Jackson's eyes widened in surprise as they drew up to the house. It made more sense that Cook could live such a free lifestyle, only doing part-time work, when his parents were paying for it. But that didn't sound like Cook to him. He was too independent to take money from someone else, which meant that he, Jackson, would have an uphill battle for him to keep the car. But he was up for the challenge.
"Behave!" Raymond warned him, before pushing open the wide door. They moved through the home in relative silence. When he heard the clatter of pans, he realized that they were in the kitchen and signaled for Jackson to follow. If Cook was present, there was never any noise coming from the kitchen, which could only imply one thing.
"Papa!" Skye yelled at seeing him, jumping off the counter and into his arms. "We're baking Papa." He pointed to the countertop that looked like it had been invaded by a group of four-year-olds.
"Ray! This is a nice surprise! Are you staying over?" An older woman, with pitch-black hair, olive skin, and a petite frame came rushing toward them. Her ringed fingers were covered in flour and dough and her white designer dress had stains and batter where the apron couldn't protect her.
"Hey, Mom." He smiled, leaning in to hug her. "What's put you in the mood to bake?"
"The gin club is trying out a new gin. We're supposed to be the very first to taste it, so I thought we'd celebrate by baking. I'll be taking some for them to try. Hopefully, it will shut Gretchen up. As if her baking is so great!" She laughed. "It seems to be going well so far, come, try these!" She dragged him to a cooling rack where a mountain of cookies was already perched.
He accepted one with dread, knowing his mother couldn't cook or bake to save her life, and Cook was nowhere to be found, implying he was upset about the invasion.
When Gillie tried to cook or bake, he usually prepared things in phases so that he could replace bowls or pans when she inevitably got it wrong. Cook, thankfully, always offered them his version rather than what his mother made or baked. But there were some things that even he couldn't stand.
"Hmm, these are good!" he smiled while chomping on the rest of the cookie, thankful that Cook had saved the day again. "Oh, I almost forgot, Jackson this is Mom, Mom, Jackson. I work for him now," he explained his presence, just in case they thought it was something else.
"Jackson! It's been a while since Raymond had brought someone home, it's so good to meet you." She pulled a surprised Jackson into a quick hug, getting flour all over his jacket, before turning to wash her hands.
"Cook!" she called while scrubbing the dough off her hands. "Cook!" She called again when she received no response, closing the tap. "Cook, there you are! Why are you just standing there? You need to clean up this mess, I don't know how you let your kitchen get into such a state." She said while drying her hands.
"Sometimes, I don't know either," he said dryly, waiving at Raymond from across the room.
"It's good to see you still have that great sense of humor, Cook." Raymond laughed, ducking out of the kitchen when a biscuit flew past his head.
"Does your staff normally throw food at you?" Jackson whispered, perplexed by the whole crazy situation. Raymond's Mom was still talking a mile a minute, taking them to the living room.
"Only Cook. He's temperamental and there are only two people who can control him and my Mom isn't one of them." He laughed.
"Damon! Eric!" She called out loudly, before taking a seat across from them. "Damon!" she impatiently called out again when there was no response. "Now, Jackson, what do you do?" she asked, her sharp eyes pinning him down.
Before he could answer, he heard another ruckus coming from the kitchen, with what sounded like spoons being thrown around.
"What's up with Cook?" A tall, wiry, dark-haired man, Raymond's age came stumbling into the room, holding a metal spoon in his hand. "I just told him that the kitchen looked a bit messy and he started throwing things and shouting in Italian." He flopped down on one of the armchairs near Raymond as if he'd just had a hard workout.
"Ray! What the heck are you doing here in the middle of the week?" he asked in mock surprise. "Why'd you bring your booty call with you?" he whispered quietly so that only Raymond could hear.
"Shut up and stop trying to be funny. I can see why Cook has it in for you," he remarked, pulling Skye closer.
"Jackson, you never got to answer my question." Gillie turned her attention back to him.
"I, em well, I'm the CEO of Dealer's." He smiled warmly at her, looking over at Eric with a slight frown when he heard a snort.
"Kelley! Hey Kelley!" Eric called out loudly. "Kelley get your rear end in here! Ray's got himself a CEO!" He called out even louder.
"What?" Kelley came walking into the room in her pajamas. "Hey, Ray!" She smiled, going to hug him from behind and taking a seat next to Eric.
"So, you're the CEO, huh?" She asked giving Jackson a once over. "Welcome to the family!" her bright smile was sincere, which confused Jackson.
He didn't know how to respond to that. This was a very odd family, or maybe it was because his family was so very different, that they seemed odd to him. His mother would never sit in a food-stained dress or allow anybody to walk around in their pj's at home, while they're shouting at each other throughout the house.
"Grandma, what's a booty call?" Skye asked suddenly with a frown on his brow.
"Eric!" Gillie snapped, throwing a pillow at him, hitting a laughing Kelley instead, who threw it to Raymond. "What have I told you?!"
"What?!" He sat up a bit straighter, "Why do you always think that I'm the bad one? Ray is even worse, but you never shout at him." He bemoaned his fate while hiding his laughter behind Kelley's back.
"I can still take my shoe to the both of you!" She snapped when she saw both of them laughing. "Where's your father?" She asked getting up. At that moment, Damon came sauntering in, in his dressing gown.
"What's all this noise about? I could hear you all from downstairs." He rumbled, taking a seat next to his wife. "Hey Ray and... Jackson Dealer?" he looked in confusion at Raymond.
Jackson returned Damon's astonished gaze. He expected Raymond's father to appear, but after seeing Damon and the rest of Raymond's family, he realized they were his in-laws. They all had black hair and eyes and didn't resemble him, Skye, or the man he'd met earlier. They were all identical in appearance, with strawberry-blond hair and deep blue eyes.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, sir," Jackson said uncomfortably, getting up to shake Damon's hand. Instead, he was surprised when he was pulled into a bear hug instead.
"Jackson! Welcome to the family!" Damon clapped him on the back before taking a seat again.
"You can all stop now." Raymond interrupted their excitement. "He just drove with me here. He's not interviewing for the family." He made it clear to them. On the few times that he'd brought a guy to the house, they immediately assumed it was the forever man, going over the top, as only they can be, even if they meant well.
"I think we should let Raymond and his father catch up." Gillie brought their conversation to an end. "Eric, entertain Jackson while I go and change." Just before she left, she turned to Kelley.
"Do you think you and Skye could flatter Cook into getting us a snack, Kelley? He's likely to murder me if he's upset with Eric." Her laughter rang out in the room as she left.