Chapter 2 #4
“What did you just say?” Romeo’s voice was even and quiet.
All the kids straightened.
Asher spoke up first. “Sorry for making fun of your sleep face, Nova.”
Drew glanced at me, and I bit back a laugh.
“Sorry for agreeing with him,” Jax said.
“Same.” Blue agreed.
Romeo looked at Blue.
Blue sighed. “Sorry, Nova.”
“Now, about Travis’s birthday party,” Ivy said. She was forever the event planner of this family. “I double-checked yesterday with the caterer to make sure everything was confirmed. We are good to go for Saturday.”
Nova perked up. “Saturday? This Saturday?”
“His birthday is the same every year. It’s kind of an annual thing,” Jax told her.
“Obviously,” Nova quipped. “I guess I just thought it was next Saturday.”
“Did you make plans for this Saturday?” Ivy asked.
Nova bit down on her lip.
“What’s wrong, honey?” Rimmel pressed.
“Well…” She began, glancing down at her lap. “It’s just… I have a date.”
A beat of silence rippled across the table. Then Ivy reacted. “A date! Your first date.”
Braeden’s fork clattered against the plate.
Here we go.
“Braeden,” Ivy warned.
He was stone silent as he swiped his mouth with a napkin, the picture of etiquette. A fault line about to snap from pressure. After tossing the napkin down, he said, “I think I must have heard wrong. Critter, can you say that again?”
Nova looked at Ivy who nodded reluctantly.
“Jordan Falls asked me to the movies.”
Braeden erupted, his chair shooting back as he bolted upright. “That putz! Oh, hells no!” he hollered.
Ivy and Rimmel gasped in unison. “Braeden!”
Braeden shook his head adamantly. “No way is my baby girl going out with one of my football players.”
“But, Dad!”
“Don’t dad me. Hells no.” He exhaled, pushing a hand through his hair. “Jordan Falls.” He scoffed. Turning to Romeo, he said, “Kid’s last name is an omen. He trips on his cleats more than he catches a ball.”
“Dad! I like him. I’ve been waiting forever for him to ask me out.”
“Shoulda cut him from the team,” B grumbled.
I rolled my lips in to keep from laughing and looked at Romeo who was doing the same.
Our daughters weren’t old enough to date. Thank fuck.
“That’s enough, Braeden. You’re being ridiculous,” Ivy said, standing up to face him. She was taller than Rimmel but still short compared to Braeden.
She didn’t care, though. She faced off with that dude on the regular.
Always won too.
“It’s a date, not a marriage proposal.”
Braeden made a choked sound. “Football players are pervs, baby. She can go out with someone who plays chess.”
Drew, Rome, and I burst out laughing. Most of the kids did too.
“Braeden James, are you calling my sons and my nephews perverts?” Rimmel demanded.
He blanched and looked at all our football player sons sitting around the table. “Present company excluded.”
Rim snorted.
Nova wailed. “I’m going into senior year, and I haven’t even been on a date. Do you know how embarrassing that is? No one wants to date me!”
“That isn’t true,” Ivy insisted. “Any boy would be lucky to spend time with you.”
“I didn’t even have a date to the winter formal last year.” She went on. “I must be ugly.”
Ivy and Rimmel gasped. “You are not ugly!”
“Look at what you’ve done, Braeden,” Ivy accused.
“Me?” He defended himself. “I’m just saying he ain’t good enough.”
Nova started crying.
Jax sighed. “Everyone thinks you’re hot.”
“What?” Nova asked.
Jax rolled his eyes. “It’s all I hear. Dude, your sister is so hot. Dude, can I get your sister’s number?”
Beside him, Blue nodded emphatically as though he’d heard it all too.
Nova sniffled. “Really?”
“You better not be handing out your sister’s number,” Braeden deadpanned. “What are these boys doing going around looking at girls for? They’re supposed to be at school to learn.”
Romeo heckled. “Is that what you did in school, B? Learn.”
“Your time is coming, Rome,” Braeden snapped.
That shut him up.
“They’re scared to ask you out.” Travis spoke up.
Nova’s blue eyes shot to him. “What?”
“Your dad is the football coach, and he played for the NFL. Your uncle is Romeo Anderson. They’re all afraid to ask.”
“Should be,” B declared.
Romeo nodded.
“Dad, you’re ruining my life!” Nova announced. Then, “You too, Uncle Romeo.”
Braeden and Romeo looked proud of themselves.
“Are boys going to be scared to ask me out too?” London asked.
Romeo shot up, his chair flying just like Braeden’s did. “You’re twelve years old!”
“I was just asking, Daddy,” she said innocently, a mini version of her mother staring up at him with wide blue eyes behind a pair of glasses with purple frames.
Romeo made a choked sound and lowered beside her chair. After smoothing some of her long dark hair away from her face, he pushed the glasses up on her nose. “You don’t need to worry about boys, strawberry. Daddy will take care of you.”
“Can we get a puppy?”
“Hells no,” Braeden replied.
“Sure, baby.” Romeo agreed.
“Rome.” Braeden was plaintive. “We already have fifteen dogs up in here.”
“We do not,” Rimmel declared. “We only have six right now, and two of them go to practices with you every day. And Ketchup is Drew’s!”
Romeo glanced over his shoulder. “It’s better than a boy.”
B pursed his lips and glanced at Nova. “You want a puppy too?”
“This is ridiculous,” Rimmel said.
Romeo turned to her. “You want to get a puppy, smalls?”
Rimmel melted. “I was thinking about bringing home that Aussie mix. He’s been at the shelter for two weeks. No one’s adopted him.”
