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I pacedthe floor in the dining room while my brothers and Fletch sat at the table, drinking beer and talking like nothing major was going on.

“What the hell could they be talking about for...” I glanced at the clock on the wall. “Half an hour?”

Gage glanced up at me, totally unbothered. “They’ve been up there half an hour?”

“Twenty-four minutes, but still.”

Tyler laughed. “Dude, it’s girl talk. Takes forever. I swear Hen’s on the phone hours a week with her friends from back home.”

I shook my head. “I barely got Maggie to come here, and I swear if she leaves after this because they talked her out of it or scared her off...”

Gage got up, patting my back. “It’s going to be okay. All those girls up there love you. Including Maggie.”

My heart constricted. “I’m not so sure about that last one.”

He shook his head. “You think she would have come to the lion’s den and walked up there with those girls if she didn’t like you? You’re dumber than I already thought you were.”

I shoved him, making him laugh.

From the direction of the stairs, Liv asked, “What’s so funny?”

I saw Maggie coming down the stairs behind her and breathed a sigh of relief. Just seeing her made me feel better. Still, I studied her, waiting to see if she’d beeline toward the door. Instead, she walked toward me, putting her arm around my waist.

The tension in my shoulders instantly eased.

Gage chuckled.

“Shut up,” I muttered.

The sliding door opened, and Mom said, “Dinner’s ready.”

For the next hour or so, it was chaos as usual. People passed food around the two patio tables shoved together, the kids were up and down, up and down, taking bites between playing on the swing set in the backyard. It was hot, but the overhead fan kept the bugs away. And Maggie was sitting next to me, talking with everyone like she’d been joining us all this time.

It feltright.

Mags looked over at me, speaking around the bite of hamburger in her mouth. “Why are you staring like that?”

My chest warmed, and I rubbed her back. “Just glad you’re here ‘sall.”

She smiled up at me and then swallowed. The movement of her throat was so fucking distracting I had to look down and take a drink from my beer. Couldn’t I keep it in my pants for a couple hours?

She looked worried. “Do I have something on my face?” She wiped at the corners of her lips.

I caught her hand, kissing her palm. “You’re perfect.”

Her cheeks warmed. “You’re a sweet talker, Rhett Griffen.”

Suddenly, I felt eyes on me, and I looked over to see almost everyone at the table staring at us.

Quickly, everyone looked away and talking resumed.

Maggie chuckled, and I shook my head. If we made it through this night, it’d be a damn miracle. And hopefully a sign of good things to come.

Luckily, we finished the meal without too much awkwardness. My mom asked about Maggie’s dad and said she could invite him next time.

Even though Maggie thanked her for the offer, I could see the tightness in her eyes, the way her lips dipped down for a fraction of a second. So when dinner was over and I walked her to the barn to look at the horses, I asked about it.

She glanced down at her feet, pink toenails showing in her sandals. “My dad holds grudges longer than I do, despite the fact that we were young.”