“I can’t believe you didn’t come sooner,” Rena scolded.
“Leave the pestering to Mom,” Michael told his sister.
All eyes moved to Janice. “I’ll pester later. Right now I want to make Karen feel at home.” Janice offered Karen a warm smile.
“Oh, pester away,” Karen encouraged them. “So few people in Michael’s life give him any grief other than me.”
The comment managed a few laughs.
“Thanks for throwing me under the bus, hon.” Michael winked at her.
“Your ego was always too big for this town,” Zach said.
“When it gets too big at home, I just tell him to take out the trash and lower the lid to the toilet.”
“That’s gross, Mike,” Hannah chided.
Tracey sat on the arm of the couch and placed her arm around Zach’s shoulders.
Karen skirted her gaze away.
“How did you two meet?” Tracey asked.
“Haven’t you seen the YouTube video?” Hannah pulled her cell phone out of the back pocket of her jeans.
“You met on YouTube?” Obviously, Tracey didn’t understand the social media site or how it functioned. Zach’s girlfriend had a set of soulful eyes and dark brown hair. She stood a couple of inches taller than Karen, and carried a few more pounds, but not in an unflattering way. She didn’t wear a lot of makeup, but Karen could tell she had put some effort in her appearance. She kept watching Michael, and it was impossible to miss the slight blush to her cheeks when he smiled her way. Karen had seen that happen more times than she could count over the past year. It was one thing to watch a celebrity on the screen and quite another to meet them in person, and here Tracey was thrust into a room with a virtual superstar and expected to hold a normal conversation when it was obvious she was having her own fan-girl moment.
“No, silly. They met when Mike went to one of those after school places that keep kids off the streets.” Hannah scrambled over toward Tracey and Zach while she expertly surfed the net with one finger, all the while talking about Karen and Michael’s chance meeting.
Karen glanced at Michael and noted the smirk on his face. They both knew there was nothing chance about their introduction to each other. In fact, they’d both had an opportunity to look over each other’s Alliance profiles and had already agreed they were compatible, at least on paper, for a short marriage.
Through Hannah’s phone, Karen heard the familiar sound of the kids at the center chatting over each other as they were telling Karen that Michael Wolfe was asking her out. She’d seen the YouTube clip so many times and from many different angles in the weeks following. It had aired on two entertainment television slots and even showed up as a clip on the local evening news.
Michael really was gifted in his art. He’d convinced everyone in the club that day that they’d just met and he was enamored with her. She, of course, knew there wasn’t a snowball’s chance that their marriage would be anything but temporary even before they met. Gwen picked up on his sexual preference when she met him, so Karen knew he was g*y from day one.
Gwen’s g*ydar had been legendary since. At many Hollywood parties, Michael would hang back with Gwen to get a heads-up on the sexuality of the men in attendance.
Tracey watched the footage from the Internet with interest.
Zach glanced at the screen on the phone briefly. “I seem to remember you pulling that line on Suzie Baker in tenth grade.”
Karen shot a playful grin to Michael. “You fed me a line?” she asked with a wink.
“Me, the actor? Fed you a line? Never!”
They were laughing when the sound of a car pulling into the driveway caught Eli’s attention. “Grandpa.”
Michael sat taller, and his smile fell. She reached out and clasped his hand in hers with a squeeze.
He glanced at her. For whatever reason, Sawyer Gardner twisted Michael in knots, and she was determined to help Michael through whatever the man presented. As platonic as their relationship was, she really did love her husband.
The weight of someone’s stare had her looking around the room. More than one set of eyes landed on her. Rena appeared to be deducing something inside her head as she stared at Karen. Zach seemed to be focused on her and Michael’s clasped hands. When his eyes moved toward hers, Karen glanced back at Rena, who was now watching Zach.
Karen purposely closed her eyes and drew in a breath. When she opened them again, she forced her eyes to the front door.
Janice welcomed the patriarch of the Gardner family home, as did little Eli, who ran to his grandfather with open arms.
Both of the Gardner sons obtained their height from their father, Karen mused. Sawyer stood six two and looked as if he could hold his own with lifting heavy weights at his hardware store, or lugging two-by-fours on a construction site. His dark hair was peppered with gray but didn’t seem to be thinning, which probably lent some hope to both Michael and Zach that they would each have a full head of hair throughout their lives.
Michael stood, and pulled her to her feet to meet his father.
“Look who’s here,” Janice said to her husband.
Sawyer’s gaze took in the room and hesitated on Karen for a brief moment before landing on Michael.
What will it be, a handshake or a hug?
Michael stepped in front of her and the handshake won.
“It’s good to see you,” he told his father.
“We thought you’d forgotten about us.”
Karen cringed. How many times had she heard that in the past hour? Too many to count.
Instead of offering an apology or an excuse, Michael turned to Karen. “Dad, I want you to meet Karen.”
She offered her hand as she had Janice earlier. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Gardner. Michael has told me a lot about you.”
“Is that so?” he asked as he shook her hand briefly. “He’s told us virtually nothing about you.” Sawyer’s unnerving stare shot through her.
“Wow, Dad, way to make her uncomfortable,” Hannah said.
“Yeah, hold back, will ya?” This was from Zach.
Michael simply shook his head as if he knew his father would be an instant ass. The man obviously ruled his home and he expected a different level of respect than he actually gave.
“Sawyer!” Janice started in.
“It’s OK, Janice. Zach told us when he came to California that everyone was upset that we hadn’t come to visit. I’m sure he underemphasized all of your feelings in an effort to save mine.” She couldn’t help but glance Zach’s way, or notice the way he glared at his father. So far, Sawyer had yet to crack a smile, even with Eli at his heels and Rena attempting to pull the child back.