Mr. Imperfect

chapter 7



The Cannon home was a case study in perfectly orchestrated chaos. Everyone spoke at once, their voices competing not only with each other’s, but with the background music. Luke had stayed at Rori’s side for all of two seconds before disappearing into the bathroom. She’d had the choice of following after him or being left alone in the claws of three curious Cannon women—Mike’s mom and his two sisters-in-law through his older brothers.

Luckily, Rori had brought a distraction with her.

“Wendy’s cupcakes?” Shelly gasped, sending a Rori look of cautious approval. She was the wife of the oldest Cannon son. “You have no idea how much I’ve been craving this frosting lately. Di-vine.”

“Oh, there’s so many,” Mike’s mom cooed.

“Hide them,” Marianne, wife of Cannon son number two, said without hesitation. “The men will wolf them down and swallow before they even taste anything.”

Mike’s mom bit her lip in indecision “Oh, but there’s—”

“Hide them!” Shelly and Marianne said in unison.

Mike’s mom looked undecided up until the moment Luke walked back from his jaunt to the bathroom. The moment she saw him, she became a squirrel with a prize nut, and Marianne and Shelly became her bodyguards. It was almost comical enough to make Rori forget that she was annoyed at Luke for ditching her the very moment they walked in the door. Why didn’t he use the bathroom before they made the short walk to the Cannon’s?

“You’ve got a good one here,” Shelly said to Luke, quickly grabbing a bag of Cheetos and opening with flourish. The distraction from the cupcakes worked.

“You got Cheetos for me?” Luke cooed.

“Of course,” Shelly said, pouring them into a large bowl while Marianne picked up another bag.

“We even got you the hot ones, too.”

“Aw, you do love me,” he said, stepping forward to grab a handful from the bowl. Rori froze, waiting for someone to slap his hand away or chastise him that food was not being served yet, but no one said a thing as he popped one in his mouth and chewed. “Man, I missed these.”

“Uncle Luke! Uncle Luke!” a young voice cried and Luke turned just in time to have a young girl fly into his arms.”

“Holy cow!” he said, hefting her up. “Did you grow an inch while I was gone?”

The little girl laughed and shook her head.

“Two inches?” he guessed.

“No, silly. I’m still me-sized.”

There was definitely something in the water in the Cannon household, because all the Cannon kids had a rare but somehow uniform beauty about them. Light hair, bright blue eyes, and easy smiles that gave the impression that they’d never seen a bad thing in all their days.

“I missed you so much,” Luke said, rubbing his nose against the little girl’s.

“I missed you, too! Uncle Mike won’t bounce me as high as you do. He says I’m too little to go high.”

“Is that so?” Luke said. “Well, then, I think it’s time you got bounced into the sky, don’t you?”

A grin split the little girl’s face and she nodded emphatically.

“Well, let’s go then!” Then they were off. For a moment Rori hesitated, not knowing whether or not she should follow them or stay in the kitchen and set up with the women.

“Go ahead,” Mike’s mom said, cutting into her thoughts. “Go have fun. We’ve got this.”

That settled that then, and Rori headed out to the back yard with Luke. It was larger than she’d anticipated, or maybe the use of space just made it seem that way. The perimeter had been turned into a garden where fledgling plants were just starting to poke their heads above the soil. The majority of the yard was grassed over, with a trampoline in the area farthest from the deck. The deck itself was rather substantial. It could probably fit twenty people, even with the large barbecue on the far end.

The man at the barbecue sent her the trademark Cannon smile, and Rori knew he had to be the patriarch of the group.

“Hey there,” he said, holding out his hand. “I’m Robert.”

“Rori,” she said, gripping his hand. “Pleased to meet you.”

He chuckled. “You might just mean that after you try one my steaks.” Then he pointed toward the tramp. “I think your party went that way.”

