“Don’t call her that,” he snapped, grabbing one of the plates from him before turning to walk toward the noise.
“Yeah, okay then,” Matt said quietly from behind him, just before they entered the screened-in back porch. Louder, he added, “Look who I found.”
There was a round of hellos from the guys, and two audible gasps from Mags and Cassie. Cassie stood and rushed over to him, her hand hovering an inch above his eye. “What happened?”
“Hell, Cass, it’s just a black eye,” Trey muttered. “Give the guy some breathing room.”
“You hush,” she said to her husband. For Michael, “Do you want an ice pack?”
“I can get some ice,” Mags offered, standing. Stephen just grabbed her and pulled her down onto his lap, one large arm wrapping around her waist like a seat belt.
“He’s fine. Leave the man some pride,” Stephen said. Mags wiggled on his lap, and he bit her shoulder gently.
Michael fought not to gag. Carefully nudging Cassie’s hand aside, he leaned in and pecked her cheek. “I’m fine, thanks for asking.”
“Did that happen at practice today?” she asked, retreating to her seat beside Trey. Her husband automatically lifted his arm to wrap around the back of her chair.
“No, before. I’d rather not talk about it.” He sat in the only available seat left, which was between Mags’s empty chair and Josiah. Kat sat directly across from him, and he met her eyes for the first time since walking in. “Just a random thing.”
“He’s being nice,” Kat said, holding his eye contact. “He doesn’t want to admit he got it from me hitting him.”
Dead silence met this announcement, which was saying something for this group.
“With a tennis ball,” she added. Several aahs sounded, as if that made complete sense.
“You know, they use this thing called a racket in tennis.” Matt grasped the platter of burgers handed to him by Kat, then looked at Mags. “None of these is vegetarian this time, right?”
“You give a guy a black bean burger once on accident…,” Mags said, exasperated. Then she smiled. “They’re all fully animal fatty and delicious.”
“It was a traumatizing experience,” Peterson insisted.
“So you were playing tennis… with Kat?” Cassie asked, looking between them.
“Sort of.” Michael watched as Kat’s neck and face flushed. She wouldn’t look up now. “I happened to be there just as her coach needed a live target. Apparently, Kat works better aiming at flesh than a cone.”
“My kinda girl,” Stephen said, holding up his water glass in a toast.
Kat smiled at him at the head of the table, Mags still in his lap. “It was an accident, seriously. He should have ducked, but he got distracted. It was my coach’s fault more than anyone’s. I just feel bad about the game this weekend.”
“It’ll make for a fun press time in the locker room.” Trey grinned. “We should use the flight out to make up some awesome story about how you got it.”
“Saving a litter of puppies from a burning building,” Josiah suggested.
“No, nuns were being robbed at gunpoint,” Matt put in.
“Maybe he lifted a car off a trapped child,” Trey mused.
Michael sighed as the table erupted into laughter. Then he looked around and realized they were a smaller party than he anticipated. “You didn’t invite any of the rooks I mentioned?”
“We did. I just told them to come about, oh, twenty minutes from now. There’s plenty of extra food,” Stephen added quickly. “We made triple the normal. Seriously, they’ll eat. We just wanted a little time with you guys first.”
“Aww.” Cassie smiled warmly down the table. “That’s sweet.”
Michael and Matt both made gagging noises at the same time. Kat rolled her eyes, but he caught the smile she tried to hide behind her napkin.
“Any particular reason?” Josiah asked, spooning some potato salad onto his plate.
Mags and Stephen started speaking at the same time, then both stopped and grinned at each other.
Matt coughed.
“You,” Mags said softly, nudging Stephen’s shoulder with hers. Then she settled back against his chest, clearly content to remain on his lap.
“We wanted you guys to all know before anyone else. Well, anyone else outside my mom and sisters.” Stephen wrapped a hand around Mags’s waist again. “We’re getting married.”
There was that dead silence again. Just for a beat. Then Cassie squealed, the sound practically inhuman, and leapt out of her chair to dash around. “Let me see! Let me seeeeeee!” She reached for Mags’s hand, only to stop short when it was found to be devoid of an engagement ring. “Stephen! You didn’t get this girl a ring?”
“No, but that’s probably because she wasn’t ready for one.” Stephen’s voice was amused. “Sit down, Cass, we’re not quite finished.”
“You better have details to make up for the lack of pretty shiny,” Cassie warned, sitting back beside Trey, who looked amused by his wife’s threat toward one of their best linemen.