“Gary’s been pretty busy with his frat, and besides, I figured they’re our responsibility. Don’t worry, I made sure they were comfortable during the ride.”
Judging from the fact that the six little monsters were all asleep at the moment, they must’ve been just fine.
The front door to the house opened and a splash of light illuminated us. Aunt Caroline stood in the driveway.
“Dinner’s ready!” she called. “Hunter, why don’t you come in and join us?”
My spine straightened. I’d been ready to say goodbye to Hunter and regroup on my own. We’d just started to work things out, and I didn’t relish the prospect of an awkward family dinner before we could spend more time talking alone. Plus, Uncle Stewart could be pretty conservative. I wasn’t sure how open he would be to anyone dropping in on the family, never mind someone who looked like Hunter.
Hunter turned quickly to her and stood up straighter himself. “Hi Ms. Perkins,” he said. “Lorrie and I just finished talking. I’m sorry I kept her so late.”
Aunt Caroline brushed it off. “Oh don’t worry about it! Now come inside, so I can fill you up.”
I opened my mouth to protest, but decided against it. Spending more time with Hunter would be good, and if my aunt wanted to invite him, she had to figure Uncle Stewart sharing a dinner table with Hunter wouldn’t be too awkward.
Hunter seemed to consider, then his face screwed up into a sheepish grin. “Well, the thing is, the kittens are actually in the car, and I didn’t want to bring them in and mess up your place.”
After he said that, it was pretty much a done deal. Aunt Caroline practically squealed. “You brought the kittens? Bring them in! I’m sure the boys would love playing with them.”
When my aunt first invited him to dinner I thought she was just being polite, but now I didn’t know what was going on. She was being very insistent. Hunter looked to me, the question in his eyes. I smiled and nodded.
“Thank you, Ms. Perkins,” he said, opening the back door of his car to pick up the box of kittens.
My aunt smiled at me as I walked in after Hunter, but I could already feel tightness building up between my shoulder blades. She was definitely up to something. I just didn’t know what that was.
All I could do was hope for the best.
We were seated in the kitchen because the dining room was being redone. It made things pretty cramped with six people, but we managed. Hunter and I had brought the kittens in from the car. Now they were in a box in the corner of the room. Most of them were sleeping, but Taylor and Rampage—the two usual troublemakers—were out of their box and exploring their newest environment.
This could not have been more distracting for my cousins. They were already antsy, being nine and eleven, but the introduction of the kittens took their usual energy to a new level. The high-pitched screams that resulted did nothing to help my nerves.
Hunter, for his part, seemed to be handling everything without missing a beat. He was joking around with my cousins and generally being as charming as I’d ever seen him. Maybe more so. He hadn’t struck me as much of the kids type, but apparently, I was wrong.
We sat down to an Aunt Caroline specialty: pork chops and a crunchy sweet potato casserole with a side of green beans. Hunter’s eyes got big as she set the plates down in the center of the table.
“Wow, looks like you guys eat well,” he said as everyone got situated.
My uncle smiled from his place at the head of the table to my left. “Caroline is quite the cook.”
Aunt Caroline took her seat at the other end of the table and we began passing around the food. I went first and passed to my uncle.
“Well I’m thankful to have a family of good eaters,” my aunt said. “Hunter, you’re a good eater, right?”
Hunter tore his eyes from the food being passed around and faced my aunt. “Yup. I hope I’m not being a burden here. You probably weren’t expecting company.”
Aunt Caroline shook her head and served Hunter’s plate before hers. It was a big helping. “Oh don’t worry about that. There’s plenty of food to go around and we’re happy to have you.”
She was in the middle of finally serving herself when her head snapped to her right. “Joel! No feeding the kittens people food! It’ll make them sick.”
I had no idea how she saw that. She seemed to have eyes in the back of her head. Joel, the guilty party, looked suitably ashamed of himself and went back to picking at the food on his plate with his eyes down. I started eating. The food was delicious, and the more I ate the more I realized how hungry I was.
Uncle Stewart looked undisturbed by the episode. His attention was focused on Hunter. Uncle Stewart eyed him carefully, apparently sizing him up. “Where did you get the kittens, Hunter?”
There was a pause as Hunter chewed his food. “Rescued them,” he said once he had swallowed. “They were in a box on the side of the road. I was running to the gym when I saw the box and decided I had to save them. Lorrie was a huge help from the start, actually.”
My uncle nodded with a small smile on his face, seemingly amused by that answer. I couldn’t get a read on his opinion of Hunter. “Good for you. Did they do that to your face?”
I cringed and put my fork down harder than I meant to, causing it to clink loudly against the plate. This was exactly what I was worried about. How were we going to explain that Hunter got injured in a cage fight? My eyes shot back and forth as I prayed nobody had noticed my clumsiness.
They hadn’t, or at least they weren’t showing it. Aunt Caroline and Uncle Stewart were focused on Hunter, and the boys were busy with their food. I panicked, trying to come up with an excuse to give my uncle for Hunter’s injuries, but I was too exhausted from the day to come up with anything good.
Hunter paused a second, then pointed to his face and laughed. “What, this? No, the kittens aren’t that vicious yet. I fell down the stairs in front of my apartment, actually. Trying to carry a coffee table inside. Stupid.”
My eyes flew over to my uncle.
He winced theatrically. “Did the table survive?”
Hunter met his gaze without flinching. “It was still in the box. Got it at an IKEA. So yeah, it was fine. A lot better than I was.”
“You look like you go to the gym quite a bit,” my aunt said, changing the subject.
Hunter looked a little uncomfortable for a moment but smiled eventually. “Yeah, I like to work out.”