“Thank you,” Rori said, glad not to be drawn into a conversation. For now, she was happy to duck and run as often as propriety allowed. She crossed the yard, grabbing a chair and sitting just as Mike joined the bouncing madness. He didn’t look at her as he vaulted onto the trampoline, which was good, albeit annoying.

It was Luke who should be making eye contact with her. Not Mike. Besides, Rori quickly discovered that she much preferred to use her vantage point to study the Cannons rather than to watch children being bounced to reckless heights. She’d have to speak to all of the Cannons at some point during the night, so it was best to size them up in advance.

Poor Rachel, Rori couldn’t help but think. Her kids were all the spitting image of her husband. Rachel Cannon’s dark hair and hazel eyes were nowhere to be found in the group around her anymore than the DNA of Shelly and Marianne’s brown hair seemed to make it to the next generation. It defied genetic law that all the kids should be blond, but they all looked distinctly like Cannons.

Rori had yet to match up parents with children. None of the children held still long enough for her to even make a solid count, but she was pretty sure there were eight total. And they all loved Uncle Luke and Uncle Mike, who were currently launching them to nauseating heights on the trampoline.

The party was still missing Mike’s younger sister, Kris. Maybe she was the odd duck of the genetic pool, but somehow Rori doubted it. Chances were that Kris Cannon would be blonde and beautiful, just like the rest of her family.

Feeling a bit more comfortable with the laid back atmosphere, Rori turned her attention back to the trampoline and bit back a scream as one of the smaller children launched high into the air. Rori looked around to see if any of the parents took issue with their child being propelled ten feet up, but none of them seemed to mind a bit as they escaped into adult conversation.

Rori decided she shouldn’t say anything either and chose to focus on how much each of the children appeared to love “Uncle Luke”. Her judgment had been on the mark at least. Luke would make a great father. A hands-on father—even a playful one. She hadn’t dared hope for that in a husband, but she would take it. And that smile of his? It was definitely growing on her. She might actually even want to draw it.

Rori took out her phone out and took some shots to capture the moment. Luke’s easy smile, his carefree frame, and the way he tickled the kids mid-air and got them screaming with delight. She zoomed in, capturing the expressions that accompanied the squeals, and when she zoomed back out she noticed one of the little girls sitting on the edge of the tramp sniffling back tears. Sitting next to her was Mike. When the girl pointed to a spot on her arm, he kissed it before pressing a second kiss to her forehead.

“All better?” Rori didn’t hear the words, but they were easy enough to read on Mike’s lips. Beaming, the little girl smiled and got up to start jumping again. Mike watched for a second, then got up and joined the fray again.

A perfect moment, and she hadn’t even captured it. She’d just watched—forgetting to breathe, not to mention snap off a shot.

It was moments like this when her inner artist came out. Perfect moments that disappeared as quickly as they came. Rori closed her eyes, letting the image swim in her mind, memorizing it. The expression on the little girl’s face. Mike’s solemn, yet somehow playful concern. The child’s simple desire to know that someone cared she’d been hurt before turning off the tears and returning to the fun.

Rori wanted to sketch it. Sculpt it, maybe. And once she was done with that, she wanted to capture Mike’s expression as he bounced his nieces and nephews. Then she wanted to look into his eyes when they were smoky with need, when he was angry, vulnerable, and heartbroken. She wanted to capture it all in his form. Everything.

Ah, shit. She was thinking of Mike as a muse. It had been a long time since she’d had one of those. Models, yes. Themes, yes. Inspiration, yes. But a single muse? No. In that moment she could imagine Mike Cannon in every phase of the human condition which had her heart beating in the most uncomfortable way. It felt like it was pounding and leaking at the same time. Exciting with an edge of anxiety bordering on pain that turned everything but him into white noise.

Not good, Rori coached herself. S

he needed to proceed with caution. She was an engaged woman. And engaged women didn’t mentally undress the best man and imagine immortalizing their entwined bodies in marble.

