Even though they were standing in front of his entire family, it was pure instinct to slide her arms around his neck. “When will everyone else be getting here?”
“We’re all here.”
“But...it’s just your family and me.”
“Maddie’s going to blow it out with her friends later tonight in the city while Olivia drives her crazy by chaperoning. Today is for the family.”
“But if it’s just your family—”
Sean’s mouth on hers stopped the rest of her protest. “I wanted you to be here today. We all do.”
Just then, a small bundle of fur pushed against her legs and she looked down to see the cutest little black and white dog looking up at her with big brown eyes. “Oh my gosh, who are you?”
“Don’t worry, buddy,” Sean said as he scooped up the dog and handed it to her, “I was just about to introduce you. This is Bailey. And something tells me he’s going to fall in love with you, too.”
The way the cute dog started licking her made her think that maybe Sean was right. She couldn’t stop laughing, even as she tried to dodge his tongue.
“Hey,” Sean said in a gentle tone to the dog, “coming on too strong is no way to get a girl to love you back.” He gave the furball a quick cuddle then put him down on the grass, where he scurried after a piece of food that had just fallen off the table.
“Sorry about that. He can be a little too friendly sometimes.”
“Impossible,” she said through her laughter as she watched Bailey stare greedily at the plates of food on the table. “No dog can ever be too friendly.”
Sean took her hand and brought her over to the table set up in the middle of the lawn beneath the big magnolia tree. “Come sit down with me.”
She knew everyone must be able to see that she was glowing from just being with Sean, and she hoped Olivia was the only one who disapproved of her. It had never been so important for people to like her.
“So, Serena,” Mike asked, “what year are you at Stanford?”
“It’s my freshman year.”
“Got your major picked out yet? Or are you still trying things out?”
Clearly, Sean’s father didn’t have much of a clue about what she’d done before attending college, and she was extremely glad. “I’m planning to major in English.”
His eyes shuttered. “My wife was an English major. She ended up going on to teach third grade.”
Oh God, how did she keep hurting Sean’s father with every word that came out of her mouth? To make things worse, she felt Sean stiffen beside her, too. Each of his siblings also shifted slightly in their seats.
“Is teaching what you want to do, too?” Maddie asked.
Trying to answer as normally as possible, given the fact that she wanted to cry for every one of them, Serena said, “Maybe. Although at this point anything’s possible, just as long as it involves books and libraries.”She was so incredibly glad when Sean smiled at her and said, “Serena’s on a first-name basis with the entire Green Library staff. And actually, since I’ve started going so much to meet her there, I’ve started to think that someone should do some time-release photographs of the architecture and the way the light passes over it throughout the day. Somehow it manages to look different every hour.”
“You should do it,” Olivia said.
Serena held her breath along with the rest of them, but Sean only shrugged and said, “We’ll see,” before turning to Grant and asking, “How’s the new product launch going?”
She was so amazed by Sean’s response to Olivia that she was only able to listen with half an ear to Grant’s response. Was he really thinking about doing photography again? It felt like such a big thing—and she knew from his siblings’ expressions that she wasn’t the only one who thought so.
Had she had something to do with the change? Or was it simply that the passage of time was finally starting to heal him?
Whatever the reason, knowing that Sean was coming alive again filled her with so much happiness, Serena wanted to dance around the yard. By the time she was able to pull her gaze from his gorgeous face, she realized that her plate was loaded up with some of the best-looking food she’d ever seen or smelled.
“You made all this?” she asked Maddie while Sean, Grant, and Mike talked business.
“I hope you like it.”
“She will, Mads,” Drew said from the far end of the table, ruffling his sister’s hair so that she gave him a little mock growl of irritation.
“How many hearts have you broken on this tour?” his little sister asked him.
“Lost count in Miami,” he teased her back.
“I’m glad you were able to come home for my birthday.”
“Wouldn’t have missed it,” he said, “even if you’re blowing me off to go hang with your friends tonight.”
“You know they’d be thrilled if you came,” Maddie said.
“Gonna have to take a pass on that one, thanks.” His look of horror at hanging with a bunch of eighteen-year-old girls made Serena laugh. “Besides, I’ve got that meeting tonight with my professor about the student who wants to go on tour with me as part of her business major.”
Olivia shook her head. “Do you really want to let some stranger on your tour bus?”
“My professor basically asked me to do it as a favor. Turns out she’s his daughter and she really wants to get an insider’s view of the music industry for some project she’s working on.”
“You can’t be serious,” Justin said, laughing. “This professor wants to send his daughter on tour with you? Does he know anything about your track record with the ladies?”
“I wouldn’t touch the guy’s daughter,” Drew said, as serious as he’d been so far. “Not in a million years.”
Olivia abruptly shifted in her seat to face Serena. “Has it been difficult to fit your modeling and acting commitments around your classes?”
Trying not to act too surprised by the sudden question, or too flustered by the way everyone was now looking at her, Serena said, “I’m not modeling or acting anymore.”
Olivia frowned. “But I read just this morning that you—”
“She’s done with that,” Sean said, cutting his sister off.