Chapter 8
Jax
I breathed in deeply as I took in my surroundings. The sun was shining, there were no clouds in sight, and rainbows were everywhere. I love Pride.
“How can I help?” Eliza asked as she walked up beside me.
I had swept Eliza out of the house early this morning to help set up while Carter waited for her family to arrive.
As much as I adored the Miller-Cooper clan, I figured it would be for the best not to throw Eliza right into their craziness.
This way, she could slowly get to know them throughout the day at Pride.
By the time we got back to the house for the Pride Afterparty, I was hoping she would be more comfortable around them, and it wouldn’t be so overwhelming.
“Would you feel comfortable walking around and checking if any of the vendors need anything?”
Eliza nodded a bunch of times. “Of course. That’s no problem at all.”
“And if they do need help,” I pointed my finger at her. “You can only help them if it doesn’t involve heavy lifting. If it does, I want you to text me and let me know. I’ll take care of it.” I lifted an eyebrow at her. “Got it?”
Eliza brought her hand to her mouth and giggled. “You’re really good at that.”
“Really good at what?”
“Pretending to be stern when you’re not at all. You’re going to be a great mom someday.”
That wasn’t the first time Eliza had made a comment about what good parents Carter and I would make, but every time, I felt a little more pride. I loved that she saw us that way. I hoped that meant she also thought we were doing a good job helping her.
“I’ll have you know that I’m very stern.” I put my hands on my hips to try to make my point. “When Carter and I have kids, I’m definitely going to be the scary parent.”
Eliza snorted. “Okay. Keep telling yourself that.”
“That’s enough.” I pointed across the street to where the vendors were setting up. “Get to work, young lady.”
Eliza saluted me, and as she walked away, I broke character and started to laugh. As soon as I did, Eliza turned around and smirked at me. “Yeah, so scary,” she said before turning back around.
For a few minutes, I watched with pride as she spoke to the vendors. The trance was broken when I felt a hand land on my shoulder.
“They grow up so fast, don’t they?” Ethan joked.
“What?” Even though I knew what he was referring to, it took my brain a moment to catch up.
Ethan pointed at Eliza. “I take it that’s her. You were watching her like a proud mom.”
“Honestly, I kind of feel like a proud mom.” I looked over at Ethan. “Is that weird?”
Ethan shook his head. “You’re talking to the guy who considers every kid that ever walked into the cafe one of my children, so I don’t think so.”
“Speaking of kids, is Finn coming this weekend?”
Finn was Ethan and Jamie’s son who was a few years older than me and Carter. He lived in North Carolina now, so we didn’t see him nearly as often as we saw the rest of Carter’s family.
“He is! Finn, the wife, the kids… they are all here already. They’re still back at the house getting ready.” Ethan stood a little taller as he talked about his family.
I playfully poked him in the side. “Who’s the proud parent now?”
“I can’t deny it. I’m very proud.” Ethan chuckled and adjusted his glasses. “Now, are you going to introduce me to Eliza or do I have to do it myself?”
“Let’s go.”
I led him over to Eliza and tapped her on the back when we reached her. When she turned around, I pointed to Ethan. “Eliza, I’d like you to meet Carter’s uncle, Ethan. He’s the one who started the cafe and is also in charge of this amazing event.”
“Wow.” Eliza reached her hand out toward Ethan. “It’s very nice to meet you. It looks like this is going to be a great event. I’m still amazed at how much involvement you’ve gotten in this small town. My parents never let me come to this, so I’m very excited to be here this year.”
“And we are very excited to have you here.” Ethan leaned in as if he was about to whisper to her, but spoke at his normal volume. “Especially since you’re helping us out. We couldn’t do it without you.”
Eliza looked toward the ground and pushed a piece of hair behind her ear. “I doubt that’s true.”
“It is. I’m getting way too old to do this on my own.” Ethan pulled his ringing phone out of his pocket and waved it in the air in front of us. “Well, duty calls. It was very nice to meet you, Eliza. I look forward to speaking to you more later.”
“Me too! Thank you.”
While Eliza went back to talking to the vendors, I did the manual labor.
Less than two hours later, people started to arrive, and we quickly had a big crowd.
It really was amazing to see how many people in this small town supported the LGBTQ community (or at least tolerated the community enough to attend this event).
“There she is!” a voice shouted from behind me and I turned to see my best friend in the whole world running toward me.
I put my arms out and Olivia jumped into them, causing me to stumble backward. “I missed you too,” I said with a laugh. When I put her back down, I looked around her. “Now, where’s my favorite little girl?”
