Page 107 of At First Catch

Nolan

Good.

I catch myself humming while I rinse out my coffee mug. It takes me another thirty seconds to realize I’m smiling too. The kind I haven’t let myself fully want in a very long time.

Family breakfast at the Wright farmhouse turns out to be exactly as awkward as anticipated.

Possibly worse.

Because apparently once you start secretly falling in love with someone, every casual mention of them feels life-threatening.

“Holt says the marina’s looking good.”

I nearly inhale my coffee wrong.

Across the kitchen table, Rowan pauses halfway through cutting pancakes while Ivy lowers her orange juice.

Bailey looks interested.

Of course she does.

Mom glances up from the stove where she’s cooking enough breakfast for a small army despite the fact that half her children are fully grown adults with their own homes.

“Oh?” she says lightly.

Holt shrugs one shoulder and reaches for bacon. “Pierce knows what he’s doing.”

The fact that he’s calling Nolan Pierce instead of Nolan means we are skating on thin ice already.

I sip coffee carefully while trying to look normal.

This fails because Bailey kicks my shin beneath the table hard enough that I can’t mask the glare I send her way.

She smiles innocently.

Murder remains illegal, unfortunately.

The farmhouse kitchen hums warmly around us. Sunlight spills through the windows while music drifts from an old speaker near the pantry. Oliver and Evelyn argue about syrup amounts at the far end of the table while Dean reads something on his phone beside Lila.

Oliver steals bacon off Dean’s plate. Mom doesn’t even look up before sliding two more pieces onto his plate. Nobody asks whose kid he’s feeding. They all just know.

“You okay?” Ivy asks beside me.

“I’m fine.”

Bailey snorts directly into her coffee.

Holt’s eyes narrow from across the table. The twin radar is activating again.

I shove half a pancake into my mouth to avoid further questioning. This makes everything worse.

Mom points the spatula at me. “Why are you stress eating?”

I freeze as the table goes silent. Even Rowan looks emotionally invested now.

Wonderful.

Fantastic.