I Hated You First by Rachel John

Lauren

 

 

 

Denver’s humming was not helping me in my attempts to clear my mind and relax. We were driving in my truck to my parents’ house for lunch, and he was the coolest cucumber in the fridge. Meanwhile, I was wondering if I could find a way to spill something on myself when we got there so I could borrow one of my mom’s shirts. The one I was wearing already had nervous sweat on it. The kind they talk about when they say you can smell fear.

Don’t get me wrong; I loved my family. But they were a rough-around-the-edges band of misfits, and they didn’t take the idea of adding someone lightly. My sister-in-law included. I’d thwarted her every attempt to set me up with guys in the past, knowing she wouldn’t be able to keep herself from getting involved. Which meant there was a good chance she wouldn’t like Denver simply because she didn’t get to pick him out.

This stunk. I didn’t even care if they liked Denver. I just didn’t want them to scare him away. Denver was exactly what I needed right now, someone content to just hang out with me on the weekends without trying to take things further than I wanted, physically or emotionally. Where would I find that anywhere else?

“Lauren, you look like you’re ready to drive us straight out of town and keep going.”

“What?” I turned to look at Denver, who was grinning at his joke, the one I’d apparently missed.

“What’s the matter? Are you afraid your family is going to embarrass you? Or not approve of me or something?”

I fiddled with the air conditioning vents, trying to get them to blow inside my sleeves without being super obvious about it.

Echoing Jenny’s words, I finally said, “How could anyone not approve of you?”

Denver shrugged. “I am amazing.”

“And humble.”

“I’m pretty much the perfect package.”

I swear he was only half-joking, which made me laugh. “My family is weird. I’ll just put that out there, and if they act fine, then I’ll retract it and say I’m the one who’s weird, and we’ll never talk about this again.”

Denver shrugged. “It’s a meal. What can go wrong at a barbeque?”

“You’re so chill about everything. I wish I could bottle it up and sell it.”

“I’m so chill, Frosty the Snowman hangs out in my yard just to live longer.”

“Dork.”

We turned the corner where Clay’s grandparents lived in a small white stucco house with a red tile roof. Their yard looked perfectly trimmed, just the way it always had. I wondered if Clay was responsible for it now. He’d worked in that yard every Saturday growing up. I could still picture him making rows with the lawnmower, occasionally lifting his shirt and wiping his forehead. On the really hot days, he’d been shirtless. He’d always tanned well. Aaand cut. Those memories would not be tap dancing through my thoughts anymore today.

I pulled up to the curb behind my brother’s minivan. Melissa, my sister-in-law, was attempting to heft Jax’s car seat out; no small feat. Jax had rolls for days, the kind grandmothers liked to pinch. I’d be loving up on my favorite six-month-old A.S.A.P.

Little Raelyn ran over to my truck and opened my door.

“How’s my Cinderella birthday girl?” I asked.

“Good.” She spotted Denver and immediately turned shy.

“Raelyn, this is Denver.”

“Okay, bye.” She ran off, ignoring her parents’ calls for help bringing things in. I got out and Denver followed me over to the minivan, where I took bags of chips and rolls from my brother, and Denver got handed a crockpot.

“Welcome to the family, dude.” Connor clapped him on the back, probably meaning to be intimidating. Like me, he’d gotten the height in the family, plus a build that made you think he still worked on cars and not in a dental office. “We’ll put you to work first thing here. Do you know anything about motors?”

“Um, I—”

“Connor, knock it off. Be a gentleman and go take your ginormous baby from your wife before her arms fall off.”

It was the perfect distraction. Connor ran to catch Melissa and took Jax from her. But that, unfortunately, freed Melissa to take her turn embarrassing me. I could see it in her eyes. She just couldn’t help herself, which was why she fit into our family perfectly.

She waited for us to reach her at the porch steps before leaning in and inspecting my left hand. “Where’s the ring?”

“Melissa, seriously?”

“What? Too soon?” She winked at Denver. “Lauren swore up and down she wouldn’t bring home a man without a ring on her finger. You must be something special because she’s as picky as they come. Congrats on meeting her ridiculously high standards.”

I waited until she turned to go up the steps before checking for Denver’s reaction. My cool cucumber looked a little pickled. “She’s joking. They’re both joking, Denver. I swear.”

He nodded, adjusting his grip on the crockpot. “For sure.”

Well, we were off to an excellent start. I couldn’t wait to find Dad, prove I’d brought the victim, and get the heck out of there.

I led the way inside past the living room where my brother and sister-in-law were unlatching Jax and into the large, spacious kitchen my mom had painstakingly remodeled. Cooking was her passion. One thing was certain, the food would be good today.

