Page 52 of Captivating Anika
“Yes, of course. We open at noon.”
“Don’t jump to conclusions,” Hog suggests gently, when the line goes dead.
I bark out a humorless laugh. “At this point I’d say that’s pretty much impossible.”
I notice Hog suddenly straighten up as his attention seems to be drawn by something behind me.
“Your mother is getting impatient,” he mumbles, and I groan.
It doesn’t surprise me to find her standing in the doorway, gesturing for us to come inside.
“Shit,” I grumble, grabbing for the door handle. “Let’s get this over with.”
“Is everything all right?” Mom asks when we walk up. “You look tired. Are you sleeping?”
“Hi, Mom.”
I lean in for a hug before slipping past her.
“Hog, we haven’t seen you in forever. I even mentioned it to Chuck recently.”
I get a glimpse of Hog bending down to kiss her cheek—Mom is five foot nothing—in the hallway mirror.
“Good to see you, Nira. What can I say? Life’s busy. I sure missed your cooking though.”
Hog’s been on a first name basis with my parents for years, but I never really paid attention. He’s good with my mother though, charming in an aw-shucks way. Clearly that resonates with Mom, who seems tickled at his compliment.
“There’s my girl,” Dad booms from the living room, standing beside the couch with his arms spread.
I walk straight into them and close my eyes, letting Dad take the weight for a moment. My sister-in-law, Trin, is next in line for a hug. Maybe this won’t be so bad after all.
“Where’s Tucker?” I ask her.
“New girlfriend.”
Trin rolls her eyes and I snicker. My nephew is a good kid, but an absolute Lothario. When it comes to girls, he has the attention span of a gnat.
“Not a keeper?” I tease.
“Puleeze. He brought her over for the first time on Friday and she live-streamed meeting us for her TikTok followers. So self-absorbed I wanted to smack her two minutes after meeting her. I guarantee you Tuck’ll be fed up with her before the week is out.”
I lift up both my hands with fingers crossed. Then I tentatively glance beyond her into the kitchen.
“And Bodhi?”
“Right here.”
My brother’s voice comes from the other side where, it appears, he was just using the bathroom. Despite our brief interaction at the hospital, I’m not sure what to expect tonight.
I’m aware of Hog stepping up behind me, his hand loosely coming to rest on my hip. Bodhi looks from me to him and back.
“You were sitting out by the curb for a while,” he points out.
“Evans called,” Hog answers.
It opens the door for the first wave of inquiries, mostly centered around Kim and her disappearance. I was right, my parents already heard about the damage to my car from my brother, but even he hadn’t heard she’d gone missing.
The topic keeps them occupied and away from the more challenging subject of Hog and me, at least until we sit down at the dinner table and Mom pins me with a look.