Chapter 14
Jax
“I can’t believe I get to take you to homecoming,” I told Carter as I put on my suit.
“I can’t believe you decided to wear a whole ass suit,” Carter said with a laugh.
I did a spin for her. “Don’t you think I look hot?”
Carter put her arms around me. “You look sexy as hell. All of the high school lesbians are going to want you.”
“I highly doubt that.” I laughed. “I saw the way they looked at each other.”
“You already knew Miriam was gay, didn’t you?”
I shrugged. “So did you. It’s not like it’s hard to tell.”
“But she told you.”
I nodded. “She did. The first time I ever met her.”
Carter laughed and shook her head. “I’m not one bit surprised. You really do have that effect on people.”
“I don’t know. You might be my kryptonite. It took a long time to get you to fall for my charm, and I was using all of it.”
Carter brought her thumb and forefinger together and squinted her eyes. “Maybe a little too much.”
“I had to,” I said, aghast. “Even with all of my flirting, it took you forever to believe that I liked you.”
“What can I say? It’s a gift to have self-esteem this low.”
I leaned in and kissed her lips. “Not anymore though, right? Now you realize how amazing you are?”
“For the most part.” Carter kissed me back. “But that doesn’t mean that I don’t love your constant reminders.”
“I love you.” I kissed Carter’s lips. “I love you.” Another kiss. “I love you.” And a third.
Carter giggled and pushed me away. “As much as I’m enjoying this, we need to get to the cafe to take pictures of the girls, and then we have to head to the school.”
We had decided the cafe was the easiest place to meet since the dance was obviously taking place in that town.
Miriam was having her parents drop her off there, but they weren’t staying for pictures.
Adley’s parents were staying for pictures, which was a little intimidating if I was being honest. This was our first time meeting the parents of one of Eliza’s friends.
I ran my eyes over Carter’s outfit, which was a pair of khaki pants and black button up. I twirled my finger in a circle, demonstrating what I wanted Carter to do. “Not until you do a spin for me.”
Carter rolled her eyes, but still did what I requested.
I licked my lips in appreciation. “How do you get hotter every single day? It should be illegal how sexy you are.”
Carter rolled her eyes again, but still gave me another kiss. “Let’s go. Eliza is probably waiting for us. It should be the other way around.”
“Of course.” I saluted her. “Let’s go.”
“Could someone help me?” Eliza shouted as we walked down the hall.
Carter and I both went into her room to find her standing by her full length mirror, struggling to reach the zipper on the back of her dress. “It’s a lost cause. I can barely get around at this point. I’m not sure how I thought I was going to get this zipper on my own.”
Carter rushed over to her and easily lifted the zipper. “Good to go.”
Eliza turned around and put her hand on her baby bump. “No one will know I’m pregnant, right?” she joked.
“You look stunning,” Carter reassured her.
She really did. I know this wasn’t how Eliza expected her junior homecoming dance to go, but her pink knee-length maternity dress fit her perfectly. What really brought the outfit together was the smile on Eliza’s face. She looked genuinely happy, which was a sight that made me want to cry.
“You do.” My voice cracked as I said the words, giving away just how emotional this moment was making me.
Eliza clearly noticed, because she walked over to me and gave me a tight squeeze. She didn’t say anything; just simply pulled out of the hug and headed toward her bedroom door. She turned around once she had walked through it. “We better get going. We don’t want to be late.”
We followed Eliza downstairs and out of the house.
By the time we arrived at the cafe, Miriam was already there.
She was sitting inside, sipping a coffee.
She had a light blue dress on but didn’t look comfortable wearing it.
Sitting beside her on the table was a pink corsage.
When we walked inside, she stood up and gave each of us a hug.
By the time our greetings were over, Adley walked in with two older adults, who I assumed must be her parents. Adley was wearing a short white dress with pink high-top Converse sneakers.
“Wow,” Miriam said breathlessly. “You look… wow.”
Adley’s eyes lit up and a smile split her face. “Right back atcha.”
I pointed toward the back of the cafe. “Let’s go back to the break room. I already let the staff know that it’s off limits for the next half hour.”
The whole group followed me back to the break room, which wasn’t the best place for pictures given the employee expectations hanging on the walls and the table and refrigerator. It was the perfect place for a private photo session though, which was exactly what we needed.
