Evan had meant every word at the barbecue when he’d said that Matt was crazy to let her go. Matt had everything with Ari. And Evan was finally starting to accept that he had nothing at all with Whitney.
Just then, Lyssa walked into the room and wrapped him in a hug. “Why are you standing here all by yourself?”
Holding her away, he smiled. “You finally made it. Thank God they let you go for the holidays. We all thought that new job was going to be the death of you.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m toughing it out.” Daniel’s little sister had the same dark curly hair—though Lyssa’s fell past her shoulders—and the same dark eyes the color of chocolate. She knuckled him. “The really nice thing is flying out on Daniel’s jet. No waiting in long security lines or hanging around airports.”
“There are advantages.” He wrapped his arm around her waist. “How’s my girl?”
She laughed, a pretty sound he’d loved since the first time he’d heard it all those years ago when Lyssa had been a happy, gurgling baby. “I’m not a girl anymore, Uncle Evan.”
“Right. You’re becoming a pain in the rear like all women,” he quipped.
Lyssa gave him a look. He hadn’t meant to sound bitter. It was supposed to be a joke. Yet something dark had entered his voice. The same darkness that was starting to leach into his heart.
“Well,” she said brightly, trying to dispel the momentary blackness he’d dragged into the room. “Can you believe how much our group has grown in one year?” She waved a hand toward the assembly in the living room. Last year, there’d been only Mavericks, including Susan, Bob, and Lyssa.
“Now we’ve got Harper and Jeremy,” Lyssa enthused.
Harper had dressed Jeremy in a tux, and he looked fantastic. And happy. Which was Jeremy’s constant state as well as Will’s these days. By the new year, Will would be married to the woman he utterly adored. The look on his face was both proprietary and humble, as if he knew how lucky he was and didn’t take a moment for granted.
“Of course, there’s Charlie and her mom too,” Lyssa said, like a laundry list of the Mavericks Who’s Who.
Francine Ballard, Charlie’s mother, perched on the end of the couch. Charlie had given her a golden paper crown, calling her the queen for the day. Instead of tossing it away, Francine enjoyed every moment, popping it on her head and giving queenly waves every now and again. Evan felt a great admiration for her. Even with her gnarled fingers, she was always smiling, always with a sweet word to say, never mentioning her pain or the inability to do all the things she loved. She forced herself to walk a mile every day using her walker. How many people could say they tackled the hardest things in their lives—and beat them? Bob and Susan were tucked around her on a chair and the sofa, avidly detailing all the wedding preparations.
A loud squeal rose from the far end of the room where Noah was playing jets with Jorge and doing a damn good job of simulating the ear-piercing sound of engines. Evan thanked God that Whitney had flown the coop for this celebration. She’d definitely have made a scene.
“Ari’s friends Rosie and Chi are a hoot, aren’t they? It’s so nice to have people my age to hang out with at these parties instead of all you old fogeys.” All the Mavericks felt like they’d practically raised Lyssa, and she loved to tease them about the ten-year age difference. “Seriously,” Lyssa said, “have you ever seen Matt so happy? Ari is so good for him. She told me she’s teaching part time in the mornings at Noah’s school now. Did you know she has a degree in child development?”
Ari truly was the best thing for Matt and Noah. And she would make a fantastic teacher. Gideon Jones, on the other hand…
“What do you think about her brother?” The man stood by himself, his gaze moving over the group, from one to the next, watching, always on alert.
“He’s all broody and masculine,” she said dreamily enough that Evan looked down at her in surprise. “I overheard him say to Ari that she’d tapped into the mother lode with Matt.”
Evan’s hackles rose, though he was shocked Ari would have agreed with something like that.
He must have tensed, because Lyssa whispered, “Down, boy. I might have been offended when Ari agreed. Except that she wasn’t looking at the priceless paintings or the huge house. She was looking at Matt and Noah. And—” Lyssa sighed just like a woman dying to fall in love. “The look on her face was so adoring. She said she finally felt like she mattered to someone and that they meant absolutely everything to her. It kind of made me sad for what her life must have been like before.”