Chapter 25
It’s another two weeks until all of our schedules align so we can meet up with my parents for dinner so they can get to know James. I’m anxious and jittery as James drives us toward the outskirts of downtown to the Italian restaurant Mom picked out. I remind myself to take deep, calming breaths and repeat on a loop that there’s no reason to be this nervous.
I’ve been spending every night at James’s house since the night before we hosted game night. In that time, we’ve gone through a full box of condoms, though it’s been hit or miss whether we actually use them or accidentally end up ruining them before he can roll them on—a fact that I try my best not to think about.
Every morning, when I go home to get changed and drop Lainey off before heading to school, Mom grows increasingly concerned. I see it in the way she frowns and eyes me up and down, though she has stopped bringing up my sleeping arrangements after I reminded her that one—I am legally an adult, and two—I’m right across the street should she need me. I’ve also taken to packing overnight bags for Lainey and me on the weekends so we don’t have to go home at all unless we want to stop by so Lainey can spend time with her Grandma and Grandpa.
I’m secretly thrilled to see little pieces of our lives woven into the tapestry that makes up James’s home the longer we stay. It’s not like he’s officially asked us to move in, but he always pouts whenever I tease him—yes, I shamefully tease him to get a reaction out of him—when I pretend I’m going to leave at the end of the night. He won’t even let me make it out of the bedroom before he strips me of my clothes, drags me back to his bed, and falls asleep on top of me.
I love it.
I love him.
I haven’t told him yet. No matter how deeply connected we are—because I know he feels it too—we’re new as a couple, and my plans for college in the fall are still up in the air.
Calhoun, for once, is actually tolerable, thanks to the fact that I’ve been sleeping so much better now. Tyler still glares at me in the hallways sometimes, but he gives me a wide berth now. I don’t even let Mr. Heart’s blatant hostility get me down. After all of the studying James has been helping me with, I’m on track to finish his class with a low B. I’ve also pulled my grades up in the rest of my classes, ensuring that I’ll graduate on time at the end of the month.
James circles the restaurant’s parking lot twice before we find a recently vacated space. We both sit silently for a minute while I fidget with the hem of my new baby-pink nursing top. He also bought the white jeans I’m wearing, and I have to smile, knowing Dad will like the way James spoils me. After a few more minutes, I feel more in control of my nerves, enough to pull on the door handle.
“Wait.” James wraps his hand around my upper arm and pulls me back. He leans over the center console and cups my face. “It’s going to be ok. You know that, right?”
“I’m scared,” I admit. “Mom knows what to expect when it comes to you. But my dad…I don’t know how he’ll react when he sees you up close.”
He cracks a smile. “Why? Because I’m so old?”
“Ancient,” I joke, which lightens my mood. But really, I just want this to go well—for you two to get along—for him to see what I see.”
“And how do you see me?”
“I see you as mine,” I answer with conviction. “That this—what we have—is serious and not some kind of girlhood crush. It’s real…” love.
His pupils expand, swallowing his blue irises with pleasure. “It is real. He’ll see it. See how much you and Lainey mean to me.” He pulls me close and presses a soft kiss to my lips before tipping his forehead to mine. “He’ll see that you two are mine.”
I nod and kiss him longer this time, then pull back, my nerves more settled. No matter how this dinner goes, no matter if my parents approve or not, James and I are going to be together.
He holds the door to the restaurant open for me with Lainey in her sunflower yellow ruffle shirt and leggings set on his hip, carrying her orange stuffed kitten while I hold Grayson in his yellow onesie set. I get such a kick out of dressing them in matching outfits. Grayson may only be seven months old—four months younger than Lainey—but he’s catching up to her in size, and they can pass for fraternal twins, even with their different facial features and hair colors. Although we don’t know what Grayson’s father looks like, based on the curve of Grayson’s growth and James’s family’s tall genes, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s bigger than Lainey by the time he turns one.
The hostess leads us to a table where my parents are already seated near the patio, bathed in sunlight from the large window that looks out toward the city’s green space. Thankfully, they left my sisters and little brother with a babysitter so we can have a serious conversation without having to raise our voices to be heard over Bailey and Autumn.
“There you are. We were getting worried.” Mom, for her part, is wearing a small, friendly smile when she stands to greet us in another long floral-patterned skirt and white blouse, though she looks surprised to see James holding Lainey. I lean into her hug, relaxing another fraction when she kisses my temple.
“We’re right on time. You were just early,” I say, catching Grayson’s hands when he tries to grab Mom’s long braid.
