“Get away from them?” She thought about the glorious hours she’d spent at her house Monday, relieved that after Anne’s and Forbes’s phone calls, everyone had left her alone. “Not very often. But I have a large family—immediate and extended—and we’re all very close to each other.”
“I’ll bet I could beat you on family size. I’m one of six.” Ward pushed his dessert plate aside and lifted the delicate china cup. It could have looked awkward in his large, calloused fingers, but he moved with grace, making it look as if he was accustomed to such finery.
“I have four brothers and three sisters.” She pursed her lips together, daring him to challenge her, ready to pull out a family photo to prove it.
“You’ve got me there. Do they all live in town?”
“Every single one.”
“Let me guess. You’re the oldest?”
“Second. I have one older brother.”
“And does he work for your parents’ company as well?”
“No. He’s a lawyer.”
“A respectable choice if he wasn’t going to go into the family business.” He swirled the liquid in his cup. “You said your sister lives with you. I guess she’s next oldest to you?”
“We don’t actually live together—we do have separate apartments.” Which was a good thing, given Jenn’s penchant for not picking up after herself.
“Let me guess—doctor?”
Meredith laughed at the image of Jenn dealing with sick people. “Restaurateur. She owns The Fishin’ Shack down in Comeaux.”
“I’ve heard about that place. You’ll have to take me there sometime.”
Ward continued questioning her about her family until he’d heard what each of her brothers and sisters did, about Marci’s engagement, and what Meredith knew of the plans for Anne’s wedding.
When the bill arrived, Meredith reached for her purse.
“What are you doing?” Ward asked, his thick, dark brows drawn together.
“I ... I guess I’m just used to going out with friends and having to pay my own way.”
“If you haven’t already figured it out, Meredith, I’m sort of an old-fashioned guy. Which means that when I ask a lady out on a date, I pick up the tab.” He slipped a platinum card into the bill folder and laid it on the edge of the table.
A few minutes later, Ward helped her back into her coat and escorted her from the restaurant, carrying her takeaway box for her.
On the drive to Town Square, Meredith turned the tables on him and questioned him about his siblings, learning that two of his brothers worked in the construction business with him—one as a painting contractor, one as an electrician.
The Savoy was pretty crowded when they got there. She followed Ward through the forest of bodies, glad for his large size, as people tended to get out of his way. He left her at the table to go get beverages.
Meredith shrugged out of her coat and draped it across the back of her chair, glad to have a moment to reflect and regroup.
She liked Ward, was enjoying the evening with him. But being completely honest with herself, the chemistry just wasn’t there. His lopsided grin didn’t make her heart zing the way the faintest hint of a dimple in Major’s cheek could.
Maybe it was just a matter of time. She’d known Major a lot longer. Maybe Ward just needed to grow on her.
She frowned at a sudden thought. She’d known Major for almost a decade, Ward for less than a week. Yet she already knew more about Ward’s family than she knew about Major’s. The only thing she knew for sure about Major was that he’d been raised by a single mother. She assumed he was an only child, since he never mentioned brothers or sisters. But he never really mentioned his mother, either, so she couldn’t be sure. She knew his mom was still living—she’d overheard Forbes asking Major about his mother awhile back.
Maybe they’d had a falling-out. Maybe he didn’t really see or talk to her anymore. Her heart ached for him and made her want to include him in her family all the more.
“Here you go. One Sprite with a twist of orange.” Ward set her glass down on the table. “You looked so serious just a second ago. Everything okay?”
“Thanks. Yes, everything’s fine. Just thinking about ... a friend who isn’t as fortunate as we are to have big, close-knit families.” She took a large gulp of the soda, enjoying the tangy taste and the slight burn of the fizz going down her throat.
“There is a downside to families like ours.” Ward twisted the cap off his bottle of sparkling water.
“What’s that?”
“They’re always in our business. You know, I didn’t tell my brothers why I needed to leave the job site early this afternoon. I knew if I told them I was going on a date with a girl I picked up at the hardware store, there wouldn’t have been an end to the grief they would have given me.”
Meredith laughed. “I know exactly what you mean. I had dinner with some of my siblings and cousins last night, and there was no way I was going to tell them about tonight. Especially my older brother.”
“Protective?”
“Yes—and somewhat high-handed. If he can’t control something, he doesn’t like it one bit.”
Ward grinned, showing his perfect, ultrawhite teeth. “I think that’s an affliction all oldest brothers have. I’m that way with my siblings—especially my sisters.”
“It’s one thing to be protective, but Forbes is actually a genuine control freak. I could tell you stories about him that would make you reconsider classing yourself in the same category with him as an oldest brother.” Guilt over bad-mouthing her brother rushed in. “Now, don’t get me wrong; I love my brother dearly—”
Ward leaned forward and caressed her cheek, stopping her excuse—and all coherent thought. “I understand.”
Meredith sat frozen, mesmerized by the warmth in Ward’s eyes. What was it about chemistry she’d been thinking a few minutes ago?
“Well, well, well. What’s this?”
The all-too-familiar voice drew her out of her entrancement. She looked over Ward’s shoulder and cringed to see Forbes, one hand on his hip, an inquisitive light in his eyes.
Ward turned to look.
No way to get out of the situation now. “Ward Breaux, this is my older brother, Forbes Guidry.”
Ward stood and shook Forbes’s hand enthusiastically. “We’ve just been talking about our families. It’s wonderful to meet you. Won’t you join us?”
Meredith’s stomach felt as if it was about to reject that huge, expensive dinner she’d just eaten.
“Thank you, but no. I’m entertaining clients tonight. I just thought I’d come over and say hello.”
“Hello, Forbes,” Meredith said. “Good-bye.”
He had the audacity to wink at her.
Chapter 9
“Can I catch a ride with you to church this morning?” Jennifer helped herself to a large mug of coffee.
“Hey—I haven’t had any of that yet!” Meredith reached for the cup, but her sister twirled to keep it out of her reach. Typical.
“You can make more.”
“I don’t know how you’re going to survive when we don’t live in the same house.” Meredith tightened the belt of her robe and crossed her arms.
Holding the cup to her lips, Jenn blew across the surface of the steaming liquid, sending a few drops of it over the opposite side. “I’ll have you know I signed a lease on a house—not an apartment mind you—a house less than half a block from the restaurant.”
Meredith stopped halfway through grabbing a napkin from the holder on the table and sank into the nearest chair. “You’re moving to Comeaux?”
Jenn shrugged and slurped the coffee. “Why not? I’m at the restaurant eighty or so hours a week. It’s wasteful for me to be driving the twenty or thirty miles back to an apartment in Bonneterre when I can walk to work. And the rent’s a lot cheaper down there, too.”
For all that Meredith had enjoyed teasing her sister over the past few months about how lost Jenn would be without being able to raid Meredith’s or Anne’s kitchens or catch a ride somewhere with one of them, she hadn’t really thought through how she would feel without her sister so close by. They’d shared a room until Meredith was eighteen and moved into the dorms at college.