“I’ve been called that on occasion,” Spencer admitted.
“You know?” Daff asked out of the corner of her mouth, and he smiled at her.
“That you have me down as the Dick on your phone? Word gets around. And seriously, a penis in a top hat? Can I see it?”
“Shut up,” she sulked, folding her arms over her chest and turning her focus on her truly horrified-looking sister. “In case you haven’t noticed, we’re in shit here.”
Spencer frowned, not sure how to deal with the situation other than to brazen it out—but that wasn’t something that was in his nature.
“Daff, how could you?” Daisy asked at the same time as Mason glared at Spencer.
“Seriously, bro?”
“What’s going on?” Tilda asked nervously while Chris sat back with a grin on his face, watching the drama unfold. Lia leaned over to whisper urgently in Tilda’s ear, clearly filling her in on the situation, if Tilda’s widening eyes and shocked gasps were anything to go by.
“Daffodil, a word, please,” Daisy said pointedly and then got up to stalk in the direction of the kitchen. Daff hesitated and then sighed in resignation.
“Wish me luck,” she said to the table at large and followed Daisy.
Spencer watched her retreat before turning to meet his brother’s furious regard.
Mason just nodded in the direction of the front door.
“Really? Outside? It’s fucking freezing, man.”
“The house is small.”
“Your fault, you could have built a bigger one, planned for a family.”
“Spence!” Mason hissed warningly, clearly not interested in his delay tactics, and Spencer put aside his napkin and headed toward the front door with Mason in tow.
“This is so much more exciting than we were expecting, non?” he heard Chris say as he left. “Well . . . no use letting this beautiful food go to waste, ladies. Let’s eat.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“Before you say anything, it’s over,” Spencer explained once they were out on the porch.
“No shit?” Mason seemed remarkably unperturbed, compared to how furious he’d looked in the house. Spencer guessed that most of his brother’s “outrage” had been affected for Daisy. “You okay with that?”
“Well, it wasn’t anything, really. We didn’t . . .”
“No details, if you please. I just need to know two things.”
“Yeah?”
“Are you okay?”
“It wasn’t what it should have been. What it could have been. She wasn’t ready. I don’t know if she’ll ever be ready for that kind of relationship, not with me. So we’ve decided to be friends.”
“That ties into the second thing . . . I need to know that this business between you guys won’t become a problem, Spence. You’re my brother, I love you, and I’d hate for you to get hurt, but you and Daff need to make sure your shit doesn’t spill over at family events. We have a whole family to think about now, Spence. It’s not just you and me against the world anymore. We have sisters and parents to consider as well.”
Spencer stretched his lips into what he hoped was a semblance of a smile and tried to hide the pang of hurt he felt at his brother’s words. What the younger man didn’t seem to grasp was that he—Mason—now had a whole family to consider. Not Spencer. Spencer’s family still consisted of only Mason. And while to Spencer it was still him and his little brother against the world, Mason had gone and acquired other loved ones. And he was happy for his brother, it was everything he wanted for Mason, but Spencer felt lonelier than he’d ever felt in his life.
“Daff and I are fine. Has there been any tension between us tonight?”
Mason considered his words before shaking his head. “You two were more relaxed in each other’s company than I’ve ever seen you.”
“Well, aside from the sex stuff—”
“God.” Mason pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Aside from the sex stuff,” Spencer continued, as if Mason’s disgusted outburst hadn’t occurred, “there was a lot of talking, and we’ve resolved some issues. She’s actually quite . . . special.”
That made Mason pause, and he squinted at Spencer in the dim light spilling from the front windows.
“Spence . . . don’t fall for her,” Mason warned him, and Spencer forced another smile.
“Don’t worry, Mason, I won’t fuck up the family dynamics.”
“I just don’t want you to get your heart broken, man,” his brother said uncomfortably, and Spencer shifted, the touchy-feely stuff also not sitting too well for him, even while his brother’s concern warmed him. Especially after feeling sidelined by Mason’s new family just moments before.
