Sadie didn’t get anxious or nervous until she and Caleb pulled up to her parents’ house in Outer Sunset. The sudden pounding heart and sweaty palms were annoying. She’d long ago taught herself how to take a mental step back from her family and treat them like . . . well, entertainment. She was no longer part of the circus but just an audience member.

But tonight Caleb was going to witness the circus.

Great, and now she was sweating in other more creative places. “You brought a bathing suit with you, right?” she asked. “For the hot tub?”

He looked over at her briefly. “You’ve asked me that five times, but yes, I did. You said it was tradition, after dinner you all go outside and bake yourselves.”

“And stargaze.” Her mom taught science. Her dad had done the same before moving into administration. They were big astronomy buffs. Which of course had nothing to do with why she wanted Caleb to strip out of his gorgeous suit . . . And as she thought it, the first little inkling of misgiving hit and her anxiety doubled. She tried to discreetly fan her shirt to give her hot skin some air.

Caleb glanced at her again, and she realized he knew her well enough to know when something was wrong. “You okay?”

“Me? I’m great.”

“Uh-huh.” Reaching for her hand, he gave it a squeeze, and then melted her heart when he brought their entwined fingers to his mouth and brushed his lips against her palm. “It’s going to be okay,” he said. “Parents love me.”

She had to laugh. “Because you’re cocky?”

“I was going to say because I’m easygoing and friendly.”

She laughed again. “You weren’t either of those things last night in bed. In fact, you were downright demanding and bossy.”

He sent her a badass smile that had all her good parts quivering. “Are you complaining?”

Hell no. She’d had good sex before, and yet even good sex was somewhat predictable. But with Caleb, she never knew what to expect. He had the distinct ability to be making love to her while adding a certain level of dirty to it that kept things . . . thrilling. She never knew if he was going to get straight to business or if he’d spend long minutes worshipping her body first.

It was . . . addicting.

“Ready?” Caleb asked.

No. But it was six o’clock on the dot.

The neighborhood was made up of hardworking people and neat rows of cookie-cutter Victorian houses that had weathered the ravages of time and economic strain and gain. Caleb easily managed to parallel park into a spot that she would have never managed to get into. “Did you grow up here?” he asked.

“Yes.” She stared at the house. “It’s not too late to make a run for it.”

He came around and gave her a hand out of the car, pulling her into him. Lifting her chin, he looked into her eyes. “Breathe, babe. We’ve got this.”

She was so glad he thought so. Her mom opened the front door, Sadie’s sister standing right behind her. Both were dressed up for the evening, wearing cocktail dresses in the color of the wedding—pale pink. Sadie had figured this would be the case so she’d dressed up too, but she hadn’t gotten the pink memo. She was wearing her little black dress she’d worn on her and Caleb’s first date, mostly because she liked the way his gaze heated every time he looked at her.

Introductions were made and Sadie watched her dad join the group, as well as Clara’s fiancé, Greg. All of them were seemingly instantly taken with Caleb, who at one point glanced over at Sadie, eyes amused, like see ?

She rolled hers.

“Caleb Parker,” her dad said. “I just saw the episode of Shark Tank where you guest starred.”

“And oh my goodness,” her mom said, “that new app you just put out, it’s going to revolutionize the way teachers teach science in the classrooms. Too bad you can’t come up with a way to make sure kids won’t lose the art of writing in cursive.”

Her mom could barely turn on her laptop without getting six viruses or wiring half her retirement money to a Nigerian prince, but she was worried about the lost art of cursive. A thought Sadie refrained from saying out loud. Wow. Look at her growing up.

Her mom turned to Sadie next, expression dialed to confused as to how her daughter had managed to catch a guy so far out of her league. Clara was also staring at Caleb, who seemed perfectly at ease with the attention. “You’re drooling,” Sadie whispered beneath her breath to her sister.

Clara grinned unabashedly. “Sorry, but he’s the hottest guy you’ve ever dated. He might be the hottest guy on the planet.”

From behind Clara, Greg cleared his throat.

Clara winced. “After you, baby, of course.”

Greg’s eyes were laughing. “Of course. Did you tell Sadie the latest bridesmaid dress news?”

Oh God. What now?

Clara pulled out her phone and accessed her pictures. She pulled up one of Sadie in a sample of the chosen bridesmaid dress. “Do you see what I see?”

“Um . . . that question feels like a trap.”

“It’s actually what I don’t see,” Clara said. “I don’t see my sister.”