“If you’re on time, then you’re late,” Dad says as he stands to greet us, though he says it lightly so it doesn’t come across as a criticism. “Come here, honey. I haven’t seen enough of you, and I need my hug.” He sweeps me into a bear hug, and I inhale the comforting scent of his cologne, which he’s been wearing for as long as I have been alive.
“Hi, Daddy. I missed you too.”
I’m a little less anxious seeing that he’s dressed more casually, with simple khaki trousers and a green short-sleeve polo shirt instead of one of the imposing suits he wears to work. Grayson squirms between us, and Dad takes a step back. He cocks a bushy brow and tilts his head as he takes in the way I hold Grayson close and nuzzle his cheek to get him to smile.
Dad opens his mouth to say something when James, who let me comb his hair back so it’s tamer and is dressed to impress in black slacks paired with a light gray sweater, steps up to my side and holds out his hand to shake. “Hi, Mr. Fischer. I’m James Bartlett. It’s good to finally meet you, sir.”
Dad looks over James appraisingly, noting how Lainey has her arm wound around the back of his neck. Dad takes his hand in a firm shake instead of scowling at him or pulling away like I half expected he would, but not before drawing up to his full height. James is taller than most men, topping out at six-foot-three, but my dad still has a full inch on him in height and is heavy set—a stark contrast to James’s lean frame.
“Good to finally meet you, too, James. Though you can drop the ‘Mr.’ and ‘Sir’ and call me Sherman.”
I grin at how at ease James seems at the moment. He surprises Mom further by walking around the table and leaning down where she’s taken her seat to kiss her cheek in greeting. Lainey squeals and reaches for her grandma. He lets her go, though he pouts adorably while doing so.
Dad nods approvingly when James pulls out the chair for me across from Mom, then settles in the empty chair on my left across from Dad. “Off to a good start, I see. Miles ahead of that piece of—” he cuts himself off with a guilty look when Mom elbows him. “You know what I mean, that Tyler boy.” This time he does scowl, and James squeezes my thigh under the table. Dad clears his throat and purses his lips. He sucks on his teeth, then nails James with a shrewd look. “But then again, you’re not a boy, are you? Just how old are you?”
My heart drops to my stomach, but James doesn’t shrink back. “I’m twenty-eight. Old enough to know how to treat a woman.”
Dad huffs at that, and my cheeks color. “A woman, huh?”
“Hello. My name is Maggie, and I’ll be your server tonight…” I’ve never been so grateful to be interrupted. It gives me time to collect myself and get ahold of my nerves once more as we order our drinks and appetizers.
As soon as Maggie walks away, Dad starts right back where he left off. “You know Shayla is still in high school, yes?”
The tips of James’s ears turn red, and he clears his throat. I squeeze his hand on my thigh in silent support.
“Yes, sir—Sherman. Though I didn’t know it at the time when we met.”
“But I’m sure you found out rather quickly.”
“Yes.”
“And her age doesn’t bother you? The fact that she’s still a teenager and hasn’t graduated high school yet before you started up with her?”
I knew he’d bring up our ages, but it still rankles me. I scoff, though I try to cover it up with a cough so I don’t come across as disrespectful. “You and Mom are thirteen years apart.”
“That may be, but we met well after she was out of college. That’s a hell of a lot different from the two of you.” What he fails to mention is that Mom interned for him right after college, so technically, he was her employer, just like James is mine.
James turns to me, and I blush at the adoring way he looks at me. I brush my thumb along the back of his hand, and he finally turns back to face Dad. “With all due respect, Shayla is a woman. A teenager, technically, at eighteen, but still a woman. A woman I care very deeply about. This isn’t—I’m not some kind of predator who gets off on her being young,” he says seriously, even as his face flushes.
Dad takes a moment to study his sincerity. The server returns to drop off our drinks and appetizers and then takes our orders for our main dishes. Once she leaves, Dad leans back in his chair, and I’m relieved to see that he seems satisfied by what he sees in James’s eyes.
James must know it, too, because he blows out a silent breath and relaxes back in his chair, mimicking Dad. Dad takes Lainey to sit in his lap so Mom can dig into the garlic bread and olive oil dip, and James offers to take Grayson so I can eat as well, but I don’t want to give him up just yet. Dad sees that too. He sees everything.
“And Lainey?” Dad asks as he tears the bread into bite-size pieces for her. “How do you feel about her? Because they’re a package deal. Are you going to love her like you do my daughter?”
“Of course. She’s my little Angelainey.” James reaches across the table to chuck Lainey under the chin, and she giggles. Dad has always had a soft spot for his granddaughter, and he melts whenever she laughs.
