Chapter Thirty-Eight
Kayden
At no point in my adult life had it ever occurred to me that I would need to meet my partner’s parents. Mostly because I’d never had an adult relationship that was serious enough for that to ever be a topic of conversation, and I certainly had never considered anyone ever meeting my father.
Jace squeezed my hand as we stood outside of his moms’ condo—the condo where he grew up—which was apparently right across the hall from Sutton and her husband, Adrian.
“You feel nervous,” Jace said, effortlessly reading my energy for the one millionth time since we’d met.
I love that about him. I didn’t have to tell Jace when I was anxious, he could feel it, and he was ready to help me through it without question every single time.
“I’ve never met parents,” I said.
“Like ever?” he asked with a chuckle. “Surely you’ve met people who are also parents. You’ve met Liv. Hell, you’re a parent, baby.”
I tilted my head to the side and attempted to glare at him, but I wasn’t sure it was having the intended effect since his smile grew.
“I have the most chill parents in the world,” he said. “I promise they’re going to like you. You don’t have to impress them.”
“That’s a relief because I know absolutely nothing about hockey”—which I understood was Lavi’s favorite thing in the world—“nor can I carry on a conversation about art for very long unless it’s about art history.”
Jace chuckled and rubbed his beard. “Yeah, no. Not Mom’s thing. Just be you, Kayd.”
“I am being me. I’m anxious and my palms are sweating.”
Jace grabbed my cheeks and turned me to face him as he planted a big kiss on my lips. “My moms are nothing like the parents we grew up with. They’re the most sex and love-positive people you’ll ever meet. There’s a reason I’m as chill as I am, and it’s all because of them.”
I nodded, still uncertain.
“Think of it as practice for Liv’s mom,” Jace said, as he knocked on the door twice. He waited thirty seconds before opening it while he kept talking, “Val’s great too, but this way you’re getting first-time jitters out of the way.”
I looked at him curiously.
“It’s always best to give them a clear warning that I’m about to open the door. I told you: very sex positive”
I laughed, feeling a knot of anxiety release.
“Thank you,” I said, as Jace opened the door.
“For what?”
“For saying that to distract me. It worked.” I squeezed his hand as he led me into the condo.
“That was not an exaggeration, and it took me too long to come up with this method,” he said, putting his hand on the small of my back. “Ladies, I brought home a hot man.”
A blonde woman in a pair of pink leggings and a Bruins shirt with the number fifty on it appeared from the hallway that I assumed led to the bedrooms. “Good thing we came up with that method. Ima will be out in a minute,” she said.
Jace shook his head and hugged her. “Mom, I want you to meet my boyfriend, Kayden.”
She let go of him and offered her hand for me to shake. “I’m Sloane. We’re so excited to finally meet you.”
“It’s nice to meet you too,” I said, hoping she didn’t notice how sweaty my palm was.
“Nervous about the whole meet-the-parents thing?” she asked.
Cool, so it’s obvious.
“Mom,” Jace said scoldingly.
“Don’t worry about us, if Jace loves you, we love you. Pretty much end of discussion unless you hurt him.”
“I will not be doing that,” I said, feeling confident for the first time so far. “Ever.”
“You two want a beer?” she asked as the woman I presumed was Lavi stepped into the room.
Her long, dark hair was pulled into a side braid and she also wore a Bruin’s shirt with the number fifty on it.
A glance at Sloane’s back revealed the name Harrison, giving me the impression they were wearing them for Leo.
Jace’s eyes flickered to me before he responded to Sloane, “We’ll each take an iced tea.”
“Are you sure? Your boyfriend looks like he could use a drink.”
Jace shook his head subtly and glared at her over Lavi’s shoulder as she hugged him.
“I’m Lavi,” she said to me. “We’re really excited to meet you.”
“Thanks,” I said, shaking her hand.
Jace seemed to still be in a staring contest with his mother.
“Jace, my sobriety doesn’t have to be a secret,” I said calmly, before turning to Sloane. “I appreciate the offer, but I’ve been in recovery for seven years.”
“I’m sorry, Kayden.” Sloane shut the fridge door and handed Jace and me each a bottle of iced tea.
“That’s a huge accomplishment. Let me know if we can do anything to make it easier on you when you’re here.
” She turned to Jace and spoke through clenched teeth.
“You are terrible at communicating with your eyes.”
“You’re all welcome to drink,” I said, opening my iced tea. “I really don’t mind.”
Jace opened his iced tea and grinned at me proudly.
“Not necessary,” Lavi said. “We want you to be comfortable.”
“Thank you,” I said.
“I don’t want to risk any other coded messages,” Sloane said with a disbelieving look at Jace.
“I thought he was pretty cute.” I laughed and tipped my bottle toward their shirts. “Does Leo have a game tonight?”
