward the bowls and platters in the middle of the table. We grabbed food, put it on our plate, and passed the container down to the next one. With twelve people, it took time for everything to make it all the way around.
“This is why we don’t typically eat like this,” Avery snapped at Sawyer. “You take way too much, and anyone after you has to scrape up the remaining pittance you leave behind.”
“Oh, come on, Avie. Don’t be like that. I’ll share.” Sawyer scooped up potato salad, licked it, and offered it to his sister.
“Oh my God. You’re disgusting.”
Zoey looked on in wide-eyed fascination. Being an only child, this was the only time she really got to see what it was like to have a brother or sister.