“We’re friends. That’s all.”
“We’re just friends,” Daff said as soon as she got to the kitchen, where Daisy stood waiting.
“You said you just wanted him for his—” Daisy clapped a hand dramatically over her mouth as Daff’s exact words came back to her. “Oh my God! I’ll never be able to look at him again! Not without hearing those words over and over again in my brain.”
“What words?” Daff asked, baffled by her sister’s weird reaction.
“About his . . . you know?” Understanding dawned, and Daff couldn’t hold back a laugh at Daisy’s truly appalled expression.
“I could lie and say he has a small dick,” she teased, and Daisy clapped her hands over her ears.
“Don’t talk about his penis ever again! Ew, ew, ew! Why did you have to sleep with him? Why couldn’t you leave him alone? He’s about to be my brother-in-law.”
“You told me to get along with him, and you know that’s the only way I get along with guys.” The look on Daisy’s face brought her up short—her sister looked genuinely furious.
“Stop it! This isn’t a joke, Daff. Not everything’s a joke and not everything’s always about you and your wants and your needs.” Daisy swiped at a couple of errant tears, and Daff was immediately contrite. She reverted to wisecracking when she was stressed, nervous, or on the back foot, and it definitely wasn’t the right approach this time.
“Deedee,” she said in a soft, pleading voice. Her sister deserved honesty. “I’m sorry. I’m so . . . confused where Spencer’s concerned. But I promise you, this won’t mess up your big day or our family gatherings, and I don’t want it to mess up tonight any further, either. Spencer and I aren’t . . . intimate anymore. We never were. Not really. We did some stuff. But not the main stuff. Anyway, none of that’s important. What’s important is that I like Spencer, I want to try to get along with him. He’s a nice guy and I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to figure that out.”
“But you were fighting at dinner,” Daisy reminded her, dabbing beneath her eyes with a napkin.
“That? That wasn’t fighting, it was playing.”
“It was?”
“You’re so used to seeing us—me, really—fight, so that’s all you saw. Look closer next time.”
Daisy peered closely at Daff, which wasn’t quite what she had meant.
“You look different,” Daisy marveled. “Happier.”
“Well, I quit my job, I have an awesome new friend, and my sister’s getting married to a great guy. What’s not to be happy about?”
“And it’s that easy? Being friends after nearly being lovers?”
“We’re trying to make it work.”
Daisy graced her with a tremulous smile.
“It’s not just about the wedding, Daff. I don’t want either of you to get hurt. I hope you know that.”
“I know that.” Daff gave her sister a quick, tight hug. “Now how about we go eat that goulash? I’m starving and—don’t tell Spencer—I skipped lunch.”
The rest of the evening was actually quite pleasant. While Daisy and Mason watched Daff and Spencer closely, they continued to enjoy each other’s company. In fact, the scrutiny made them feel unified. Daff enjoyed that, she had never been great at team sports, but that’s what she and Spencer felt like tonight—a team.
Spencer kept checking his watch and she knew he was concerned about the girl, but after the evening had already been disrupted, he stoically stuck it out, not wanting to ruin it any further by leaving early. So they formed three teams of two and played a raucous game of 30 Seconds. The teams were Tilda and Lia, Daff and Spencer, and Mason and Daisy. Chris, claiming that his poor English made him a terrible game partner, sat out to be the timekeeper. It was a crazy-fast board game that had one partner trying to explain a list of five objects or people without saying any of the words on said card. There were lots of raised voices, rule disputes, and disgust at partners for not guessing correctly. It was hilarious, and Daisy and Mason won by the narrowest of margins—mostly because they knew each other’s verbal shortcuts and body language so well already.
After the game ended, Daff could see that Spencer was keen to get going, so she sidled up to him and dropped a hand on his arm and tugged him to one side.
“I’m going with you,” she said under her breath, keeping their conversation private.