Trey whistled. "Smart and pretty with international credentials. I like it." He winked at Tyler.

"Don't mind my husband," Patty chimed in. "He's been eager to see his son settled down for quite some time now. He sees every pretty woman as a potential daughter-in-law."

"Like you don't," Tyler said to his mother good-naturedly.

She fluffed his hair. "I'm a patient woman."

"Must be where I get it," said Tyler. He glanced over his shoulder. "Showtime."

He gave his mother a peck on the cheek.

"Alexis, will you join us?" asked Patty.

"She will because I've already asked that her drink be sent to this table." Tyler gave her an unexpected kiss on the lips before he bounced toward the stage.

"I hope I'm not interrupting," Alexis said sheepishly. She fervently hoped his parents had missed the lip lock.

"We have more than enough alone time together," Patty said with a wry smile.

"Sometimes it's nice to have a little distraction."

Trey threw a muscled arm around his wife and pulled her closer. "Nothing can distract me from you, Patty. Don't you know that by now?" He kissed her cheek roughly and Alexis couldn't help but laugh.

Oddly, they reminded her of Mark's parents, minus the English demeanor. She decided it must be what a happy couple looks like.

She'd met the Steamers for the first time at Amaya, an Indian restaurant that Mark's parents enjoyed whenever they were in London. They were a well-dressed and relaxed couple, the kind of couple who did a lot of socializing together. Polar opposites of Alexis's parents.

"I cannot believe you've never had a curry before," Moira had commented.

"My family wasn't big on foreign cuisine. Once when I was seven, we went for

Chinese in Fort Myers."

"Once? When you were seven?" Donald had been aghast. Mark had been raised on international cuisine. From sushi to curry to fish and chips. It was all comfort food to him.

Alexis shrugged. "My father kept insisting there was cat hidden somewhere in the menu and making incoherent references to the Korean war."

Mark's father perked up at the mention of war. "Surely, your father is too young to have served in Korea."

"The only thing my father served was beer to himself after work, when my mother wasn't home to fetch it for him."

They all laughed and shook their heads in disbelief.

Mark's mother smiled indulgently at her son. "I think Mark enjoyed his first curry in the womb. I had to have one every Friday. Donald would bring it home to me after work. It was worse than a craving."

Donald patted his wife's hand at the memory and they shared a nostalgic smile. The gesture caught Alexis's attention because she couldn't recall a single time that her father and mother had ever exchanged loving smiles like that.




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