“We can go get him later today,” Romeo promised.
Dude was one thousand percent wrapped.
“Can’t you tell them my dads aren’t that scary?” Nova asked Travis.
Her dads. No one even batted an eye. Romeo was practically her second dad. Drew and me too.
Travis shrugged a shoulder. “I could.”
Nova leaned forward. “Then why haven’t you?”
A brief dark look crossed Trav’s face. “Because Uncle Braeden is right. They’re not good enough.”
Drew and I shared a look.
“You threatened them too!” Nova burst out.
“I don’t threaten,” Travis replied.
“Travis,” I said quietly.
He glanced at me. “I didn’t.”
I conceded because I saw the truth in his stare. The thing with Trav was that he didn’t have to threaten. People instinctively knew not to mess with him. Apparently, people also knew that extended to his sisters.
“Mom!” Nova roared.
“All right, that’s enough. Obviously, you can’t go out on Saturday.”
“But, Mom—”
“It’s Travis’s birthday. Family first. So you will have to go out on a different night. If Jordan doesn’t understand that, then he’s not worth your time.”
“Why don’t you just invite him to the party?” Rimmel suggested.
Braeden let out a wounded sound, laying his hand on his heart. “BBFL betrayal. How could you, sis?”
“That is a good idea.” Ivy seconded.
“It’s like they pretend I’m not even here,” Braeden put in.
I finished off my plate of food. Frankly, this breakfast was like dinner and a show.
“You’d really let him onto the compound?” Nova asked.
We didn’t let many people onto our family compound, mostly just family and a few friends of the kids who had been around for many years.
We liked to keep this place private—a safe space for the family to be themselves.
We’d had too many run-ins with the press and people selling information about us.
It seemed like every time we stepped out in public, there was a camera somewhere.
It was hard on the kids at first because they couldn’t just have people over whenever they wanted.
All their playdates were off the compound.
Sometimes they still got mad about it, but we held our ground because you didn’t realize how important safety and privacy were until they were taken away.
“It would be a great chance for us to meet him,” she said, glancing at Braeden.
“And then after the party, you can go to the movies,” Ivy added.
“He’s not going to want to come here.” She glanced at me and Drew. “Not with all my dads here.”
“Well, he was brave enough to ask you out. He must really like you.” Ivy encouraged her.
Nova said, “You think so?”
“One way to find out.”
Nova turned to Travis. “Is it okay if I invite Jordan to your party?”
Travis shrugged. “Whatever.”
“Travis,” Drew admonished.
Travis sighed. “Sure, Nova. It’s cool.”
Nova got up and rushed around the table to throw her arms around his shoulders and hug him. “Thanks, Trav. I’m going to go text him,” she called, running out of the room.
“Where’s my hug?” Braeden yelled after her.
“Later!” she yelled back.
“Do you think he will come?” Rimmel asked.
“I hope not,” Braeden grumbled. “How’d she get his number anyway? Better not have got it off my roster. Gonna have to start locking it up.”
“If he comes, his phone stays at the door,” Romeo said, and we all nodded.
“Can we go play Xbox now?” Asher asked.
“Put your dishes in the sink,” Rimmel said.
Asher, Blue, and Jax all stood to gather their plates.
“You coming?” Blue asked Travis.
“Yeah,” he replied and stood.
“Hey,” Drew said, and Travis looked up from gathering his dishes.
“Me and your dad are going to dinner tonight. Can you hang with Andi?”
“Sure.”
Drew swallowed. “If you want, you can take her out for ice cream.”
Our son’s face snapped up in surprise. “Really?”
“Ice cream!” Andi started bouncing around in her chair. “I want to get chocolate peanut butter with chocolate sprinkles.”
“My girl knows how to eat,” Braeden said.
“Extra sprinkles!” she declared.
“For real?” Travis pressed, looking between Drew and me.
“You have to take the SUV,” I warned. If he was driving his sister around, there would be no Mustang.
He nodded. “Sure.”
“Just ice cream and straight home,” Drew added.
Travis nodded.
“Can I come too?” London asked.
“Ahhh,” I faltered, brain scrambling for a way to say no. Before I could come up with something, Romeo spoke up. “As long as Travis says it’s okay.”
I glanced at Romeo, surprised. He was already looking at me like he was waiting. The second our eyes connected, he nodded once and then turned back to my son.
Travis nodded. “Sure, Lo. You can come too.”
Andi and London beamed. Two peas in a pod.
“I’ll get sprinkles too, Uncle B.”
He tapped his heart and then pointed at London, making her giggle.
“Ice cream and a puppy!” London exclaimed as she and Andi grabbed their plates and headed into the kitchen. “This is the best pancake Sunday ever.”
Braeden groaned.
“I can really take them to get ice cream. By myself?” Travis asked, looking at Drew.
Drew nodded. “Yeah. We trust you. Just drive safely, okay?”
“I promise.”
When all the kids were gone, I glanced across the table at Romeo. “You know it’s the first time we’re letting him drive Andi somewhere without us.”
“He’s had his license for a while now,” Rimmel said.
“He’s a good driver. Drew taught him well,” Ivy added.
Romeo met my eyes, then Drew’s. “We trust him.”
Everyone started cleaning up the dining room, but I laid my palm on Drew’s thigh before he could get up.
“I’m proud of you, baby. So fucking proud.”
“It’s just ice cream, T.”
Gently grasping his chin, I pulled him around so I could look in his eyes. “I’m proud of you.”
His eyes softened, and he nodded.
Because we both knew it wasn’t just ice cream. It was a start.