She needed to nip this in the bud. Now. She needed to send the message to her brain that Mike’s body and her body had no future together. He was destined for someone else—anyone else. Maybe even a friend of hers.

Before Rori could think twice about it, she snapped off a picture of Mike and hit “share”. Spending time with my man, and I have one to spare. Who wants him? Then she uploaded the picture to Facebook. Let her friends objectify and fight over the best man. Rori needed to stick with the groom.

Jumping from the tramp, Luke landed right next to her. “You look mad. What’s up?”

Luke had noted something was off? Had she been that transparent?

“Oh, I’m just auctioning your friend off on Facebook,” she teased, letting her hand rest on his chest as she showed him the screen.

“Yeah?” he laughed, his hand gripping hers lightly before releasing. “Good luck with that. Want to take my place on the tramp while I get a drink?”

Fear fluttered in her chest. Her? On a trampoline? Something told her that letting Luke in on the fact she’d never set foot on one wouldn’t be a good way to stay off of it.“I don’t think I can get them as high as you do.”

“It’s okay,” he said, giving her arm a squeeze. “They just want to be bounced. Hop up.”

Before she could answer, a voice behind Rori called out, “Luke?”

Turning to see who was calling out to her fiancé, Rori grew very still when she spotted an all-American blonde setting down a tray of cookies and a bag of Cheetos.

“Kris?” Luke called out, and the two ran—literally ran—at each other, meeting in the middle of the grass before she jumped up, wrapped her arms around Luke and let him spin her around as they hugged.

Stunned, Rori looked around to see if anyone else found their behavior particularly odd. No one blinked. And only one of them even stopped what they were doing to acknowledge the her arrival. It was Mike.

“Hey, Kris,” he said from the tramp.

Kris ignored her brother as she pulled away to give Luke a once over. “You’re so tan!”

“Me?” Luke scoffed, checking her out as well. “Look at you? Where have you been? A tropical island?”

“Uh-uh,” Kris shot back. “You go first. I want stories. Tons of them. You didn’t even write me once this time!”

They bantered as if they were the only two people in the world and no one else even existed. Especially Rori. Didn’t Luke think it strange at all to fawn over a hot blonde while his brunette fiancée stood ten feet away? Rori had never been engaged before, so she wasn’t quite sure of the protocol. She was fairly certain, however, that it included at least introducing her to hot girls he talked to, and keeping his hands on her and not the other woman.

And Luke most definitely should not wait until the other woman acknowledged his fiancée before making introductions. But that’s what happened.

“I’m sorry. I’m being so rude,” Kris said, moving over to Rori and sticking out her hand. “You must be the friend who came home with Luke.”

Rori’s jealousy eased a bit when Luke shot her a huge smile and moved to put his arm possessively around her shoulders. Not Kris’s.

“Well, ‘friend’ isn’t exactly accurate,” he said, earning a curious look from Kris before addressing the group collectively. “Everyone! I need your attention!”

Like magic, ten adults and eight children grew still and regarded Luke with a cautious curiosity that told Rori he’d done announcements like this before. Several eyes flickered to her as Luke continued.

“First off, thank you so much for this party and making me remember all the reasons this will always be home to me.” Mrs. Cannon blushed in pleasure while everyone else visibly grew more tense. Not that Luke noticed. “I wanted to wait until everyone was here to officially introduce the most amazing woman I’ve met in my life. Her name is Rori, and I’m proud to let you all be the first to know that we are engaged to be married.”

As far as announcements went, that was fairly abrupt, which was pretty true to Luke’s usual style. Rori didn’t realize she’d been holding her breath until Mr. Cannon broke the ensuing silence with a hearty laugh, and moved to congratulate them.

“I never thought I’d see the day someone could tie this one down,” he boomed, crossing over to wrap Luke in a fatherly hug. Then suddenly everyone was moving in, offering their congratulations and welcoming Rori into the family.