Tucker pulled up a seat and took a long swallow of his beer. “It’s going to look great when it’s done.”
“It will. It’ll be awesome in the summer. I might even invite you over, Tucker.”
“I might even show up. Providing there’s food.”
“Oh, there’ll be food.”
“Yeah, now that you have Katrina in your life. And her little sister.”
Grant nodded at Barrett. “She’s picking Anya up after school today, and the two of them are going to the store to buy food to cook for dinner tonight.”
“Awesome. Where’s Leo?” Tucker asked.
“Football practice.”
Barrett grinned. “I like hearing that. How’s it going?”
“It’s good. He made the team without any influence from me or Dad, despite Dad’s insistence on calling the coach. It was important for Leo to know he could do it on his own. He worked his ass off, running and in the weight room. He put on twenty pounds and sprung up another two inches in height, which sure as hell didn’t hurt him.”
“No shit,” Tucker said. “Thank God for teen boys and growth spurts, huh?”
Grant laughed. “Yeah. When spring practice started, he tried out for wide receiver and made the team.”
“Good for him. We should go watch.”
“You wanna give the kid a complex?” Tucker asked. “The last thing he needs is all of us on the sidelines breathing down his neck.”
“Hey,” Barrett said. “The whole team might need some pointers. Especially the defense, which is my specialty.”
“I agree with Tucker,” Grant said. “I already told the coach I’d lay low. He doesn’t need some pro quarterback showing up and interfering in his practices. He knows what he’s doing.”
Barrett shrugged. “If you say so. But between the three of us—” Barrett looked over at Tucker. “Okay, maybe the two of us and Tucker could just pretend like he knew what he was talking about.”
“Hey. Fuck off. Just because I don’t play football professionally doesn’t mean I don’t know the game, asshole.”
Barrett’s lips curved. “Sure you do. Anyway, we could turn that team into a state champion.”
“I think we’ll stay hands off for a while, so Leo can integrate into the team on his own.”
Barrett raised his hands in the air. “Okay. Dad.”
Grant grinned.
The intercom system buzzed. “Hey, are you all down there?”
Tucker recognized Anya’s voice, Katrina’s little sister.
Grant got up and pushed the button. “Yup.”
“We’re back with food.”
“We’ll be right up,” Grant said.
They headed upstairs. Katrina and Anya were in the kitchen unpacking bags of groceries.
Katrina turned around and smiled, then came over to give Tucker and Barrett hugs. “It’s great to see both of you. You’re just in time to help.”
Barrett looked at him. “This is just like being at Mom’s house.”
Katrina patted Barrett’s arm. “I’m going to take that as a compliment. Now go put these in the pantry.”
Katrina was an internationally famous model, one of the A-list types. Gorgeous and smart, too. Why she was with his doofus of a brother, he had no idea. He sure as hell didn’t see any appeal to Grant. Then again, he wasn’t sleeping with him.
Thank God. Sharing a room with him as a kid had been bad enough. Grant was Katrina’s problem now.
And she had two cool younger siblings, too. They had all bonded with Leo and Anya during the short time they’d known them. It was like they were part of the Cassidy family already.
And getting to be a part of the Cassidys wasn’t easy. But Grant loved Katrina, Leo and Anya. And his acceptance and love for them meant the rest of the Cassidys brought them into their fold.
It helped that they were exceptional people. Easy to like, friendly and fun.
It didn’t hurt that Leo liked sports, and Katrina and Anya were great cooks. Bonus points and all that.
“I hope you guys like seafood,” Anya said, already dragging out pans from the cabinets.
“We’re guys,” Barrett said. “We eat anything.”
Katrina leaned against the counter. “I know guys who are very choosy about what they eat.”
“You’ve met the Cassidys, haven’t you?” Tucker asked. “We really do eat anything.”
“Including things we probably shouldn’t have,” Grant added. “But that was when we were kids. As far as I know, none of us have eaten dirt recently.”