“You don’t think he will say something, do you?” Diane asked. It was too soon for the kids to be onto them now.

  “Travis? No way,” Garrett said. “He’d take it to the grave with him and I think he finds the whole thing amusing. We’re good.”

  “Okay. Here comes Ryder, no more talk. That boy can’t keep a secret for nothing. It’s a good thing he is the youngest or he would have ruined Easter and Christmas for the rest of them once he found out the truth.”

  “He’s your baby, Diane,” Carolyn said. “He can do no wrong in your eyes.”

  She burst out laughing. “Are you kidding me? He wouldn’t have made it this far in life if he hadn’t been my baby because I would have skinned him alive for how annoying he is. That is the only thing that helped keep him breathing. I was much harder on Sam and Bryce.”

  “She was,” Grant said, “but trust me, Diane wasn’t light on any of them.”

  Like She Tried

  Payton twisted her arms to try to zip her little black dress up. Bryce noticed and walked over to take care of it for her.

  “I love this dress on you,” he said.

  It was the one she’d worn to his fundraiser. She’d debated getting another dress for the wedding, but she never had an opportunity to dress up and it felt wasteful to buy another dress she wouldn’t wear again anytime soon. At least she’d get two uses out of this and only Bryce had seen it.

  “You don’t think I should have bought another dress?”

  “Why?”

  “Because I wore this a few months ago.”

  “I wore this suit a few months ago and I’ve lost count the number of times I’ve worn it. I might have worn it to one of the other weddings. I’m sure I did. I only own two suits, four shirts and about six ties. What is it with women and needing a new dress for everything?”

  “I don’t know. That isn’t me. I’ve got a few summer dresses but nothing wedding material. This is the nicest dress I’ve ever owned. I thought the same way, why buy something else I’ll only wear once?”

  “See, another thing we think alike on,” he said, pulling her into his arms for a hug. It was moves like that that made her push all those negative thoughts and doubts away that maybe she wasn’t good enough. That maybe they could make it work in the long run.

  “I can’t wear this to any other of your family events though,” she said.

  “No. I suppose not. Ella’s wedding is in September, so I’m sure you’ll want to get another dress for that.”

  She hadn’t made that comment thinking he’d bring up Ella’s wedding. It was still a few months away, but she was glad to know he was still thinking of the future like she was.

  “I have to admit I had a good time looking for the dress, if not realizing how hard it was to decide on one.”

  They had to leave soon, so she’d have to finish with her hair and makeup, but she wasn’t doing much other than leaving her long blonde tresses down and running the curling iron through it for some body on the ends and a light coating of makeup on her face. She never wore much, but just enough to look like she tried.

  In her eyes, there was no use overdoing anything. Most of her life she’d stood out anyway for her looks, adding too much made her look like a bimbo. Something she’d been called a time or two as an adult when she was out in a club with friends. Those days were long gone too.

  “With your body and looks, I’m sure you have millions of choices for dresses. You could wear a potato sack and all eyes would be on you.”

  She laughed. She didn’t think he was trying to insult her but rather compliment her and she had to tell herself that not everyone was petty.

  “They’d be looking at me for wearing a potato sack,” she said.

  “You’ve got me there. Let’s get a move on, we don’t have much time.”

  She reluctantly moved out of his arms, went to the bathroom and prepared herself for meeting the rest of his family. So far, she’d met most of them and it went well, but now it was his extended family and in a formal setting.

  And it was going well, so she’d worried for nothing. Cade and Alex’s wedding ceremony was beautiful and now they were at the reception. She and Bryce were sitting at the table while dinner was cleared away. “I thought for sure it would have been bigger. Or more people from the size of your family.”

  “There’s probably close to two hundred people here,” Bryce said. “How much bigger did you think it’d be?”

  “I guess the venue is so big it didn’t seem it to me.”

  The reception hall of the hotel probably held twice as many people easily, but it was nice there was a ton of room and no one felt like they were on top of each other.

  “Aiden had the biggest wedding. Brody’s was big too, but like I said, Aiden the most.”

  “Why is that? I figured they’d all be about the same size,” Payton said.

  “He had a lot of his staff there and he’s well known in the culinary world, so there were a lot of out of town guests. Nic had a lot of her extended Italian family too.” He started to laugh. “That was a funny wedding as there was no use separating in the church by the bride and groom’s family. The height difference alone differentiated everyone.”

  Payton glanced over to the head table at Nic. She was tiny, and being pregnant, her belly was on display in a lovely way. Hers and Aimee’s, but Aimee was taller and looked smaller even though she was a month ahead.

  “I bet that was a funny sight.”

  “It was. I’m going to the bar to get a drink; do you want another?”

  “Sure,” she said, watching him get up and walk away.

  Bryce wasn’t gone one minute before Jade came over and sat down. She’d enjoyed talking to Jade at the July Fourth party, but hadn’t had much opportunity today since Jade was at the table next to them.

  “Having fun? These things can get a little stuffy or overwhelming. It depends on how you look at it.”

  “It’s beautiful. I’m having a great time. How’s it going at your table with your brothers’ dates?”

