Chapter 24
First date – a cause of panic for a man no matter his age or rockstar status
Jett
I pace the kitchen as I go over my plans for the day.
What was I thinking? Getting my first girlfriend and going on my first date since high school on Christmas Eve. No pressure then.
Maybe I’ll skip this whole first date thing today. We can do it later. After the holidays. Today, I can go bungee jumping or rock climbing or …
No. I cut those thoughts off. I’m not running away. If I run away now, Aurora will never trust me. How can we create a family if she doesn’t trust me?
The microwave beeps and I blow out a breath. Showtime.
I knock on Aurora’s door but I don’t wait for her reply before opening it and entering. She’s lying curled on her side with her blonde hair spread over her pillow. She appears relaxed in her sleep. She’s not trying to do a million things at once while ticking items off her to-do list. She needs to relax more and work less.
I set the tray on the dresser before kneeling at the side of the bed. I brush her hair off her face and she bats her hand at me.
“Go away,” she mutters. I kiss her forehead and her eyes fly open. “Jett.”
I waggle my eyebrows. “The one and only.”
“I thought you were a fly.”
“Sorry to disappoint. I don’t buzz and I don’t fly.”
She snorts. “Except for when you decide to jump out of perfectly good airplanes.”
“Don’t be jealous of my adventurous spirit.”
The happiness in her eyes dims. “What if we have a boy and he’s as adventurous as you? We’ll have to cover the entire house with padding.”
I shrug. “No biggie. I’ll teach him my best landing techniques.”
“I’ve changed my mind. I want a girl.”
I smile. “I want a girl anyway. A little girl with your blonde curls and green eyes.”
“The boys would chase after her.”
My smile falters. “Boys? She won’t be involved with boys.”
She raises an eyebrow. “You’re going to stop her?”
“Hell yeah, I am.”
“It’s going to be fun to watch you try.”
“And here I thought I needed to go bungee jumping for an adventure,” I mutter.
She pats my hand. “Don’t worry. Kids are an adventure in and of themselves.”
I stand and grab the tray from the dresser. “Sit up. I have our breakfast.”
“ Our breakfast?” she asks but rearranges the pillows until she’s leaning against the headrest.
I lay the tray over her lap before climbing into bed next to her.
“Yes, our breakfast. I know sex is off the table.” Aurora surprised me with the no sex rule last night. I was not amused but I understand her trepidation. I deserve it. “But I wanted to have breakfast in bed with you.”
“I should probably shower and get ready for work.”
“It’s Christmas Eve. You’re not working. I cleared it with the guys – no special requests, no social media. They’ll leave you alone today.”
“And what about Mike?”
“The vulture can go fuck himself.”
“As much as I’d enjoy watching him try to do that, he is my boss and expects me to work today.”
“In which case, you are working today.”
“I better eat this breakfast quick then.”
She picks up a piece of toast but I grasp her wrist before she can begin to eat. “Slow down, Aurora.”
“But I need to work.”
“You’ll be working for me today.”
She narrows her eyes on me. “Working for you?”
“Yep. I realized it’s Christmas Eve and I haven’t decorated for the holidays. I need to pick out a tree and all the trimmings.”
“And you want my help?”
“I need your help. I’ve never decorated for Christmas before.”
She bites her bottom lip. “I haven’t decorated for Christmas since my parents died.”
I pull her teeth from her lip. “Are you okay with decorating today? Or does the idea bring back bad memories?”
She gets a faraway look in her eyes. “It brings back good memories. Mom would blare Christmas music while Dad cursed as he tried to unwind the strings of lights. We’d make popcorn and string it up on the tree. On Christmas day, Mom would wake me up with hot cocoa and she’d sit on my bed while we discussed all my dreams as we drank our cocoa.”
I nudge her mug. “Maybe you should take a sip.”
She lifts the mug to her nose and sniffs. “It’s cocoa. You made me cocoa.” Her bottom lip trembles and a tear escapes down her cheek. I wipe it away.
“Please don’t cry. I didn’t mean to make you cry.”
“These are good tears, Jett. Good memories I didn’t allow myself to think about before because they were too painful. But I want Little Bean to know about his grandparents. I want him to feel their love even if he will never meet them.”
