There’s a few more people here now. Behind Aunt Rita, Mindy’s grandmother is with two girls, one who’s nearly the spitting image of Mindy except that her hair’s shorter. She must be Roxy. The other looks like she’d prefer to be anywhere else but here.
“Hey, Auntie,” Mindy says excitedly, taking her in an embrace and delivering a kiss to her cheek. She takes turn embracing each woman then steps back, giving her aunt a questioning tilt to her head. “Where’s Uncle Charles?”
“He’s outside having a smoke,” Rita replies, sighing and rolling her eyes. “No matter what I try, I just can't get that man to stop. You take a pack away, he’s got seven more hidden.”
John, I see, has a guilty look as his hand unconsciously pats the suit pocket where he’d put his cigar case, and I’m glad I didn’t take him up on his offer. I seriously doubt he’s going to pull another out for as long as Rita’s around. Meanwhile, Rita turns her eyes on me, and I can feel the question burning in everyone’s eyes. “Who is this fine young man?”
“This is Oliver, my fiancé,” Mindy announces proudly, gesturing to each woman in turn. “Oli, this is my Aunt Rita, my cousin, Layla, my sister, Roxy, and my Grandma, Ivy Jo.”
“Nice to meet you ladies,” I say, flashing them all a charming smile. “And thank you, Princess, for remembering my name this time.”
Ivy Jo holds out her arms at me as Mindy gives me an evil look. “Don’t stand across the room, young man. Come give an old lady a hug.”
I chuckle and do as she commands. “Who am I to resist the charms of a beautiful woman like you?”
“Oh, stop it,” she murmurs as she pulls me into a hug and runs her hands up and down my back, finishing with a pinch of my butt. “Nice and strong, just like old Johnny used to be.”
“Grandma,” Mindy says warningly and casts me a sympathetic glance. “Let’s not molest my fiancé before dinner, please?”
I chuckle. “It’s okay. Sometimes, it’s nice to eat your dessert before dinner,” I tease. Mindy blushes slightly, and I give Grandma my full attention. “Johnny’s your husband?”
“Was,” she corrects, but I can tell by her voice that it’s an old loss. “He’s worm food now, but boy, do I enjoy remembering the days when he used to hike these old legs back and—”
Mindy coughs loudly, shaking her head, while Layla grabs her grandmother by the shoulders and pulls her to the side, shutting her up. “Uh, she gets that way.”
“No problem,” I reply with a laugh. “I love doing some hiking myself,” I say, looking over to make sure Mindy heard me.
Layla gives me a grateful nod while Mindy turns a deeper shade of red, and Roxy steps forward, peering at me with wide eyes. “Oh, my God, he’s gorgeous!” she exclaims to Mindy. “Girl, you got a keeper. No wonder you wouldn’t stop bragging about how good he was in bed.”
Mindy scowls murder at her sister. “Roxy, please don’t—”
Roxy shakes her head, not listening. “Shoot, I might have to go back home with you if they’re serving up dishes like this.” She gives me a look. “You got a brother? You know, for the longest time, I swore you were just the battery-operated fantasies of a girl who wasn’t getting her needs met. Glad to see I’m wrong.”
“Ignore her,” Mindy half pleads, half commands. This is hilarious. “She’s just being silly.”
“What?” Roxy asks, giving her sister a smirk. “So anyway, about there maybe being a younger version of you . . .”
I chuckle. I like her already. “Yeah, I have one, but you’d want to kill him after five minutes. I have a feeling Tony would like you though.”
“Why’s that?” Roxy asks, her eyes going slightly wide.
“Well, he kind of likes anything with a vagina and a pulse.”
Mindy glares at me with eyes that seem to say I want to kill you, but Roxy just laughs. She’s enjoying the banter.
“I hear you’re a singer,” I say. “What do you sing?”
Roxy lights up like a light bulb. “Yes, I have my own band. We sing on Friday nights and weekends at a bar in town called Trixie’s. Lots of rock, but we mix in pop too—we kind of have to depending on the night.”
