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I tilt my head slightly, “You know that hadn’t even crossed my mind. I was too busy focusing on Christmas day. But, you worry about plating up the food, and I’ll get the table and everything done.”
“Deal,” Rafe smiles.
Rage and Atlas happen to walk into the room at that moment, and I turn to them, “Just in time, you two.”
“Why am I nervous?” Rage mutters out of the side of his mouth to Atlas.
“I don’t know, but I am too,” he replies.
I chuckle, “Relax, I just need you to help me lay the table. There’s a lot of us, and it needs to be set up quickly, which will be a lot easier if I have help.”
“Oh yeah, we can do that,” Atlas grins.
“Just tell us what you need and where you want us,” Rage adds with a mischievous glint in his eyes.
I can't help it; he set me up so well, “Well, now that could be taken in an entirely different way, and we don’t have time for that right now.”
“Just say the word, Princess,” Atlas grins as Rage and him share a conspiring look.
I am so freaking tempted, but the sounds of the parent's voices off in the distance remind me that I need to behave, and instead, I physically shake myself.
“You guys are bad influences,” I tell them, and they both look entirely unrepentant.
With their help, I have the table set up and looking beautiful. It’s a simple setup, but it still looks impressive, and I’m really pleased with it.
“Well done, Tesoro, it looks perfect,” Kat compliments as everyone streams into the extension and takes their seats as they compliment the delicious smells coming off Rafe’s food.
“Thank you. Just wait until you see what Pete and I have planned for tomorrow.” I grin.
“I’m looking forward to it,” she replies.
Once we’re all seated, and everyone is passing the various dishes to each other, Josh looks over at his son, “This looks absolutely amazing, and I have to admit your mom, and I have missed your cooking at home.”
Rafe smiles proudly, “Thanks, dad. Hopefully, this isn’t like the experiments that I tried at home, the ones that failed.”
Lily winces, which I find hilarious, and she says, “Oh yeah, some of those were absolutely terrible, although in your defense, we never got sick from what you made us.”
“Yeah, we just became incredibly wary instead.” Josh chuckles, making everyone else join in.
“I think it’s safe to say that he’s definitely improved since he was a kid. This is the best curry that I have ever had, and that’s saying something because it's one of my favourite meals.” Marc compliments.
“Thank you,” Rafe replies simply, his cheeks tinting pink.
“Have you already dropped your stuff at the house Jonah found for you?” Trick asks changing the subject because Rafe isn’t going to be able to cope with much more attention being on him.
“Yes, we dropped everything off there before we came up here, but we did have to call him to make sure that we were at the right place. It’s stunning and huge.” Jenny replies and then adds, “Although, after seeing this place, I can understand ours a bit better.”
Trick chuckles as he replies, “Jonah is the only person in town who deals with real estate, and he takes over and purchases some of the houses when people want a quick sale. It comes in handy when people need somewhere to stay, especially since there’s no hotel or anything like that in town.”
“Yeah, we did notice that. It’s really quite small, isn’t it?” Rob asks.
“It is, but we have all the necessities, and we like it small,” Riot replies with a smile.
What he doesn’t tell them is that the small size of the town means that we can keep it safe; we know who is coming into town, and we know what they’re doing while they’re here. The other residents feel safe here because they think that our police force is fantastic, and that’s why the crime rate is so low. They’re right; Ezra runs a tight ship, but that’s also because he has the rest of his family and team standing behind him. He has us standing behind him, Noel’s, and even Jynx and her men when they’re around. This is the safest town that anyone could possibly be in, and we plan to keep it that way.
“It’s beautiful,” Kat adds. “So, what’s the plan for tomorrow?”
“Well, why don’t you guys come up for about twelve? That will give us enough time to set everything up, and we’ll be eating at around sixish.” Rafe starts, “I’ll have some nibbles set up in case people get hungry before then, but maybe eat a really big breakfast?”