had Teri’s background checked—a fact he’d revealed in his usual dispassionate way.
She had her reasons for not mentioning her younger sister and Johnny knew it. She pointed an accusatory finger at him. “Don’t talk to me about Christie, okay?”
“What is it with you and her?” Johnny grumbled.
“You’re too young to understand all the details,” she said, brushing aside his question. She and Christie were, for all intents and purposes, estranged, although Teri maintained a superficial civility on public occasions.
“Come on, Ter, you and Bobby are married. He should meet the family.”
“I don’t think so.”
“You don’t want me to meet your family?” Bobby gazed up at her with a hurt expression. He didn’t realize that this conversation had nothing to do with him and everything to do with her mother and sister.
“Yes, I do … someday.” She gently patted Bobby’s arm. “I thought we’d get settled in the house before I invited them.”
“We are settled.” Bobby gestured around him at the gleaming appliances and polished oak floors.
“Not that settled. We’ll have them over in a while.” She was thinking four or five years—longer if she could get away with it.
“Mom and Christie would really like to meet Bobby,” Johnny said again.
Now Teri understood why her younger brother had shown up at the house unannounced. He’d been sent as an emissary by their mother and Christie. His mission was to pave the way for an introduction to the rich and famous Bobby Polgar, who’d been foolish enough to marry her.
“They’ll have to meet him sooner or later,” Johnny said with perfect logic. “You can’t avoid it forever, you know.”
“I know.” Teri released a slow sigh.
“Might as well be now.”
Teri could see that she wasn’t going to escape the dreaded family gathering, so she’d simply take Johnny’s advice. “Okay, okay, I’ll have everyone over for dinner.”
“Great.” Johnny gave her a wide grin.
“I’ll regret it afterward,” she muttered under her breath.
“Why?” Bobby asked, obviously still perplexed by her reaction.
She hardly knew how to explain.
“Are your mother and sister like you?”
“No way!” Teri had done everything possible to make choices that didn’t resemble theirs—with only partial success. While it was true that she never drank to excess, she’d made more than one mistake in the relationship department. Until she met Bobby … “I’ll like them, won’t I?” Bobby asked next, smiling at her with childlike faith.
She responded with a noncommital shrug. Her mother and sister were similar to each other in their behavior and their loser attitudes, although Teri didn’t think Christie had a drinking problem so much as a man problem. Put a man in front of her, any man, and she couldn’t resist.
“Is Christie still with …” For the life of her, she couldn’t remember the last man her sister had been living with.
“Charlie,” Johnny supplied.
“I thought it was Toby.”
“He’s the one before Charlie,” her brother said. “And no, Charlie dumped her last month.”
Oh, great. That meant her sister was on the prowl. This scenario couldn’t get much worse.
“Christie will make a play for Bobby,” she said.
Johnny shook his head firmly. “No, she won’t. You two are married.”
“Why would that stop her? It hasn’t before. Trust me, she’ll make a play—”
“Christie likes chess?” Bobby interrupted excitedly.
Clearly he didn’t grasp the exchange going on between Teri and her brother. “No, Bobby. But my sister will think you’re the most brilliant, handsomest man in the world.”
Bobby grinned. “Like you do.”
Despite her agitation, Teri nodded. “Only more so,” she said grimly.
“You’re jealous,” Johnny accused her.
“Not Teri,” Bobby said, getting up from the table. “She knows I love her.”
Teri wrapped her arms around Bobby and hugged him close. “Thank you,” she whispered.
“For what?”
“For loving me.”
“That’s easy,” Bobby assured her.
“Listen, you two lovebirds, I wish I could stay but I’ve got to get back. I have a research paper that’s due tomorrow.” With Teri’s encouragement, Johnny was taking a summer course to get a head start on the next school year. He pushed back his chair and stood. “So you’ll get in touch with Mom?”
“I suppose.” Teri sighed, already resigned to the inevitable.
“Christie, too,” her brother insisted. “She is our sister.”
“Mark my words. Bobby won’t be safe with her around.” And neither will my marriage, she thought darkly.
Teri hated to disparage their sister. But experience told her exactly what to expect. Sure as anything, Christie would throw herself at Bobby. The fact that he was married wouldn’t matter. Not to Christie. Every boyfriend Teri’d ever had, her sister had attempted to seduce. Bobby wouldn’t be the exception, and because he was her husband, Christie would probably consider him an especially worthwhile challenge.
Poor Bobby. He had no idea. He’d certainly never encountered a family like hers.
“Next weekend?” Johnny asked hopefully.
“No,” Teri said. She needed time to prepare herself for this. “Give me a week to get organized. Two weeks from Saturday.”
If Johnny was disappointed by the delay, it didn’t show. “See you then,” he said and kissed her cheek on his way out the door.
Bobby slid his arm around her shoulders. Teri reminded herself yet again that she loved her husband and he loved her. Despite that, she couldn’t entirely quell her fears.
While Bobby Polgar was unlike any man she’d ever known, he was still a man. He’d be just as susceptible to Christie’s beauty and her undeniable charm as every other boyfriend she’d had.
“I’m happy to be meeting your family,” Bobby said after Johnny had left.
Smiling