  Jade laughed. “Please, I’m dying over there. I don’t know what my brothers think when they pick women. Wyatt’s is an airhead. Probably some nurse that is chasing him all over the hospital and he decided to give her a bone. My guess, she’s getting another one tonight.”

  Payton giggled. Leave it to Jade. “I’m sure she’s thrilled over it.”

  “Noah’s been dating Marie for a few months. I guess she’s fine, just kind of annoying pointing out what everyone is wearing and making comments on how excessive the spending and food is here. Not sure what her problem is.”

  Payton hated women like that, who gave everyone the once over. “Someone has to do that in every crowd. Guess you’re the lucky one tonight to be listening to it.”

  Jade rolled her eyes. “Lucky me. Drake’s date. I’m not sure who she is. They aren’t even sharing a room, so that is an odd thing. But like I said, he didn’t want to be alone. Guess it was worth not getting busted on by the rest of the guys, but Sue seems nice enough.”

  “Don’t feel bad,” Payton said. “I’m here with Ryder’s date and I’m thrilled she just left the table and that I’ve got Dani here too.”

  “I can only imagine what Ryder’s date has been saying. The gum snapping is getting on my nerves and I can’t even hear it, just watching her jaw move.”

  Payton shook her head. “Blondes like that give the rest of us a bad name.” She hadn’t missed Ryder’s date wearing a dress too small, too tight, and an extreme amount of cleavage sticking out.

  “And blondes like you give the rest of them a good name. You look lovely tonight.”

  “Thank you,” Payton said, knowing Jade was being genuine.

  But the truth was, she’d heard a few whisperings tonight about how hot Bryce’s date was and how he managed to find her and hold onto her. Then there were comments about her not being judged by her looks by his family and that she was a successful business owner.

  Those comments made her feel worse. That his family felt the need to defend her when they didn’t know that much about her. That they didn’t know about her disability. And there were feelings of guilt piling on that maybe she was being dishonest in some ways.

  “I’m going to go talk to Ella,” Jade said. “We’ve been looking at things to help with her wedding. I’m her maid of honor and it has to be perfect.”

  “Are all the Five in each other’s weddings?”

  “They are. Brody and Cade were each other’s best man. Aiden and Mason for each other. Their wives were in all the weddings too.”

  “So what are Ella and Travis doing then?”

  “Travis’s friend from the service is the best man. Brock, I think? I haven’t met him. He promised to be here for the wedding, so we hope that works out. The rest of the boys and their spouses are in the wedding.”

  “No one has met Brock?” Payton asked.

  “They’ve all met him. Guess he’s some commander or Navy SEAL. No clue. Ella likes him, and that’s saying a lot, but I’m sure he’s some cocky ass I’ve got to spend time with that day.”

  “You’ll get through it,” Payton said when Jade stood up. “I get the feeling you can get through anything.”

  “I’ve had to, being surrounded by all these boys.”

  ***

  “Look at them on the dance floor,” Diane said to Grant at the table. All the kids were on the dance floor, leaving her and Grant alone.

  “Who?”

  “Bryce and Payton,” she said with a snort.

  “No need to be sarcastic. All of our boys are on the floor along with their cousins.”

  “We know Sam and Dani look great and I could care less about Ryder’s date. Good lord my head is spinning from her jaw moving so much.”

  Grant laughed. “She isn’t talking too much.”

  “Her jaw is still flapping with that damn fruity gum. Did you see her take it out of her mouth and put it in a napkin and leave it right on that table? Where does Ryder find these chicks?”

  “I really don’t want to know. His taste in women is atrocious.”

  “It is, isn’t it? But for now I’m congratulating myself on Bryce and Payton. You can just see how they feel about each other with the way they look into each other’s eyes. The innocent gentle touches. Oh look, the back of his knuckles are caressing her spine.” She sighed. “That’s your signature move. And she’s cuddling into him a bit more.”

  “Just like you did,” Grant said, reaching over and putting his hand on hers. “You’re right. We just want our kids to have what we do. I get the feeling there might be something going on under the surface with them. Do you think?”

  “Not sure. Bryce has always had issues with women and a type he thinks he should be with. Maybe he is struggling being out of his element. You know as well as I do many have made comments about it tonight.”

  “And we’ve both come to Payton’s defense, or said what she looks like means nothing. I mean, geez, she is as classy as can be tonight. Who cares she’s blonde and beautiful. They make a lovely couple.”

  “Our boys are hot.” She laughed when Grant rolled his eyes. “They are. They take right after their father. But you never hear anyone say anything about them. Don’t you think it’d be natural that they’d go for attractive women who also have brains?”

  “That’s how I got you. Brains and beauty.”

  Yeah, she had the best husband ever. “I don’t know what might be going on with them. I don’t think Bryce knows anything about Payton’s learning disability, but maybe she’s overcome it or improved. Dyslexia doesn’t go away, you just learn to live with it. There are a lot of dyslexics that are highly intelligent people, but they just read slower and have to work harder at it. Payton seems to have her life together and a growing business, so maybe it’s not a problem and worth Bryce even knowing.”