As Eliza, Adley, and Miriam posed for pictures together, the man who came with Adley walked up to me and stuck out his hand. “I’m Adley’s dad, Alvin. It’s very nice to meet you.”
I accepted his handshake. “It’s nice to meet you as well. I’m Jax.” I pointed over to where Carter was taking pictures. “That’s my wife, Carter.”
Alvin nodded. He was quiet for a few seconds before he spoke again. “Thank you for what you’ve done for Eliza. We were trying our best to be there for her, but we already have four kids. As much as we wanted to, we didn’t have the means to take in Eliza permanently.”
“I should be thanking you,” I told Alvin. “I’m actually glad you weren’t able to. This might be selfish, but I think we needed Eliza just as much as she needed us. She feels like family already. Even though it’s only been a few months, I already can’t imagine my life without her.”
A small smile came onto Alvin’s face. “That’s parenthood.”
It made me proud that this man who was much older than me saw me in the same way that I saw myself. I didn’t know how much I needed to be acknowledged until he did just that.
After pictures, the girls headed off to homecoming together in Carter’s car and we followed behind in mine. When we arrived, the principal let us know what our role was, which was pretty much to make sure no one was getting inappropriate on the dance floor or trying to add alcohol to the drinks.
For me, that meant making sure no one did anything incredibly stupid. Dumb decisions were a rite of passage for high school students. Who didn’t make one or two of them at some point? Actually, there was one person, and she was standing right next to me—my wife.
“I bet you never hooked up in the bathroom at a school dance, did you?” I whispered to Carter.
I wasn’t at all surprised that Carter made a disgusted face in response. “Of course not. Do people actually do that?”
“No comment.” I moved back and forth from my toes to my heels a few times. “Do you want to do it now?”
“At the first school event we ever volunteer at? Absolutely not.”
I smiled. “So, that’s not a no for next time then. Noted.”
Carter shook her head. “I can’t believe you.”
“Don’t lie. You think the idea of it is kind of hot.”
Carter crossed her arms and tried to keep a straight face, but it quickly turned to a smile. “Okay, fine. It does seem hot, but we’re not doing it. We have to act like adults.”
“Fine.” I moved my eyes around the room to act like I was doing my job and not just thinking about having my way with my wife in the bathroom. I clenched my jaw when my eyes landed on Brian. Fucking asshole.
He was goofing off with a bunch of guys who were most likely from the football team and had his eyes set on something across the room. I followed his line of sight and… oh hell no.
I didn’t even bother saying anything to Carter before hurrying across the room to get to Eliza before he did. I stepped in front of her right before he reached her and stood tall with my arms crossed in front of my chest. “Something I can do for you?” I asked him firmly.
A few of Brian’s friends patted his back and bumped into him as if they were trying to encourage his actions. Brian threw his head back in laughter, then directed his attention toward me, but wouldn’t look me in the eye. “I just thought I’d come say hello to some old friends.”
If flames could shoot from my eyes, I’m pretty sure they would have with the way I was glaring at him.
“Listen, buddy, in case you forgot, my wife is the one who threatened you at the cafe this summer. She’s the nice one out of the two of us.
You don’t even want to know what I would do to you if you continue to mess with Eliza.
So, I suggest you turn around and do whatever it is guys with small penises do to make them feel better about themselves. ”
Brian’s face turned red, and at first I thought he was going to say something else to me, but instead he stormed away in the same way he did at the cafe.
“Fucking asshole,” I mumbled under my breath.
“You’re telling me,” Adley said with a laugh.
“Did you hear that?” I gave the group my most angelic smile. “Oops.”
Eliza put her arm around me and leaned up against me. “You’re amazing. Thank you.”
“Just fulfilling my chaperoning duties.” I winked at Eliza, then walked back to Carter.
Luckily, the rest of the night went by without any more issues. When the dance was over, we followed Eliza and her friends back to our house where they were having a mini (sober) afterparty.
While the girls got changed, Carter and I prepared snacks for them.
Eliza was the first to come downstairs. She grabbed a chicken finger that had just come out of the oven and put it in her mouth as if it wasn’t ridiculously hot. Pregnant women are a different breed.
“I’ll be back,” she said as she chewed. “I’m going to create some mood lighting in the family room and put on a slow song so Adley and Miriam can finally get their dance.”
She turned around and walked out of the room before Carter or I could respond. I looked over at Carter, whose mouth was agape.