Just His Type (Part Two) Page 10

  My face fell. "So soon?"

  "Well I can't keep you a secret forever, not now that Lilly knows. Might as well tell them sooner than later or Mum will pop by some Sunday afternoon and find me making love to you on the livingroom floor and then we'll really have some explaining to do."

  I sighed as my stomach churned nervously. "Do you want me to come with you?"

  He kissed me on the forehead. "I appreciate the offer, but I think this is something I should do by myself. Not exactly sure what the reaction is going to be, to be honest. I'm sure Mum'll be down to see you the first second she can though whether its good or bad, so although I never thought I'd say this, you probably should put some clothes on." His gaze wandered over my naked body and the happy gleam came back into his eyes. I knew he was nervous despite the lusty grin. The tension in his arms and grim line of his mouth gave it away.

  I nodded. "Good luck," I offered, unsure of what else to say.

  "Thanks darlin'," Joe patted my ass, a gesture which was oddly calming and made me smile. He made his way to the back door. "And thanks again for lunch."

  I laughed. "But I didn't have anything for you!"

  Joe turned and shot a sexy smile over his shoulder. "I wouldn't say that."

  ~~~***~~~

  I got dressed and curled up on the daybed in the sun porch with one of the tattered books from the rickety old bookshelf. The cottage boasted a surprising selection of books, most of which must have been left by the ever changing tide of renters who'd come and gone over the years. I'd chosen a murder mystery of dubious quality and I drifted off to sleep before I even got one chapter in.

  The gentle knock on the porch door woke me some time later, but when I looked up it wasn't Mrs. Tanner's pretty face on the other side of the glass. It was Violet, Joe's little sister. I sat up, still sleepy as motioned for her to come in, which she did with a tentative smile.

  Vi looked remarkably like Lilly, only ten years younger and somehow cooler. She certainly fulfilled the requirements of the youngest 'wild-child'. A bright blond streak rebelled against her red hair and she'd had her tongue pierced a few months earlier. There'd been such uproar in the Tanner household over that one that Lilly and I had laughed for days. Her wardrobe usually raised a few eyebrows too. Vi had great style: a little punk-rock, a little vintage-retro. She was the only redhead I knew who pulled off bright red lipstick. She was a cool kid.

  "Hey," she said softly, closing the door behind her. "Sorry to wake you up."

  I shrugged. "No worries. I seem to be tired most of the time these days."

  Violet's smile was shy and sweet. She knew the truth.

  "How are things up at the house?" I asked, a little afraid of the answer.

  Vi smiled. "Chaotic."

  I curled my feet under me as Vi sat down at the other end of the daybed. "I've put a little hiccup in the Tanner family plans, huh?"

  She giggled. Her big blue eyes were such a twin to Lilly's that it was a little disconcerting. It made me want to open up to her the way I wanted to with Lilly, but felt I couldn't.

  "I'd say it's more of a big hiccup," Vi confessed. Her smile was sheepish. "I'm happy for you though."

  I returned her smile but I didn't like what Vi had left unsaid. I could just tell things hadn't gone well with Joe's parents.

  "We wouldn't have chosen to do it this way," I explained. I'd always liked Vi; I thought she was a good kid. I hated to consider that she thought less of me.

  She tossed her hair nonchalantly over one shoulder and grinned. "These things happen. Probably the best thing that's ever happened to Joe. I was starting to get worried that he'd never settle down. And you're already like one of the family. It's perfect! I think it's very romantic."

  I laughed. Violet was a great kid, but she was so young sometimes. Romance didn't factor in to it.

  "So things didn't go well?" I ventured. I was dying of curiosity.

  Her pretty face fell. "Not really, no. Mum and Dad will come around. I think Mum might be pretty excited underneath, but Dad's reaction wasn't great. And although she always sides with him at first, she'll work on him, you'll see. By the end of the summer they'll be pleased as punch."

  I thought about how closely Joe worked with his dad every day, how much his family meant to him. It made my chest ache to think I caused any discord between them. It was just one more cosmically unfair consequence of the night that probably never should have happened.

  Vi looked as if she might say something, but then the rumble of a car coming down the lane drifted in through the open windows. Both our heads shot up to see a rusty old blue car come to a squealing stop. There were two redheads in the front seat, both wearing big grins.

  "News travels fast in the Tanner clan?" I teased as Chuck and Matt came bounding across the porch and burst into the cottage. Vi laughed.