“Mom!” I’d never been happier to see her in my whole life. She put down the knife she’d been using to spread garlic butter across French bread halves and gave me a squeeze. We shared the same blonde hair, though hers was peppered with a little bit of gray at the roots these days.

“Give him something to do,” I whispered. “I’m borrowing a shirt, okay?”

She gave me a strange look, but moved around me to say hello to Denver and immediately assigned him to mix the ranch dip. Moms are the best. I escaped down the hall to my parents’ bedroom and straight into their closet where I flipped through my mom’s shirts, looking for something similar to the peach-colored T-shirt I was wearing. I finally settled on a pale pink one I knew Mom wouldn’t mind me borrowing. It didn’t squeeze me in as much as the one I had on, and trading shirts almost felt like a do-over. This was my chance to be calm and collected from here on out. Well, after I had a little talking-to with Connor and Melissa.

I walked back to the kitchen with an Enya song playing in my head. I was totally calm. Frosty the Snowman level of chill. “Where are Dad and Parker?” I asked.

Mom sighed. “Checking on the shop. An alarm went off, and the night watchman doesn’t come in until tonight.”

It was an annoying but common problem. Hopefully, it was just an oversized pigeon this time and not a thief trying to break in and steal equipment.

“What’s your favorite thing to eat, Denver?” Mom asked.

Finally, a normal, non-invasive question. What was wrong with the rest of my family?

Denver started telling her about some amazing side dish called cowboy caviar, and I seized the opportunity to stalk back to the living room where Connor and Melissa were practically setting up a nursery for Jax. They had a swing, his bouncer, a play mat, and burp cloths everywhere. The kid spit up like a champion, and nothing was sacred, especially furniture.

“Did you change your shirt?” Melissa asked.

“Yes, don’t change the subject.”

They both gave me a blank look, and I realized the argument I’d started with them in my head hadn’t escaped my mouth yet. I was totally losing it.

“What’s wrong with you guys?” I hissed. “Denver and I are not engaged—not anywhere near it. So, stop freaking the poor kid out.”

“The poor kid?” Connor smirked. “I guess we know who wears the pants in that relationship.”

I closed my eyes, trying to think of any leverage I held over Connor. But there was none. He didn’t even work with us. Fixing cars was a hobby for him when he wasn’t fixing teeth.

“Melissa, if you love me at all, you will throw me a bone here. I’ll never see Denver again after today if you two keep this up, and if that happens, there will be no babysitting for you. None.” I avoided looking at Jax, who was blowing raspberries, like an audible photobomb to our conversation.

Melissa blinked in surprise. “You must really like him.” In retrospect, I should have noticed the way her eyes slid from my face to somewhere behind me, but I was so worked up I didn’t care who heard us.

“I just need his type right now, okay?”

“And what type is that?” Denver’s arms came around me from behind. I felt like the hugest jerk.

“The type who doesn’t judge me based off of my meddling family. That’s who.” I turned around and hugged him, planting a kiss on him for good measure.

He smiled, but it looked less genuine than usual. He was uncomfortable, and it was all my fault. I couldn’t believe how badly I was screwing this up in such a short amount of time.

“You know what? Denver and I are going to check out the treehouse. Call us when lunch is ready.” Everyone else could finish prepping the food. I took his hand and practically dragged him outside.

The treehouse Dad built for us kids had mostly been Parker and Clay’s headquarters, with me as their insistent tag-along. But it still held a lot of good memories for me. Like the summer we put up a fake lemonade stand with signs directing customers to the backyard so we could pelt them with water balloons from above. Clay, ever the peacemaker, had decided it was only fair to leave a bucket with water balloons below the tree so they could hit us back. Best day ever.

“This is sick. I love it.” Denver climbed up the ladder first and ducked his head in to have a look. The dust and cobwebs were always trying to claim the place, but Dad kept it clean and in good shape for when Raelyn came over. I was surprised she wasn’t up here already.

I sat on the bench inside, leaving room for Denver, but he was too busy spider-monkeying across the rope bridge to get to the lookout tower. He really was like a little kid sometimes.

From this height up, I could see the street in front of the house and Clay’s truck pulling to the curb. The pest. I knew he’d come.

Parker and Dad pulled in right after him. They must have all met up at the shop to check the alarm together. Denver ducked back in and sat next to me. “I never had anything like this as a kid. You’re so lucky.”

“We had some good times up here.”

There was a unicorn sleeping bag on the floor, and Denver leaped down and stretched out on it, laying one arm across his face to block the sunlight shining in through the window. “I was up until four last night playing X-Box in my cousin’s tournament. Do you mind if I rest my eyes for a little bit, you know, as long as we’re hiding out from your relatives?”

I smiled. “Sure thing.”

He turned, trying to get comfortable. “And yeah, your family’s weird.”

“You’ve only met half of them.”

He gave me a thumbs up in return and was snoring within a minute.