I gasp and know my eyes are as big and round as Mom’s. I don’t even know if James truly heard what Dad said because I didn’t see him react in one way or the other to the word love. But I most certainly heard it. So did Mom.
“Daddy, we haven’t said ‘I love you’…” yet, I finish silently, wondering why James hasn’t said it before considering he refers to us as a family more and more often.
He snorts. “Like it isn’t obvious. Anyone in this restaurant can see it. Hell, I spotted it the moment you walked in. That man loves you, and I know you love him too. If he didn’t, this conversation would be going a lot differently.”
I turn my wide eyes on James, and his expression is so heartfelt that, yeah, I know he heard Dad just fine. Mom gets this little glint in her eyes that I’m not sure what to make of just yet.
The rest of dinner is a lot less intense as the conversation turns from grilling James to getting to know one another. Dad seems to take a particular interest in James’s game nights, though I’ve never seen him play any sort of board game beyond the standard Monopoly and Scrabble. Delight tugs Dad’s lips into a smile when James invites him to their next game night that Isaiah is hosting at his house. The thought of them becoming friends warms my heart.
The four of us take turns holding Lainey, and Dad takes a shine to Grayson after he asks if he can hold him. He gives a great big belly-aching laugh when Grayson grabs onto Dad’s finger, screws up his face, and makes the most disgusting sound as he fills his diaper with a stink that would bowl most men over.
As I’m walking back to the table after Grayson blew out his diaper and I had to wash him as best as I could in the bathroom sink, I stop short at the scene in front of me. Mom and Dad are standing at the table talking to a man I know all too well, and my gut sours.
“Mr. Heart? How do you know my parents?”
Mr. Heart rears back at my voice, and his top lip curls, though his eyes flare slightly, panic lacing the edges of his expression.
James is out of his seat and standing at my side in an instant. “This is the teacher who keeps trying to flunk you ever since he found out you had a baby?”
Dad, who had just been smiling as he introduced Mr. Heart to my daughter, turns a sharp, critical eye on him. “Excuse me? You have a problem with my daughter?”
Mr. Heart’s face blanches. “Sherman, n-no. I—”
“How do you two know each other?” I ask again as I step closer to James’s side and fist the back of his sweater. He’s looking at Mr. Heart the same way he looked at Tyler when he wanted to go after him in the grocery store. So is Dad.
“This here is Barbara’s son.” Dad’s face turns a mottled shade of red, and he clenches his jaw. “Are you telling me that Barbara—the kind-hearted woman who’s been working for me for the past twenty-five years—has a son who’s been mistreating my daughter? I’d sure like to know what she thinks about that, considering she has a soft spot for my granddaughter. Hell, she even came to Shayla’s baby shower.”
I’ve known Barbara all my life, so I know she has a different last name from Mr. Heart, and thus, I never made the connection between the two of them. They don’t share many physical similarities, either, since Barbara is a taller-than-average red-headed woman, and Mr. Heart is shorter than her with sandy brown hair. I knew she had a son and two daughters, and I knew their first names, but they’d all gone off to college by the time I was in kindergarten.
Mom sidles up to Dad and places a hand on his shoulder, seemingly holding him back the same as I’m doing with James.
“I should go,” Mr. Heart says with a slight tremor as he starts backing away. He seems to reconsider and asks, “You’re not going to fire my mother, are you?”
“Now, why in the hell would I do that? She’s a good woman, even if she did somehow raise a bad apple.” He huffs and shakes his head. “Actually, that has more to do with your father and the pathetic way he treated your mother when they were married, yeah? Because I know Barbara would tear a stripe off you if she knew what you were doing. Which she will,” he threatens.
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” Mr. Heart repeats several times, first to my parents, then to me. Or at least he tries to, but James moves in front of me with his hands clenched at his sides, blocking his view of me.
“There won’t be any more problems at school from now on, will there?” James asks with malice as I peek around him.
Mr. Heart, who is a head shorter than both men, is quick to shake his head and takes a few steps back. “No, no problems.”
I step around James, though he pulls me into his side, positioning me between him and my dad. “Not with me and not with any of the other moms, isn’t that right?” There are two other girls at school, one of whom is currently pregnant, and the other has a son a little older than Lainey, though I’m not sure either of them are his students. I sure hope not. “I don’t know what you have against young moms, but that’s done and over with now, isn’t it? For good.”
Mr. Heart looks ready to piss himself. He nods, apologizes again, then tucks his tail and exits the restaurant quickly.