Free The Weekday Brides 04 - Single by Saturday by Catherine Bybee Page B

hardware store, or lugging two-by-fours on a construction site. His dark hair was peppered with gray but didn’t seem to be thinning, which probably lent some hope to both Michael and Zach that they would each have a full head of hair throughout their lives.
    Michael stood, and pulled her to her feet to meet his father.
    “Look who’s here,” Janice said to her husband.
    Sawyer’s gaze took in the room and hesitated on Karen for a brief moment before landing on Michael.
    What will it be, a handshake or a hug?
    Michael stepped in front of her and the handshake won.
    “It’s good to see you,” he told his father.
    “We thought you’d forgotten about us.”
    Karen cringed. How many times had she heard that in the past hour?
Too many to count.
    Instead of offering an apology or an excuse, Michael turned to Karen. “Dad, I want you to meet Karen.”
    She offered her hand as she had Janice earlier. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Gardner. Michael has told me a lot about you.”
    “Is that so?” he asked as he shook her hand briefly. “He’s told us virtually nothing about you.” Sawyer’s unnerving stare shot through her.
    “Wow, Dad, way to make her uncomfortable,” Hannah said.
    “Yeah, hold back, will ya?” This was from Zach.
    Michael simply shook his head as if he knew his father would be an instant ass. The man obviously ruled his home and he expected a different level of respect than he actually gave.
    “Sawyer!” Janice started in.
    “It’s OK, Janice. Zach told us when he came to California that everyone was upset that we hadn’t come to visit. I’m sure he underemphasized all of your feelings in an effort to save mine.” She couldn’t help but glance Zach’s way, or notice the way he glared at his father. So far, Sawyer had yet to crack a smile, even with Eli at his heels and Rena attempting to pull the child back.
    “As I told Mom,” Michael said, “I’ve had a breakneck schedule since Karen and I met.”
    Karen placed a hand on his arm. “But I have to take some of the blame for the delay in meeting you.”
    Michael glanced at her.
    “Michael knows I don’t have a family of my own and he worried that I’d be intimidated by your sheer numbers.”
    Janice tilted her head to the side. “No siblings?”
    Karen shook her head and offered everyone her practiced lie all at once. “My parents have been gone for some time, and they only had me. My aunt is the only family in my life.”
    Michael placed a hand on her back and sighed.
    Not that Karen was going for the sympathy card, but her words seemed to change the mood in the room.
    Hannah was the first to say anything. “Well now you have us. We’re noisy, but we’re not bad or anything.”
    For the youngest child, Karen was surprised that she took on the role of mediator. That was usually left to the middle child, which would be Michael, and right now he was staring down his father, almost daring the man to say something.
    It appeared to Karen that Sawyer wasn’t going to say anything else, and thankfully, Janice stepped between them. “I need to check on dinner in the kitchen. Karen, why don’t you come with me and let the men have a chat?”
    Ready to escape, Karen glanced at Michael, lifted her eyebrows as if to say
good luck
, and then followed Janice.
    The traditional home had a divided kitchen, giving her and Janice some privacy.
    “Please try not to be offended by my husband’s demeanor,” she said as soon as they were out of hearing range of the living room.
    “I understand.” Though she really didn’t. The truth was, she hadn’t been around a large family who said what they felt because they could. In Karen’s world, when you didn’t know someone you were polite until the stranger became a friend or an enemy. Of course, that could happen in a matter of hours, but it usually took more than a sentence or two to find a reason to dislike someone.
    Sawyer named that tune in one sentence.
    “I can see by your face you’re