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“And I think you’re taller than him, which makes him little,” Emily pointed out.

“Don’t be rude, Emily Jean.”

His sister sighed. “Anyway, apparently the guy, uh, Eric! Eric’s his name. I guess he’s some programmer or something at a tech firm.”

Nick blinked. “Well...that would do it.”

Emily leaned on the table between them, avoiding the plates of food with her elbows. “They’ve been geeking out by the fire over some new piece of...actually, I don’t know what. I just know geek talk when I hear it.”

“Ooh, getting replaced as the best friend so fast,” Maria teased, laughing with Emily.

“Both of you,” their mother chided, swatting at them. “Quit. Emily, get back on those potatoes, and if they turn to mush, so help you God. Maria, you’re supposed to be keeping an eye on the pies.”

“They’re pies, Mom,” Maria protested but was quickly shoved away by their irritated mother.

“I didn’t need rescuing,” Nick told her.

“Maybe not, but they need to cook like they promised.”

“I could have helped too, ya know.”

“Oh, please, honey. I wasn’t going to have you in here and leave poor Matt to the wolves.”

Nick glanced toward the doorway. “Doesn’t sound like we need to be worried.”

His mother looked up from the huge pot of gravy she’d been fussing over. “Hm, your sisters hit a nerve?”

“No,” he said, grabbing a mini-cornbread muffin from a stack. “They didn’t.”

She scowled. “Well, fine, then get out of my kitchen, you little thief. And don’t go pestering Matt either since you’re not bothered.”

It was his turn to give her a dirty look as he retreated from the sprawling kitchen into the hallway. There were a few family members lurking in doorways, undoubtedly waiting until his mother wasn’t looking so they could dart in and take something from the growing food supply. He shook his head at them, the only warning they would get about how bad an idea that was.

He had walked the halls and rooms of the main house in his childhood, but he’d never seen it with so many people. In the main hallway, a handful of people sat around the small fireplace between the two staircases. He could see people at the top of the stairs talking and a few kids running and shrieking happily.

One of the dens had a group of mostly older men standing around looking at something on the table. When he spotted his father, he looked at the other faces and made the connection. The men, his father included, had all served in the military at some point. Nick would bet that whatever they were looking at was probably an old map as they reminisced and told gory stories their wives would scold them for.

His father had only once asked Nick and Matt if they wanted to join in. They’d both declined, though never expanded on why. It didn’t help that his father had chosen to ask shortly after a deployment had ended where Matt had nearly died saving Nick. Neither had a taste for war stories then, and Nick suspected they never would.

It took a few minutes, but he eventually found Matt. As Emily said, he was tucked away in the corner of the reading room, engrossed in conversation.

Nick couldn’t help but feel the slight tug in his chest as he watched Matt gesticulate wildly, then jab his finger aggressively against his knee. Nick knew that motion all too well. His friend was ranting about something. The man listening so attentively was as small as Emily had said and thin enough that Nick was pretty sure he could wrap his hands around the guy’s waist, and his fingers would touch. Light auburn hair fell over a pair of thick-framed glasses, dark eyes watching Matt intensely, speaking softly in moments of silence.

And despite his sisters’ insistence, Nick didn’t feel replaced or threatened. If Matt had to have someone tech-savvy and obsessed like him in order to have a close bond, he and Nickwould have never been friends. Theirs was a bond that went far deeper than common interests.

Still, knowing that, he couldn’t deny the slight twist in his stomach. It was good that Matt had found someone to talk to. But the selfish part of Nick wished he was the only one who could see Matt light up like that. It was easy to shove the thought away, not only because he was well-practiced at ignoring what he called his lovelorn thoughts but because it wasn’t fair to Matt. Even if, in some weird alternate universe, he had the chance tobe withMatt, Nick would no sooner keep the man caged up than he did as friends.

As if sensing someone watching him, which Nick wouldn’t doubt considering their experiences, Matt looked up. He caught sight of Nick, and somehow, incredibly, his expression brightened even more. The faint tug in Nick’s chest became a twist, and he held his hand up in greeting, content to leave them to their conversation.

And if Matt glanced up now and then after that as though making sure Nick was still in his sight, then all the better.

As expected,when the dinner bell was finally rung, Matt hopped up with his new friend. They were introduced briefly, with Matt pausing their exuberant discussion to exchange his and Eric’s name. The smaller man smiled up at him. It wasn’t a shy or meek smile, just a quiet, gentle one.

They all filtered into the main dining hall. When it was just a few family members, they’d pull a small table from storage for their meals. With so much extended family there, they had settled on using the massive slabs of wood that served astables. There were four in total, allowing dozens of people to sit comfortably.

No one was surprised to find Matt and Nick sat beside one another. No more than Nick was surprised to find his mother had placed names at each seat, apparently deciding she was going to minimize any trouble. Nick had been a little surprised to see Eric’s name placed on the other side of Matt’s. Apparently, his mother moved fast.

Thankfully, not only had their table been arranged to include Nick’s immediate family, but he noticed that Great Aunt Lily was as far from them as was physically possible. That didn’t stop her from giving them a dirty look as they passed, wine glass clenched in her hand. From the color in her cheeks, Nick guessed it wasn’t the first glass of the night and reminded himself to find some way to pay his mother back.