  "Dude!" Matt said enthusiastically while leaning down to give me a big kiss on the cheek. "Congratulations!" Chuck echoed the sentiment with an eerily similar smile.

  Matt immediately cracked open the beer fridge. "Do you mind?" he asked me as he poked his head inside and brought out two bottles of beer.

  I shook my head. "Go on, but it's not my beer."

  Matt passed a bottle to Chuck before the two of them settled down in the arm chairs opposite Violet and I. "Hey, the big brother owes us. It's the least he can do. We covered for his ass all weekend. None of us knew where he was! I guess it's fair to assume he was with you, huh?"

  I nodded, laughing. "Yeah, sorry about that."

  Matt and Chuck shrugged in unison. It was a very Tanner gesture and it made me smile.

  "Don't worry about it," Chuck said in his soft voice. Of all the Tanner kids, he was the most like Lilly: book-smart, shy, and quiet, with the sapphire gaze that didn't miss anything, just like their dad. Matt and Vi seemed like their Mum, big vibrant personalities who filled the whole room and made you feel comfortable, included. And Joe was just... well... Joe.

  Matt took a pull on his beer and smiled at me. "Hell, I'm still tryin' to figure out how the big, ugly brute scored the hottest chick on the island."

  I actually blushed. Vi laughed. Chuck just shook his head, looking chagrined.

  "I'm sure he has a few tricks up his sleeve he could teach you," Vi kidded.

  I thought about all the tricks Joe did have up his sleeve and blushed even more. I looked up to see Chuck watching me with a small smile.

  "We're really happy for you," he said. "Even if Mum and Dad aren't."

  Matt shot his brother a dirty look which made me wonder if they weren't all trying to keep something more from me. I was about to ask when Vi interrupted.

  "We'll talk about it later," she said, patting my knee. "When Lilly gets here and Joe's home."

  "Lilly's coming over too?" I asked. My head spun, filled with too many things. I hadn't expected multiple Tanners, I wasn't mentally prepared for it. They spoke their own language of looks and gestures which I'd noticed in the past but never paid much attention to. They were a close-knit bunch, but it was a little like magic the way they could just look at each other and communicate without saying much. I was jealous of it actually, they were all so comfortable with each other and since I'd never had siblings, it was an intimacy I didn't understand.

  "Of course," Vi said off-handedly. "We can't have a Tanner Sibling Conclave without Lilly."

  "She's usually moderator," Chuck explained. "She keeps us from killing each other if we don't agree, plus she's bringing more beer."

  I was confused and must have looked it because Matt winked at me and grinned. "Whenever there's big news or something major happens, we all get together and talk it over first, without Mum and Dad. Gotta stick together, 'united we stand' and all that," he explained. "And seeing as you're one of us now..."

  Vi grinned and practically bounced up and down on the daybed beside me. Her excitement was contagious. I smiled back at her. I'd never been included in family things before, not like this, and it made me feel happy.


  "Joe's probably pissed, huh?" I ventured.

  Matt winked at me again and toasted me with his half-empty bottle of beer. "Joe's getting the good end of this, no matter how you slice it," he said with a laugh. "He's got you to come home to, I doubt he cares much what Mum and Dad think."

  I wasn't so sure I agreed with him, but I kept silent. Chuck's own expression was slightly worried. He more than likely agreed with me rather than Matt.

  "I told you," Vi reassured me with another comforting, sisterly pat on the knee, "Mum and Dad will come around. They always do."

  "Especially if we gang up on them," Matt chuckled. "We're a pretty difficult bunch to stay mad at. Besides, deep down they love you. You're practically a Tanner anyway, only now it's official."

  "Not quite official," I reminded Matt gently. I wanted to tell them that I hadn't agreed to anything yet, that I didn't seem capable of making up my mind about it all. I wasn't sure how to say that, so I left things alone. Chuck sized me up again with his sapphire blue eyes and I had the distinct feeling he had guessed where things lay between me and Joe.

  "So what does a Tanner Sibling Conclave entail exactly?" I asked, desperate to change the subject.

  "Beer," Matt said.

  "Food," Vi chimed in.

  "And a few arguments," Chuck added.

  I sighed. "And the point of it all is?"

  Chuck smiled gently at me. "To get everything off our chests. To say what we have to say to each other and make an official decision on things. And then we turn around and present a united front to Mum and Dad, like Matt said earlier."

  "Yeah," Vi agreed. "What good are brothers and sisters if you don't fight first and then gang up on your parents later?"

  I laughed. "I don't know Vi; I don't have brothers or sisters."

  She leaned over and hugged me, her youthful exuberance contagious. "You do now!"

