Page 25 of The Bodyguard's Fall

Tate: Is your operation a go?

Will: Yeah. She’s all moved in and looks just like Liv. It’s kind of trippy.

Tate: Is she as good looking as your sister?

Will: I will come and get her so fast if you don’t knock it off.

Tate: No you won’t. You need me.

Tate: Has Leroy taken the bait?

Will: No bites yet.

Tate: Me neither.

Will: Don’t touch my sister.

By the time all the Walker boys made it home from their designated fields and assignments, the table had been set for dinner, and the meatloaf was coming out of the oven. I was sitting on a chair at the table next to Tate. Even Ben showed up to eat. Upon closer inspection, I noticed he wasn’t wearing his wedding ring, but he teased and laughed with his brothers like he still lived here.

The back door opened, and Tom Walker stepped inside. He yanked off his boots before setting them just outside the door. His eyes brightened as he took in the scene of his grown kids (and me) chatting casually at the table in the kitchen, the smell of meat and potatoes in the air.

“You didn’t need to wait for me,” he said, pulling his wife in for a hug and a kiss that moved quickly to her neck, amid her shy squeals of protest.

I looked across the table to where Jaxon sat with his fiancée, Landrie.

“I hear Jaxon snuck out of wedding duty today,” I said to the blonde beauty sitting across from me.

Landrie laughed, elbowing him good-naturedly. “As much as he would have loved debating the different shades of lilies for my bouquet, it was probably best that he stayed home.”

“You cover the flowers. I’m hard at work planning the honeymoon,” Jaxon grinned, sneaking a quick kiss on Landrie’s cheek. She flushed happily while I tried to reconcile the fact that this beautiful woman was Ari’s little sister, the one who had always tried to tag along with Ari, Reese, and me wherever we went.

There was a quick moment of grace when Tom sat down at the table before dinner was served, family style, around the table. It was the kind of family dinner I hadn’t had in…forever. The kind with dishes clinking, arms reaching, and cooked green beans and bowls of salad being passed around. The mashed potatoes soon followed before Tate plopped a slice of meatloaf onto my plate.

I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had meatloaf. It was homey and warm, comfort food at its finest. The exact opposite of the bagged salad and pre-cut fruit I’d been eating in my apartment.

Tate ate his meatloaf slathered in ketchup.

Ann noticed the sauce wasn’t on the table and quickly remedied the fact, setting it down right next to Tate. He smiled in thanks before he proceeded to squirt it all over the meat.

I spent the next five minutes trying not to find that strangely adorable.

“Ran over a raccoon in the baler today,” Jaxon said. “That’s going to be a fun surprise for whoever finds that bale of hay.”

Low laughter and chuckles filled the room.

“That’s not as bad as when I swathed up that skunk last year,” Luke said, taking a bite of his potatoes. “The stench on that guy lit up the inside of the swather like a juicy, hot morgue. It took weeks for that thing to air out.”

The brothers went back and forth, sharing old stories and laughs. I loved my family, but our meals together had never looked or felt like this. If my parents weren’t fighting, our meals were eaten around the living room with the TV on, blasting the news or an old rerun. Or maybe over Chinese takeout after we got home from work. If my parents were fighting, then Will and I gulped our meal down at the table before hiding out in our rooms, playing Monopoly together. The Walker family dinner felt like something out of a 1950s TV show.

“So, what do we say when people ask why Liv’s here?”

I had been so deep in my thoughts I hadn’t realized Luke’s question was directed at us. Everyone paused in their eating to wait for an answer.

Tate, cool as a cucumber, swallowed his bite before answering, looking everybody at the table in the eye before he spoke. “This information stays between us. Is everyone good with that?” Once the table all nodded in the affirmative, he added, “Our cover is that we’re dating. She’s here to visit me after the shooting.”

The room fell silent.

Luke raised his eyebrows, his eyes gleaming as they danced back and forth between us. “You don’t look like you’re dating.”