Family Ties — читать онлайн бесплатно полностью

“Who won?”

“Daniel,” Anne warned.

“Yes, Mother. I’ll behave.” He glanced at me. “I dunno ’bout you, but I’ve had a long day. You ready to hit the rack?”

I looked at my watch. It was almost one in the morning as far as my body was concerned.

“James and Lynne and the boys went to bed a while ago,” Sabrina said to Anne as the mood in the kitchen turned domestic. “Harry’s girls are still up, but they were getting settled when we checked on them. Grace is already out like a light.”

“Thank you, dear,” Anne said.

“I think I’m ready for bed too,” Sabrina said. She kissed Danny on the cheek. “See you in the morning. Sweet dreams.”

I glanced at Christy and wondered if I was ready to kiss her in front of her family. I decided I was and almost laughed at her look of relief. I kept it to a chaste kiss on the cheek, though.

“Sweet dreams,” I said softly.

Her eyes flashed at what I’d left unspoken.

“See you in the morning,” I told her with a grin. Then I smiled at her parents. “Thanks again for inviting me.

“Our pleasure,” Harold said, and even sounded like he meant it.

I glanced at Rich and Terry. “Nice to meet you guys.”

“You too,” Rich said, but his voice was flat.

Terry nodded but seemed to dislike me on Rich’s behalf. I couldn’t really blame him, though. I would’ve followed Trip’s lead in a similar situation.

The girls smiled at Danny and me and headed toward Christy’s bedroom.

Danny and I waved to the others and went out to the porch.

“Well, that went better than I expected,” he said once we were alone.

“Are you kidding? Did you expect violence or something?”

“With Rich… who knows? Not with Mom and Dad around, but…” He shrugged. “You seemed to do okay with Dad.” He started undressing for bed.

I did the same. “I’m not so sure.”

“Did he do the whole ‘what are your intentions’ thing?”

“I figured. What’d you say?”

“Told him to mind his own business.”

“I was polite about it, but I said it’s between Christy and me.”

“And how’d he take it?”

“Better’n I thought he would, to be honest.

“Yeah, the old man’s a politician.”

“Your mom saved me.”

“Uh-huh. You probably realized by now, but she runs the show around here. Dad wears the stars, but Mom is the commander in chief.”

I told him what she’d done with the cake.

I wasn’t ugly, and I knew I had a decent body, but something about Danny made me feel plain. His personality was the exact opposite, though, and I felt totally relaxed around him.