Sadie stilled and lifted her gaze to Clara, whose eyes were suspiciously sparkly. “I’m sorry, Sadie,” she said softly. “I’m sorry I didn’t see it in the store. You don’t look like you. And I want you to look like you. So I ordered you the other dress. The light champagne-colored lace one that you liked.”

“But the tattoos on the back of my shoulder and ankle will show—”

“I want them to. They’re a part of you. I want you to look like you.”

Sadie sucked in a breath, surprised at the wave of emotion. “Mom’s going to have a cow.”

“It’s my wedding,” Clara said simply and hugged Sadie.

It was the nicest moment they’d had in years.

At dinner, the first few moments were taken up with small talk and passing the dishes around. Unlike Sadie, Caleb didn’t struggle in social situations. He could talk to a scared dog, a bitchy woman, an old guy who lived in an alley . . . He could talk to anyone and have them fall in love with him in the first ten seconds.

She envied the hell out of that skill, not that she wanted it. “Pass the roast please?”

Her mom lifted the tray and then hesitated to remove the sharp carving knife from it before handing it over.

Sadie stared at her in shock and an instant heavy tension hit the table. She didn’t look over at Caleb. Couldn’t.

“Really, Mom?” Clara finally asked into the awkward silence.

“What? I mean yes, she looks wonderful and happy, but I’m just playing it safe. That’s what a mother does, you know.”

Clara shook her head. “Sadie’s therapist asked you to stop with the passive aggressiveness, remember?”

“I haven’t been forced to see a therapist in years,” Sadie said to the room.

They all ignored this. “I don’t even know what passive aggressive means,” her mom said to Clara. “And I didn’t mean anything by it.”

“What did you mean then?” Clara asked.

“I just meant what I always mean,” her mom said.

Caleb slid his hand to Sadie’s thigh beneath the table and squeezed in comfort, in solidarity. And that was sweet, but she still couldn’t look at him. Instead, she stabbed her fork into some slices of meat and loaded her plate. It’d been years since her family had learned she’d been cutting herself and taken the control of her own life from her. The nightmare of her parents’ overreaction and having her committed under the 5585—an involuntary hold of an at-risk minor—had nearly done her in.

She’d survived, barely. And though it’d been years, her parents still did things like remove all scissors from the house and lock up the knives when she came over. Her dad had sold his gun collection. Her mom had given up knitting and thrown away her knitting needles.

“But what about Sadie?” her mom asked.

Great, she’d missed something. “What about Sadie what?”

“We need everyone to be on their best behavior at the wedding,” her mom said, pointedly not looking at Sadie.

“I will be if you will be,” Sadie said.

Her dad started to laugh but at a look from her mom, he turned it into a cough. Her mom knocked back her glass of champagne and gave herself a refill with the last of the bottle.

Sadie pushed back from the table and grabbed the empty. “I’ll get us another.”

She went to the kitchen and stuck her head in the freezer to cool herself down. She knew her mother loved her, knew that her neurosis about Sadie came from a deeply seated fear that her daughter hadn’t fallen far from the tree. Her mother’d had a terrible childhood, with a mean drunk of a father and a mother who’d self-medicated with booze and pills and gone off the deep end. The fear that Sadie would do the same was very real and Sadie got that. But damn, she was tired of her mom always being on edge waiting for Sadie to crack.

Because she wasn’t going to.

She grabbed another bottle of champagne. As she moved back into the dining room, she heard the low rumble of Caleb’s voice but couldn’t make out the words. When she entered, everyone fell quiet.

She glanced at Caleb as she sat.

His mouth quirked slightly in a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes—her parents had that effect on people—but once again he reached for her under the table. This time he reached for her hand, encasing it in his.

It was a small gesture, but it felt like a lifeline.

Her dad asked Caleb all sorts of questions about his work, and he answered with endless patience and good humor until her mom laughed and put a hand on her dad’s arm. “Honey, I’m sure he doesn’t want to talk about his work all night,” she said. “I want to hear about how Sadie ended up on a date with him and how lucky we are that it was tonight.”

Because of course her mom assumed it was a first date. “I blackmailed him,” Sadie said. “Pass the bread?”

Her mom gasped in horror.

Caleb reached for the basket of bread and held it out to Sadie, pulling back slightly when she tried to take it, his brow raised.

She caved. “Fine,” she said to the room. “That was a joke. I didn’t blackmail him. I just didn’t tell him where we were going until we parked out front in case he was a flight risk.”

Caleb gave her a rather impressive eye roll and shook his head. “It’s not our first date. We’ve known each other awhile now. We rescued a dog together.”