I kiss her forehead. “You’re going to be a wonderful mom.”
“Thank you. My mom was the best. She’s a good example for me to follow.”
The familiar emptiness when someone speaks about their parents hits my stomach but it’s not as bad as it usually is. I don’t feel hollow. For once, I don’t want to run away.
“I’m sorry I don’t have any good examples to follow.”
“Yeah, you do.”
“Aurora,” I grumble. “I told you about my past.”
She squeezes my hand. “I don’t mean your past. There are examples all around you. Fender with Isla. Mercury with his niece Mercy. And I bet Dylan will be a wonderful father once Virginia has her baby.”
“You’re right.”
She winks. “Of course, I am. Get used to it. It happens a lot.”
“Now, eat your breakfast and drink your cocoa. We have a Christmas tree to buy.”
She salutes. “Aye, aye, Captain.”
It turns out selecting a tree is not as easy as those cheesy Christmas movies make it out to be.
“I want this tree.” Aurora sticks out her bottom lip and pouts.
I run a hand through my hair and try not to pull on the ends. “This tree has all its roots attached. We’ll need to water it and it’s going to shed needles all over the house.”
She snorts. “As if you do the cleaning.”
She has a point but I can’t tell her the real reason I don’t want a live tree. I want her Christmas present to be a surprise.
“Besides,” she continues. “We live in Winter Falls. If we return home with a cut tree, they’ll probably banish us. Maybe chase us out of town with shovels.”
Winter Falls and its crazy environmental rules strike again. I still don’t know what the big deal is about driving a car with a combustion engine around. Especially if it’s fuel efficient.
But I know better than to say anything to the town's inhabitants. They have PowerPoint presentations prepared for all your environmental questions. I wish I was kidding.
“Fine,” I give in.
Aurora squeals and rushes to me. She throws her arms around me. When I feel all her curves against my body, I don’t give a shit about how messy the house is about to be.
“Thank you.” She pushes up on her toes to reach my lips.
The second her mouth touches mine, I forget all about the Christmas tree. All about us standing in the middle of a Christmas tree farm on Christmas Eve. All I can feel is her curves. All I can smell is her flowery scent. I want to drown in it.
“Ahem. AHEM!”
I force myself to break the kiss and meet the gaze of the throat clearer. “Cash or credit?” the attendant asks.
I pay for the tree and together we attach it to the top of Cash’s car, which I borrowed for the day. When we arrive home, I ask Fender to help me set the tree up in the corner of the living room.
“What do you think?” I ask Aurora once Fender has left.
Her eyes are alight with happiness. “It’s perfect.”
“Do you want to pop some popcorn while I figure out the light situation?”
“Perfect.”
Yip.
Aurora freezes on her way to the kitchen. “Did you hear something?”
I swallow my smile. “No.”
She narrows her eyes. “You’re lying.”
“Me?” I grasp my chest. “I wouldn’t lie to the mother of my child on Christmas Eve.”
She snorts. “You are such a liar.”
Yip.
“There! I heard it again.” She rushes toward the den. She screeches to a halt in front of the giftwrapped box sitting on the table. The one Fender snuck into the house when he came to help with the tree.
“Can I open it?”
“How do you know it’s for you?”
She rolls her eyes. “Of course, it’s for me. Your presents are still…”
Her voice trails off when the lid of the box lifts. She doesn’t hesitate to pull the lid the rest of the way off. She gasps before removing the puppy and cradling her to her chest.
“Is he mine?”
I scratch the puppy under its chin. “He’s a she and yes, she’s yours. Or, rather, ours.”
“You weren’t kidding about being all in.”
“I want it all, Aurora. I was afraid to reach for it before. But I want it all. The kids, the puppy, the white picket fence.”
Her eyes twinkle. “You realize you’re not supposed to show your cards on the first date?”
“I don’t give a fuck. This may be our first date but we’ve been dancing around each other for a decade and you’re having my baby.”
“ Our baby,” she corrects.
I place my hand over her stomach where our baby is growing. “Our baby.”
“This is the best Christmas ever.”
“This, my feisty girl, is merely the beginning.”
I plan to give Aurora everything she ever wanted. Everything she’s missed since she was fifteen. Everything I have to give. It’s all hers for the taking.