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seconds.
What the hell, Lynnette, I ain t gonna do that. Some freakin cop could come along and arrest
me for breaking and entering, came his father s voice, sounding as exasperated at Twist felt.
Just like I thought. She s not alone. With a rough sigh, Twist dragged a hand through his hair
before he caught her fingers in his. Might as well get this over with, little girl. I m not in the mood to
worry about screen door breakage or bailing my dad out of jail today.
Look, if you need some private time
Yeah, I do need private time. With you. They get one look at you, and maybe it ll sink in that
I m otherwise engaged. Though knowing his family, ice skating would be taught in hell first.
As soon as the screen door came in sight, Twist gave serious consideration to turning right
back around and hiding along with Angel in his studio. Shit.
What? Angel peeked over his shoulder. Oh. That s& a lot of people.
Like I said, they move in a pack. Except this was worse than he d expected. Not only were
his parents occupying his front porch, but as far as he could tell, just about every member of his
immediate family had decided to visit as well.
How the hell did you even know I was home? Twist demanded by way of greeting, reaching
for the latch.
What, this is how you say hello? Looking affronted and not the least bit apologetic, his
fireball of a mother barreled right in, her short black hair curling away from her round face, black
eyes crackling fire at him. We ve driven by your place every day for a week to see if you re still
alive, and you re never home. What s going on with you? I haven t heard from you in forever.
Forever? Really? I had dinner at your place last Sunday, just like I ve done every Sunday for
the past four years. Just like I m going to do day after tomorrow. Why? Because it ll once again be
Sunday. As he waved his father, brother, sister-in-law and two nieces inside, he glanced at Angel
and saw her staring at the flood of people with a tentative smile and faintly shell-shocked eyes. When
those eyes glanced his way he offered a shrug that was both an apology and a gesture of philosophical
resignation. Some things could be fought traffic tickets, signs of aging and the like. But other things,
such as his family, death and internet trolls, were inevitable.
The sooner she met them and figured that out, the better off she d be.
Hey, man. His younger brother, Nick, clasped his hand and did the familiar half-chest bump
greeting that they d done since they were kids and had seen their dad do it with their uncle. Sorry
about landing on you like this. We just came from having pancakes at Blueberry Hill and Mom got a
bee in her bonnet about driving by to check on you. I honestly didn t think you d be here.
Uncle Twist, we saw you on TV!
You did? Twist turned his attention to his four-year-old niece by resting his hand on her
dark mop of silken curls. What were you doing up so late, Maya?
Maya s face crumpled into an unconvincing pout. It was Fritzi s fault. She wanted water.
Actually, you were the one who wanted water after you yelled and yelled for us, so much so
you woke your sister up. Kara, his sister-in-law, held a sleepy fourteen-month-old Fritzi on her hip,
absently doing the mom sway while giving him a quick grin. Everything is Fritzi s fault nowadays.
Mysterious crayon hieroglyphs of doggies and kitties on the wall over the sofa? Fritzi did it. The
refrigerator door standing wide open, a can of soda pilfered and subsequently spilled all over our
bed a bed that showed clear signs of someone jumping on it with dirty sneakers the same size as
Maya s foot? Fritzi did it. Maya s bologna sandwich that got stuck in Daddy s Xbox? You guessed it
that was Fritzi, too. According to Maya, her baby sister s guilty of everything, despite the fact that
we know Fritzi could never reach these places, understand how to manipulate a gaming system, or
manage to open a refrigerator or a can of soda. Right, Maya? We know this, don t we?
Fritzi s a bad girl. Maya scowled, tightly folding her arms across her tiny chest.
It s a phase, his father told Kara with an unconcerned shrug. Oliver blamed Nicholas for
everything when they were three and four. Then when Essie came along, both boys blamed her.
A quickly stifled giggle from Angel made Twist glance back at her. Oliver?
Hello, hello, who s this? His mother wheeled around to find Angel standing in the mouth of
the hallway behind him, and he almost groaned out loud. He knew that look. Lynette Santiago had a
matchmaking mindset that was the equivalent of a heat-seeking missile. Son, where are your
manners? Introduce your lovely lady friend to your family.
Right. Twist turned and slung an arm around Angel s shoulders, giving them an encouraging
squeeze as he did so. Angel, these are my parents, Lynette and Ed, my brother and sister-in-law,
Nick and Kara, and their two gorgeous girls, Maya and Fritzi. Everyone, this is Angel Taylor, from
House Of Payne. I m sure everyone would like to get to know each other better, but we were just
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