Olivia moved her head in front of my view. “Um, I’m right here obviously.”
I rolled my eyes at her. “I’m talking about the cute one.”
“Auntie Jax!” Jada shouted before running at me just like her mom had.
I knelt down so I could accept her hug. Just like her mom, she hit me with a thud as well.
“There’s my favorite little girl. How have you been, sweetie?”
“Great!” Jada twirled in a circle, causing her rainbow skirt to fan out. “Look at my rainbow!”
“You look so pretty. I love it.” I touched her cheek where there was a temporary “Love is Love” tattoo. “I like your tattoo.”
“Mommy put it on me. It comes off. Hers don’t.”
“Can I tell you a secret?” When Jada nodded, I leaned in close. “Mine don’t come off either.”
“I know.” She giggled and skipped back to her dad, clinging on to his leg as soon as she reached him.
I followed her over and gave Quinton a hug. “It’s great to see you. How have you been?”
“I’m great. Really getting in touch with my girl dad side.” After letting go of the hug, he held his hands out toward me where each of his fingernails was painted a different color.
I took his hand. “This looks great on you. Rainbow is definitely your color. You should wear it more often.”
Quinton chuckled. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
I looked behind him, but didn’t see anyone else. “Where is the rest of the crew?”
“They were having trouble finding parking so it might take them a bit.”
Quinton pointed his thumb at Olivia. “This one created her own spot.”
Olivia shrugged. “What’s the worst that could happen?”
“Well, you could get towed. That wouldn’t be very fun.”
Olivia waved her hand nonchalantly. “If that happens, I’ll claim it was a hate crime and sue them.”
“A hate crime against your cis straight white ass?” I chuckled. “Okay.”
“Whatever. I’m sure it’ll be fine. This town has about five people.”
“Would you like to meet Eliza?” I looked all around me. “I’m sure she’s around here somewhere.”
Olivia lifted Jada into her arms. “Of course we want to. You don’t think we came here for you, do you?”
“Of course you came here for me. Don’t kid yourself.” I scanned the crowd one more time until my eyes landed on Eliza. “Found her.”
Eliza’s eyes met mine and I waved her over. She said something to the man she was standing with, then headed our way.
“What’s up?” she asked when she was standing next to me.
“Eliza, I’d like you to meet my sister-in-law and best friend in the world, Olivia.”
“It’s very nice to meet you.” Eliza held her hand out toward Olivia. “Did the sister-in-law part come first or the best friend part?”
“The best friend part.” Olivia laughed in response to Eliza’s smirk. “I know. It’s hard to believe my sister would do something so scandalous, isn’t it?”
“Don’t believe her,” I cut in. “There was absolutely nothing scandalous about it.”
“Oh really? Because I happen to remember my grandma-”
I slapped a hand over Olivia’s mouth before she could finish that sentence.
Olivia pushed my hand out of the way. “Do you really think I was going to finish that sentence? My daughter is here. Speaking of which,” Olivia lifted Jada higher in her arms. “Eliza, this is my daughter, Jada, and this big teddy bear of a man beside me is my husband.”
“It’s very nice to meet both of you,” Eliza said politely.
“Mommy said you have a baby in your belly.” Jada tilted her head. “I don’t see one though.”
Eliza patted her stomach. “It’s in there. Believe me.”
Jada patted her stomach in the same way. “I don’t have a baby in mine. Just a pancake.”
“I wish I had a pancake in there instead. That sounds much better.”
“It is.” Jada giggled, too innocent to realize just how loaded Eliza’s words were.
Before we could continue the conversation, Ethan texted to say he needed both of us, so we had to say goodbye to Olivia’s family.
We were so busy with our work, it was another hour before we ran into Ronan and his family. His kids were already loaded up on sugar from getting candy from a few of the vendors, so it was hard to have much of a conversation with them.
After they ran off, we continued to work, and we didn’t catch up with Carter and her moms until it was time for the parade to start. The introductions went well, and Eliza seemed to warm up to Carter’s moms very quickly.
“Am I too late?” a shy voice asked as we watched the parade.
I looked over to find Miriam standing beside me.
Instead of wearing rainbows, she was dressed in all black, but that didn’t keep her from looking like she belonged here.
“Miriam! Great to see you! You’re definitely not too late.
If you’re able to stick around a few hours until clean up time, we can really use you. ”
“Mir! I’m so glad you could make it. You’re going to have so much fun.” Eliza wrapped her arms around Miriam, whose face immediately turned red from the hug. “The gays really know how to throw an event.”
“Um…” Miriam giggled nervously. “Yeah, they do.”