  “Which is why you aren’t going to tell him. If it’s important, then she will. Otherwise, we did what we set out to and it’s time to let them figure it out on their own.”

  “We?” she asked.

  “You,” he corrected. “That’s why you are leaving me with Ryder, huh?”

  “I took care of two, you get the hardest of the lot.”

  “Thanks for that,” he said, leaning over to kiss her cheek.

  All Night Long

  A week later he and Payton decided to go out to dinner on Saturday night. Time to change it up a bit.

  Normally they ordered in on Friday and mostly Saturday, enjoying the time relaxing around each other. Watching movies and TV, cuddling on the couch, rolling around in the bed. Even breakfast together on Saturday and Sunday mornings before Payton went home, then to Millie’s to prep for Monday.

  But he’d seen how much fun she’d had at the wedding the weekend before and got thinking maybe he was getting too comfortable. Too homey at times.

  Dull and boring again.

  They were young. They had years to become the old couple that stayed in on the weekends. Not that they didn’t go and do things on Saturday, but it wasn’t much excitement it seemed. The mall, the movies, out to lunch. But never a nice dinner or dancing.

  And he wanted to get his hands on her on the dance floor again. Not busting out a move to the music. She’d looked pretty hot and sexy with his cousins and wives at the wedding doing it. He’d enjoyed watching her groove...from his seat at the table. No amount of pressure or alcohol would get him on the floor. Not like Sam and Ryder.

  The best part was Payton didn’t mind he wanted no part of that. She respected the fact it wasn’t who he was. He wasn’t about to go out there and make a fool of himself.

  Sure, he was athletic enough, but dancing was a whole different level of coordination he didn’t possess and never cared to.

  But getting his hands on her body while she swayed against him, her hips moving against his, yeah, he could do that all night long.

  “Are you sure you want to go out dancing tonight?” she asked when she was putting her heeled sandals on. Not spiky like the ones she’d worn to the wedding, but sexy just the same with her painted toes peeking through and little straps around her ankles.

  Her skirt was tan, almost the color of her legs, hitting her mid thigh, her shoes the same color and it was like a never-ending sighting of leg. And her legs were something to look at.

  “I want to take you out on the town and get my hands on you.” He wanted to say “show her off” but didn’t. If he’d heard it once, he’d heard it a million times. She didn’t like to be judged by her looks. He got that, but he couldn’t help it if she was stunning.

  “I like when you put your hands on me. I like it a lot.” She walked up and wrapped her arms around his neck, leaned up on her tiptoes, and put her lips to his. “Have I told you that you still don’t look like a professor to me?”

  “Not lately. Does that matter?”

  “Nope. Not one bit. But I still wonder how you were single until now. Women had to be throwing themselves at you and yet you ended up with me.”

  “Guess those throwing themselves at me weren’t what I was looking for.”

  “What about all those smart women who you could spend hours talking about your work with?”

  It was not the first time she’d made that comment. Or that he had to reply back with, “I can talk about my work all day long at work. I don’t need to talk about it when I get home.”

  “Your family really does bust on you about it though, don’t they?” she said.

  “Yeah,” he said. “I take it in stride. They are just jealous.” He ran his finger down her nose.

  “I’m sure they are,” she said seriously.

  “I’m just joking. Like I’ve said before, we all have our callings in life.”

  “And mine is so far removed from yours and your family’s.”

  Oh boy, he put his foot in his mouth again. “Hey,” he said, moving a step back. “Don’t think that way. What you do is great. I love it. I appreciate it. My belly appreciates it more. It’s like you told Melanie, you love what you do and not a lot of people can say that. That is more important than anything in life. Getting up each day and knowing that you get to do what you enjoy.”

  “Do you?” she asked. “Do you love what you do?”

  “I do,” he said. “I’ve been told before I was selling myself short. That I could be so much more than a professor. Maybe at some point in my life I will, but for now I like teaching others.”

  “It’s nice to hear that. I’ve heard it too. My mother made a comment about you being a genius and that she couldn’t believe you weren’t some medical doctor or something else. I told her that you were doing what you wanted.”

  Not many defended him other than his family. Most were quick to agree with that statement. But Payton understood him, telling him she was the one for him.

  “I don’t like to talk about the genius status. It’s just a number.”

  “It is. And how did we get on this topic? I want to get some food and I want to dance. Slow dance,” she said, wiggling her eyebrows.

  “You can go out on the dance floor and live it up. I’ll watch from my seat.”

  “No way. I’m not going out there alone. Guys would think I was single and hit on me. If you can’t be out there with me, then we can relax, have a drink, listen to the music, and when it slows down I can let everyone know I’m taken.”

  “That works for me.”

  ***

  And it was working for her just fine too.

  Dinner was great at the steakhouse they went to. Then they drove a short distance to a club in town. Not one filled with twenty-somethings wanting cheap beer and quick grabs on the dance floor. But one that had more thirty- to forty-somethings in it.

  It wasn’t stuffy, but the music wasn’t so crazy that it gave her a headache either.

  There were plenty on the dance floor, but not so many in slutty clingy dresses with big boobs and coiffed hair and long red nails that would put a sloth to shame.