  ~~~***~~~

  The four of us escaped the cottage and went down to the beach for some fresh air. Chuck and Matt skipped stones into the waves. Vi and I walked back and forth along the cove's shoreline. She regaled me with tales of the cute boy at school she had a crush on. I listened as patiently as I could, all the while ashamed that my ears were tuned mostly for the sound of Joe's truck coming down the lane.

  But it wasn't Joe's truck that pulled up in front of the cottage first. It was a motorcycle of gleaming red and black.

  "Lilly!" Matt and Chuck chorused, grinning.

  "Adam!" Vi squealed. She turned to me and grabbed my arm, leaning in to speak softly in my ear. "Don't you think he's the most gorgeous thing you've ever seen?"

  Adam and Lilly dismounted the bike and removed their helmets. Adam was good looking, ridiculously so, but I couldn't help but notice that he didn't have soft auburn hair, sea-blue eyes, and wide hands that knew how to find all the right places.

  "Yeah, he's cute," I mumbled to Vi, knowing she expected some kind of answer.

  Vi smile turned broad and mischievous. "Oh, I hope I find a boyfriend just like him, he's perfect!"

  Adam unhooked a case of beer from the back of the bike as Chuck, Matt, Vi, and I walked back towards the cottage. From goodness-knows-where he produced a bouquet of flowers, and he held them out to me with a big, sexy smile as I approached.

  "What are these for?" I asked with trepidation. From the corner of my eye I could see Lilly watching the proceedings with interest. I wondered what she thought of her boyfriend bringing me flowers.

  "An apology for last night," Adam explained.

  "From both of us," Lilly added with a shy smile. "I overreacted."

  "Runs in the family," Vi said with a giggle. "Did you hear?"

  Lilly nodded, her auburn waves bouncing. "Yeah, Mum called me just after you did. You'd think all hell's broken loose. If there'd been room on the bike we would have brought two cases of beer."

  "It's going to be a long afternoon," Violet agreed.

  My watch said it was only 3:30. "Aren't you all supposed to be at work?" I asked. It was little overwhelming that there were suddenly all these people at my house in middle of a Monday afternoon. And Vi had mentioned something about food. Just how the hell was I going to swing that? When I hosted dinners in the past I always called a caterer.

  "Left early," Matt laughed, his blue eyes twinkling. He took the case of beer from Adam and hefted it onto one shoulder.

  "Took a personal day," Lilly said with a smile over her shoulder as she followed her brother across the porch and into the cottage.

  "Called in sick," Adam added, trailing behind Lilly, one hand on her hip.

  "We're hanging out at home all summer, helping out around the farm," Vi chimed in as she and Chuck moved passed me.

  "So basically we're at your beck-and-call any time you need us," Chuck offered. He touched my arm. "Are you okay?"

  I nodded. "I'm just a little..."

  "Overwhelmed?" Chuck supplied as he held the door open for me. Tanners were spread out around the front room, all with beer already in hand.

  "In need of a drink, actually," I sighed. I'd almost forgotten how nice a cold beer on a hot day could be and with all the stress and drama, I never felt I needed one more. Adam and the Tanners each looked a sheepish as I jealously ogled their alcoholic beverages.

  Chuck's laugh was low and sounded a little like Joe's. "Sorry Rhiannon. Would you like something else to drink? I'll get it for you."

  "Nothing for me," I said with a thankful smile. "But I could use water and a vase for the flowers, please."

  Chuck trailed off into the back of the house. I heard him rummaging about in the kitchen cupboards. I'd stumbled across an old vase during my cleaning that morning, but couldn't remember where I'd left it. Chuck reappeared moments later and took the flowers from me. He arranged them neatly in the vase and settled it on the coffee table where it sat between us all, looking quite festive.

  "So," Adam chuckled, looking about the room as I sat on my spot on the daybed. "This is one of those secret Tanner Family meetings. Been a while since you had one?"

  The siblings all laughed.

  "More than a year," Lilly supplied.

  "Two months," Vi said at the same time.

  The sisters looked at each other. Vi's expression was awkward, Lilly's surprised.

  "You had the Significant Other Meeting, didn't you?" Lilly accused.

  Chuck and Matt looked as guilty as their little sister.

  "The Significant Other Meeting?" Adam and I asked together. They were speaking in Tannerisms again. I was lost.

  Matt sat back in his armchair and stretched his legs out with a sigh. "We sort of get together, when one of us is seeing someone new, to decide whether or not we approve... usually the sibling in question isn't there for that one."

  I laughed. "You had a meeting about Lilly and Adam?"

  Matt shrugged and grinned.

  "And the outcome was?" I prompted, curious.

  "Well he's still here, isn't he?" Chuck said with a laugh.

  Adam turned to Chuck with a look of shocked disbelief. "And what if you didn't all approve? What happens to the boyfriend then?"

  "Nothing really," Violet pointed out. "It's not like we take you out to the back forty and beat you up...it's just painfully obvious when one of us is dating the wrong person. Really we just want what's best and usually the sibling in question catches on fairly quickly and realizes we're right. The Significant Other sort of... melts away, after that."

  Adam and I exchanged a nervous glance.

  "Don't worry," Matt laughed. "You two passed the test."

  Adam stood beside me, leaning against the wall. He looked down at me with a crooked grin. "I don't think their standards are too exacting, Rhi. I've been to jail and you're knocked up...are we really sure we want in on this?"

  He laughed loudly and I couldn't help but join in. It was nice to have an ally.

  "It's not about who you are or what you've done," Vi said in a gently reproachful tone much more mature than her ye
ars. "It's about whether you're the right person for our brother or sister."

  "And I'm the right person for Joe?" I asked incredulously.

  Matt winked at me. "On paper, probably not. But you're the only girl he's had eyes for since the first moment he saw you. He's loved you for years."

  Silence.

  I didn't know what to do with that or how to speak past the lump in my throat. Lilly looked as shocked at the revelation as I felt.

  "Matt!" Chuck and Violet chorused in scandalized unison. Vi glared threateningly at her older brother; Chuck watched me warily. They obviously knew something I didn't.