Her mom looked even more surprised. “You got a dog?” she asked Sadie.

“Yes.

“But your lifestyle doesn’t lend itself to having a dog.”

Here we go . . . “Because I’m a tattoo artist?”

“Because you work all day in the spa, and then nights at the tattoo parlor,” her mom said, surprising her. “You work long hours. Most people your age don’t care about their career like you do. I just don’t know how you’d have time to take care of a dog while you’re working as hard as you are.”

To say Sadie was shocked would have been the understatement of the year. “I didn’t realize you’d noticed.”

“Of course I notice.” Her mom hesitated and glanced over at her husband. “It’s been brought to my attention that I can be a little hard on the people I love.”

“She means Dad’s making her go to a therapist,” Clara said.

Her mom waved her hands. “Enough about me.” She refilled everyone’s glass. “Let’s toast to more dates between the two of you!” She lifted her glass. “To many, many more dates.”

Sadie, still feeling a little stunned by her mom’s admission, raised a glass. “How about instead we toast to Clara and Greg’s happiness? And to many, many more years together. Greg, just remember, you should end every argument with three simple words—’you’re right, honey.’”

Clara pointed at Greg. “You could’ve used that advice earlier.”

“You mean when you threatened to kill me while I was making brownies?” he asked.

“You said I was fat.”

“No,” Greg said. “I merely suggested you slow down on the chocolate loading because you seem to always forget that your mom’s cooking makes you sick and I didn’t want you to make things worse.”

“So now I’m fat and stupid?” Clara asked. She yanked her napkin out of her lap and threw it on the table as she stood. “Why are we getting married then?”

Greg calmly stood up and reached for her. “You’re doing it again. Letting the pregnancy hormones drive you insane.”

“Pregnancy hormones?” Sadie’s mom gasped, slowly standing up as well, her eyes on Clara’s stomach. “Is that why you’re gaining weight? You’re pregnant?”

Clara’s eyes filled. “Yes!” she wailed and threw herself at Greg. “I’m sorry I’m so out of control right now. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

He cuddled her into him. “I do. You’re doing too much. You’re working, planning the wedding, growing a human, dealing with your insane family—”

“Hey,” Sadie said.

“Hey,” her parents said.

“How about we all focus on the good news,” Caleb said smoothly, deflating the tension as he lifted his glass in one hand and handed Clara a glass of water with the other. “To the newest addition to the Lane family . . .”

“Of course,” Sadie’s mom said. “And to not telling anyone about the pregnancy until after the wedding. Right, Henry?”

Sadie’s dad downed his champagne. “Right. Why ruin a perfectly good bazillion-dollar wedding?”

Clara let out a low tearful laugh and looked at Sadie. “So how does it feel to not be the screw-up today?”

“Don’t be silly,” Sadie’s mom said on a very false-sounding laugh. “You’re not a screw-up. You’re still getting married, right?” She looked at Greg. “Right? Someone tell me before I drink this entire bottle and throw myself off a cliff.”

“Relax, Mom. We won’t ruin your wedding,” Clara said.

“You mean your wedding. It’s all for you. Isn’t that right, Henry?”

Henry hesitated. “I’m sorry, I lost track. Am I agreeing with you or disagreeing with you?”

Her mom shot him a dirty look, but they both got up and hugged Clara and Greg, declaring themselves over the moon with joy about their future grandchild.

They all cleared the dishes together. In the kitchen, Caleb rolled up his sleeves and began rinsing them, much to her mom’s horror.

“Guests don’t do dishes,” she said, trying to shoo him away. “And anyway, it’s Sadie’s turn.”

“She can stuff them into the dishwasher while I rinse,” Caleb said.

“No she can’t,” her mom said. “She does it wrong.”

“Okay,” Caleb said to Sadie. “Switch. You rinse and I’ll load.”

“She does that wrong too,” her mom said.

Sadie watched Caleb’s eyelid twitch. She looked at the time. It’d been an hour. Seemed about right. By the end of the evening, they’d both be at risk for a stroke.

“That was so sweet of you,” her mom said when Caleb had insisted on continuing to do the dishes until he’d finished. “If you end up marrying Sadie, knowing your way around a kitchen is a good skill to have. I’m not sure she even knows how to turn on the oven.”

“Of course I do, Mom,” Sadie said. “And it’s a good thing too, because after we leave here, I’m going home to turn on my oven and stick my head in it. Is it hot tub time yet, Clara?”

“God yes,” Clara said. “Although I can only put my legs in, dammit.”