“Really?” I say honestly. “That’s impressive.”
“Little Roxy has a beautiful voice,” Rita says. “Why don’t you sing a few lines for the man?”
“Please, let’s not,” says Layla with a roll of her eyes. “I can only handle so much ass kissing at once.”
I ignore Layla and give Roxy a smile. “Go for it if you want.”
Roxy looks like she just hit the jackpot. “I can,” she says with a dimpled smile. “What do you like? Beyoncé? Taylor Swift? Katy Perry?”
I laugh. “I’m more of a Johnny Cash man myself, so I’ll let you choose.”
“Honey, I don’t do country. But I can start singing some Fifth Harmony and Mindy can start twerking for us. Remember your last birthday when you got drunk and they started Worth It? Oh, my God . . .”
Mindy places her hands on her hips and opens her mouth to berate her sister when the doors to the dining room swing open and Mary Jo appears in the doorway, clapping her hands and beaming at us all. “Dinner’s ready!”
We go into the dining room, where I see that Mary Jo has actually gone to the trouble of putting place cards out for everyone. While I help Mindy with her chair, a short, tubby man who smells like every nasty, old ass smoky bar in the world comes in, walking by me and spewing clouds of noxious odor behind him. “Sorry I’m late.”
Rita tries to hold back her disgust as Charles sits next to her, but I can understand. The man smells like he didn’t have one cig, but the whole damn pack. “Charles, if you don’t mind?”
“Piss off,” he growls, and I’m about to say something about being respectful, but I feel Mindy dig her fingernails into my thigh as she gives me a small shake of her head. I get it. I don’t know these people and it’s not my place, but it’s hard to watch the disrespect.
“So how long have you worked for Honda?” Grandma asks as we wait for the servers. “I didn’t know they have an office in town.”
“Oh, since I graduated school, and I have to commute,” I say quickly, keeping a smile on my face. Mindy gave me some details, but a lot of it I’m just making up on the fly. “It’s worth it though, small-town living and all that.”
“And how did you first meet?” John asks.
Mindy smiles and tries to take the lead. “Well, you guys have to listen to this. I was in the coffee shop, my hair all messed up. He walks in and says I’ve been—”
“Actually, I came into the coffee shop and was sitting down. Mindy started flirting with me, asking if I worked out. I was surprised by her boldness, but I liked it. I had to give her my number when she asked me for it.”
“That sounds like my Mindy,” Ivy Jo winks. “Forget the clothes—check out the biceps.”
“I don’t blame her. I’d have been offering free fraps and singing Call Me Maybe if I’d had the chance,” Roxy adds with a grin. “And I hate that song.”
“Now, now, Roxy,” Mary Jo says. “I think you’ve embarrassed your sister enough.”
“Just kidding, Mom,” Roxy says, obviously not apologetic. “But seriously, Oliver, you do look like you work out. I’ll play the guy here—so whatcha bench?”
“I really don’t know,” I reply. “I’m more into martial arts than lifting.”
“Really? You didn’t tell us you were dating Bruce Lee,” Roxy teases Mindy.
Beside me, I feel Mindy go stiff, and I don’t have to look to know she’s cutting me with her eyes. She reaches over and puts her hand on my thigh, giving me a fake smile, when there’s a commotion at the other end of the table.
“Jesus!” Ivy Jo squeals as we hear a yelp, and suddenly, Bertha goes running around the dining room in fear. “Mary Jo, you get that HEFFA on a leash or I’mma skin it and make me a coat! Or maybe a rug!”
“Bertha, you behave!” Mary Jo snaps, and Bertha runs out. She looks at me apologetically. “Sorry.”
“Oh, it’s no problem,” I say easily. “You don’t like dogs, I take it?” I ask Ivy Jo.
She raises her nose to the ceiling. “I’m more of a cat lady myself.”
I chuckle. “My dog would never let me own a cat.”