Page 5

The sweet and tart flavors of the muffin dance around on my tastebuds. “This muffin is good, Mom,” I say after I’ve chewed and swallowed my first bite.
“I was thinking, dear…” Mom starts.
Here we go. The real reason she came over. Whenever Mom says she’s been thinking, I get worried. It never turns out well.
“It’s been two years since you broke up with Sarah. Isn’t it about time you found that special someone?”
Sarah left me for someone else, and the last thing I want to do is face that kind of situation again. It’s easier being single. “You already have Weston married off, and Kaison is well on his way. Isn’t that good enough?” I shouldn’t be surprised that Mom is hounding me about getting married. She did the same thing to my brothers.
“I hate seeing you all alone.” She reaches out and puts a hand on my arm. “I know your breakup with Sarah was rough, but you deserve to be happy, too.”
I cringe at her words. My breakup with Sarah really isn’t my favorite topic. “I am happy,” I grumble. I have to wonder if the baked goods are a bribe to get me to open up about my feelings.
“What about Jenni?” She scoots another muffin toward me, like that’s going to get me to consider her suggestion even more.
“Jenni… What about her?” I play dumb. Mom and Dad have been trying to get Jenni to marry one of us boys for years. First, it was Weston, but he married his assistant, Callie, instead. Weston was never into Jenni, anyway.
Let’s be clear. Jenni is gorgeous. She’s funny and driven and super smart. But there’s this problem. “Ronnie would kill me if I laid a finger on his sister.”
“It’s not up to him. Meera and I have been planning to get our kids married off to each other since you were babies. We couldn’t marry Ronnie to any of our kids because we never had a daughter, but Jenni… She would make a wonderful wife and mother.” My mom gets this wistful look in her eyes.
“Jenni is more than just a baby factory,” I say, suddenly annoyed.
Mom’s eyes light up like she’s excited to see me defending her. “Yes, I know. She’s a strong, capable woman, but she’s also capable of giving me another grandbaby.” Her eyes turn greedy, like she’s desperate to fill her house with children.
“And so is Callie. Angel is two years old now. She can become a big sister.”
Mom gets this huge smile on her face. “Oh, believe me, I’ve already talked to them. They’re working on it.”
I grimace. “Gross, Mom. I don’t want to hear about that.”
“Well, it’s how you get babies. It’s not gross. It’s a gift from God.”
“It’s gross when it’s my brother. I’d rather not hear about them working on anything.”
“We’re getting off track,” Mom says. “So you’re worried about Ronnie getting upset? I’ll talk to him and explain the situation.”
“What? You can’t do that.” I’d just end up driving her away like all the other women in my life, and I’ve enjoyed her friendship too much to lose it.
“Well, why not?”
“Jenni isn’t livestock to be auctioned off.” She’s so much more than that.
Mom wrinkles her nose. “It sounds awful when you put it like that.”
“Jenni and I are nothing more than friends. And that’s the way it’s going to stay.” Anyway, I’m pretty sure she’d laugh in my face if I asked her out, and I’m not in the mood to be humiliated.
“Oh, Langston. Why do you have to be so stubborn?”
I jut my chin out and fold my arms. “I’m not stubborn. I’m smart. I know when certain things should be left alone.”
Something that looks like fear crossed with frustration creeps into Mom’s eyes.
I furrow my brow. “Don’t make that face. It’s not the end of the world if some of your kids don’t get married.”
“I just don’t see why you couldn’t have tried to work it out with your ex-wife,” Mom pouts. “I could have a whole slew of grandbabies by now. My one kid to get married and then ends it before any babies could come into the picture.”
“I tried everything I could to make that marriage work. I can’t help it if Amanda wanted to leave.” And then, years later, Sarah decided to leave too, adding more salt to the abandonment wound I’ve been nursing for almost a decade.