Ten minutes later, Clara and Greg went outside to check on the hot tub while Sadie and Caleb changed. When Sadie came out of the bathroom, Caleb was waiting in the hallway for her.

“Thanks for surviving dinner,” she said when he pulled her into him. They were surrounded by bunches of family pics from over the years, including Clara with all her academic and band awards, and Sadie in several decades of really bad fashion choices where she often looked like she was trying out for a part in a zombie apocalypse movie. “You handled their grilling better than most.”

“How many have survived?” he asked.

She pulled free and moved to lead him outside, but he caught her hand and pulled her back around, gently pushing her hair from her face. “Too personal?” he asked.

“Too embarrassing.” She sighed. “Zero. I’ve brought zero people home. Your turn now.”

He held up two fingers. “My family has met two women. They scared away one, and I scared away the other all on my own.”

She stared up at him. She wanted to know more, but now wasn’t the time. “What did you say to my parents when I was in the kitchen?”

He didn’t pretend to not know what she meant. “I asked your mother if she realized she hurt you with her comments and questions.”

“And . . . ?”

“And she said nothing hurt you.”

She searched his gaze, knowing there had to be more. “And?”

“And . . . I asked if she was sure about that.”

Sadie’s heart caught. Actually, her bones melted, leaving her nothing but a puddle. Dammit. And as always when she felt unbearably touched and didn’t know how to deal with it, she reacted badly. “I don’t need you to fight my battles for me, Caleb. I fight my own battles.”

His gaze met hers. “I’m very aware of that. But I’m always going to have your back, Sadie.”

She just kept staring up at him, realizing that he wasn’t trying to fix her life. He was trying to be there for her in the only way he knew how.

Since she was now in bare feet, she had to go up on her tiptoes to brush a kiss across his jaw. Before she could react, he’d turned his head so their mouths lined up and slid a hand to the nape of her neck to deepen the kiss.

When they pulled free, she had to shake her head to clear it. “What was that for?”

“For trusting me enough to let me come here with you tonight.”

“I had to bring someone,” she said. “I thought it might as well be you.”

He flashed her a knowing grin, not insulted in the least. “You wanted it to be me.”

Because that was very true, and also because it made her squirm a little bit, she took his hand and pulled him down the hallway.

He took in a picture of her around eight years old looking like the little girl in the Addams family. “Cute.”

“No, I wasn’t cute. I insisted on wearing whatever I wanted and was practically rabid.”

“Aren’t all little kids?” he asked easily. “Remind me to show you a picture of me when I was eight. I too dressed myself. I favored a cowboy hat, a Superman sweatshirt, and a cape made of my mom’s favorite shawl, topped off with rain boots and jeans so big I had to use a rope to hold them up. It was the only outfit I’d wear. When my mom washed the clothes every few days, I’d insist on standing naked as a jaybird in front of the washer and dryer, waiting for them to finish.”

“That’s not rabid, that’s just crazy.”

He smiled. “And yet I’m your date tonight.”

“Well crazy does attract crazy.”

He slung an arm around her neck. “Don’t I know it.”

They stepped outside together and Sadie’s heart started to pound as she realized her moment was almost here, the one she’d been looking so forward to all night. She dropped her towel and got into the hot water, turning so she didn’t miss the show.

Caleb was in navy blue board shorts and a long-sleeved T-shirt. He did that very male move of reaching over his shoulder and yanking his shirt off, leaving him in just the board shorts, slung low on his lean hips. Sadie’s gaze went to the way they were cut with muscles that tended to make women stupid, but she knew where everyone else’s gazes went.

To his tattoos.

As she watched her parents take in his ink and suck in a judgmental breath, she waited for the amusement to hit her. After all, this was why she’d brought him tonight, right? For the shock value. The entertainment. She’d known he’d charm the socks off her parents, that they would fall for him even more quickly than she had, and that they’d consider him everything they’d ever wanted for her. And she knew it would all be based off the superficial knowledge they had of him and his appearance.

And now she could say gotcha . He wasn’t what he appeared to be. He was, in fact, better than he appeared.

But the joy of the moment never hit.

Instead, she felt something turn over in her gut and it made her feel a little sick. Here she’d been thinking that ever since Wes, she’d started over. That she’d actually gotten somewhere, that maybe she wasn’t as damaged and screwed up as she’d once been.

But apparently, she hadn’t come as far as she’d thought. Because her mom reacted predictably. She sucked in a hard breath and then met Sadie’s gaze, and in them was the usual disappointment.

It was what she’d come for, so why then did she feel no sense of accomplishment or satisfaction at all?

Just shame.