Chapter 8
8
J ackson brought Mia to Sunday family dinner at his parents’ place. When they pulled up, everyone else’s cars were already there. They got out of the truck and knocked twice before walking in and announcing themselves.
“Hey, Mia!” Jackson’s mom said. “I’m so happy you could make it.”
Mia hugged his mom and the two of them walked off arm-in-arm. Jackson stared after them.
“Well, hello to you, too,” he muttered.
Jackson walked into the dining room, where most of his family sat around the table. Miles was in the kitchen prepping food, while his daughter Emma colored at the table. Noah was chatting with Ethan and their dad, while Jessa sat beside Emma. His mom and Mia stood off to the side, talking together.
Jackson went into the kitchen, where Miles was working quickly. “Need a hand?”
Miles looked up and nodded. “Yeah. If you wouldn’t mind taking some of these dishes out, that would be great.”
Jackson grabbed a few of the plates and carried them out to the table. Once his brothers and dad saw what he was doing, they stood up and went into the kitchen to help with the rest. Soon they were all sitting around the table with various pasta dishes, homemade garlic bread, salad, green beans, and wine, with sparkling cider for Emma.
“How’s work going, Mia?” Karen asked.
Mia smiled. “It’s going well. The schools are keeping me busy with the kids coming in daily.”
“I bet. It must be nice, though.”
“Definitely. It’s nice to share a love of books with kids. Especially Emma.”
“I like sharing my books with you too, Mia,” Emma said. “I really like reading that dolphin book with daddy.”
Emma’s class went into the library weekly to see Mia and pick out different books. Emma liked to tell everyone which books she was reading and how Mia helped her pick them out.
“That’s a good one,” Mia said.
“We love it. Right, Daddy?”
Miles looked up as if caught doing something he wasn’t supposed to. “Oh yeah. It’s riveting.”
Mia giggled and scooped a bite of pasta into her mouth. She finished chewing and motioned to the table. “This is delicious. Thank you, Miles.”
Everyone chorused their thank yous and Miles tipped his head in acknowledgment.
“So how did that date with Jimmy go?” Ethan asked. “You guys looked like you were having a good time.”
Jackson’s heart rate spiked at the mention of their date. The night had been weird. He hadn’t expected to see Mia show up. It hadn’t occurred to him when he went to the bar that night that he’d be witnessing his best friend on a date with his brother’s best friend. The entire evening, he had to avoid staring at Mia. It was bad enough they were directly in his line of sight. But when they got up to dance, something he knew Mia didn’t particularly enjoy, and then saw them having fun, he couldn’t take it anymore.
He told his brothers he was exhausted and needed to get some sleep and took off. Truth be told, when he got home, he didn’t sleep. He waited in his dark living room like a fucking creeper for her to get home. Jackson wanted to make sure she got home safely, but the sick part of him wanted to see if Jimmy came home with her. He was relieved when she arrived by herself.
“It was fun. I enjoyed myself.”
“Oh, Jimmy is a nice boy. Are you going out with him again?” Karen asked.
Jackson shoveled food into his mouth, trying not to take an interest in the conversation, but he needed to hear everything that was said.
“I’m not sure. He hasn’t asked me to yet.”
“I heard Jeff asked you out for tomorrow night?” Noah asked.
Jackson dropped his fork, which clattered loudly against his plate, drawing the attention of everyone at the table.
“It slipped,” he said, picking it back up and shoveling more food into his mouth.
Mia nodded and turned back to Noah. “He did.”
“Looking forward to it?” Noah asked. “I know he is.”
“I am. It’s nice to get out of the house and hang out with other people.”
Jackson frowned. “You hang out with me all the time.”
She blushed. “You know what I mean.”
“I don’t, actually.”
“Come on, man,” Noah said. “She’s talking about hanging out with someone new. It’s like when Jessa came to town. She was a shiny new toy.”
Jessa raised an eyebrow. “Excuse you.”
“Not a toy. Just a new person to hang out with. It was fun to finally be around someone new.” Noah put his hand on Jessa’s arm. “You know I love you, babe.”
“Jeff isn’t new to town,” Jackson needlessly pointed out. He knew what they meant, but he wanted to make it difficult… to force them to explain why she felt the need to go on this date.
All eyes swung to him, so he began scooping food into his mouth again.
God damn. Keep the jealousy at bay, Jackson.
“They mean he’s just someone new to hang out with. I feel like the older we get, the more appealing it is to settle down,” Noah said.
The other guys nodded in agreement.
“And you never know. Maybe your true love has been in this same town all along,” Jessa said.
Jackson’s stomach dropped. Her true love? Bullshit. Neither Jimmy nor Jeff could be Mia’s true love. She deserved far better than those guys. Yes, they were good guys, but they weren’t good enough for Mia. No one was good enough for his best friend.
Jackson glowered at his food. Normally, he enjoyed the family dinners since it was a good time for them to hang out as just family without discussing the business. But with Mia here and everyone discussing her dates, he was not enjoying himself.
“Where’s Jeff taking you on the date?” Miles asked.
Jackson just about sighed in annoyance, but then realized he wanted to know, too. Miles asked purely to know if the food options were good. Being a chef, he liked the discussion of food. Especially competition in the surrounding towns. But Jackson wanted to know so he could make sure Mia was okay. Sure, Jeff was a good guy, but one could never be too careful.
Yeah, he needed to know purely for her safety. And if he happened to step into that same restaurant at the same time purely out of coincidence, then so be it.
“Antonio’s, I think,” Mia said.
Miles nodded. “They have great pasta.”
“Don’t you worry about eating pasta on a date?” Jackson blurted.
All eyes swung to him again.
“No?” Mia said with uncertainty. “Why would I be?”
“Because it’s too hard not to slurp it and get sauce all over your face.”
She blinked at him. “Well, I wasn’t worried.”
“Oh, shush, Jackson,” Karen said. “Honey, don’t worry about that. You’ll have fun.”
“Do you know what you’re going to wear yet?” Jessa asked.
“I’m not sure. Maybe one of my sundresses,” Mia said.
Jackson frowned down at his food again. The conversation continued around him, but he just pushed the food around his plate, ignoring it.
“Uncle Jackson! Earth to Jackson,” Emma said.
He looked up and saw everyone staring at him. Mia was no longer beside him, and he glanced around.
“She went to the bathroom,” Jessa said.
“What’s going on with you?” Karen asked.
“What do you mean?” Jackson asked.
“You seem cranky.”
“Am not.”
“I think somebody is grumpy he isn’t the one dating Mia,” Noah said.
Jackson rolled his eyes. “We’re just friends.”
James snorted, and all eyes turned to him. Their dad had always been the quiet type. He made conversation, but rarely inserted himself into their personal matters unless he felt it was necessary.
“What?” Jackson asked.
“Son, you’re lying to yourself. You should think long and hard about whether that’s true, or you just may regret it someday,” James said.
Jackson’s eyebrows raised. His family always gave him shit about Mia, his dad excluded, so he was surprised he said something this time.
Before he could reply, Mia came back into the room and sat down at the table. She looked around at everyone.
“Did I miss something?” she asked.
“Nothing at all, honey,” Karen said. “Everyone ready for dessert?”