“Yes, and Lavi’s so excited about babysitting that she’s staying in to watch the game. Sutton’s going with Adrian instead,” Sloane said. “I know you don’t know us well yet, but that’s a huge shake up around here.”
“Oh wow,” Jace said, laughing. “You really do want a kid around again.”
Lavi’s responding smile was huge. “I really do. Speaking of, I’ll be right back. I got Kaylee Paw Patrol sheets and I want to put them on the spare bed before she gets here.”
“Do you need help?” Jace asked.
“Nope,” she said, already heading into the other room.
“She is seriously thrilled about having Kaylee tonight. Hopefully we can see her more frequently now that you and Liv are together,” Sloane said looking between us, as if to acknowledge that I was with Liv too. It was a small gesture, but it mattered, and it made me like her instantly.
If I brought Jace home to meet my dad, I would likely get punched in the face and called a homophobic slur. If I brought home two partners, I wasn’t positive he wouldn’t try to kill me.
“I’m sure you’ll be seeing more of her. Liv deserves real dates with us,” Jace said, smiling at me. “We all appreciate the free childcare from qualified babysitters.”
“Qualified?” Sloane asked. “You’ve heard the stories of us babysitting Leo when he was a kid right? We started with a fifteen-year-old for a reason.”
“We’re great with kids!” Lavi exclaimed as she came into the room with a stuffed dinosaur.
Sloane shook her head and gestured to the dinosaur. “There was so much shopping for this one overnight stay that I had to call in Sutton to relieve me. I’m pretty sure we have more craft and science kits than Kaylee will do in a lifetime, let alone twenty-four hours.”
“She seems like she’ll get bored if she’s not intellectually challenged,” Lavi said.
I chuckled. “I’d say that’s certainly a risk based on what I’ve seen so far.”
A knock sounded at the door and Sloane walked over and opened it. “Hey, Olivia,” she said, giving her a hug. Kaylee waited patiently for her turn before hugging Sloane with enough enthusiasm for me to pick up on the hero worship in her eyes.
“Hey, sweetheart,” Jace said as Olivia walked over to join us. He wrapped an arm around her waist and kissed her on the cheek.
“Is that for me?” Kaylee exclaimed when she saw Lavi standing there with the stuffed dinosaur.
“It sure is.” Lavi bent down and offered it to her.
“I love Brontosauruses! They’re my favorite,” she said beaming. “Thank you!”
“Is that what this guy is?” Lavi asked, her nose crinkling as she looked at it again.
“Yes,” I said. “The neck and body are slender which means it’s most likely intended to be a Brontosaurus and not an Apatosaurus.”
Kaylee took the dinosaur and ran over to me, making my heart somersault in my chest.
Will I ever stop feeling like the luckiest guy in the world when she wants to show me something?
Kaylee handed me the dinosaur. “Did you know Brontosauruses were almost thirty feet tall?”
I chuckled and looked over the stuffed dinosaur before handing it back. “I did. There are some dinosaurs that were over one hundred feet tall. Can you imagine that?”
“Wow,” Kaylee said with wide eyes.
I laughed at the wonder in her expression. “I’ll see if I can find you a kids book about it.”
“That nerd DNA is real strong, huh?” Jace said, smiling at me affectionately as Lavi offered to show Kaylee the bedroom.
“There is really no denying she’s mine even I wanted to.” I turned to Olivia. “Which I definitely don’t.”
“I know.” She smiled softly.
“Thank you again for watching her,” she said to Sloane.
“Oh, please, you’re doing me a favor. Now that Jace and Leo are grown, Lavi’s been trying to talk me into another dog for years. If she’s got Kaylee to hang out with sometimes, plus walking Thor for Adrian and Sutton, I might get out of the new dog thing all together.”
Jace laughed. “Unlikely. You’re about to cave anyway.”
Sloane narrowed her eyes at him. “Why don’t you all go on your date and get out of here. You just wait and see what happens the first time these two smile at you and ask for a dog. You’re not much stronger than me, buddy.”
Jace looked at Olivia and then settled his eyes on me. “They can have whatever they want.”
I laughed. “You think you’d cave for us? Just wait until Kaylee asks for a pet.”
“Shit,” Jace said, running his hand through his curls.
Olivia smiled. “If it helps, I don’t want a dog, Jace.”
“Good, because one more insinuation and I would have stopped and got you one on the way to dinner,” he said with a look of agony that told me he absolutely would get us a dog or anything else in the world we wanted.
We chatted for a few more minutes before we said our goodbyes to Kaylee, Sloane, and Lavi.
By the time we were headed out, I’d forgotten why I’d been so nervous.
Jace had been right about his moms being extremely chill.
Maybe I wouldn’t even get sweaty palms when it was time to meet Olivia’s mother.
“Are you two planning to take me to dinner?” Olivia asked as soon as we were all in the car.
“Yes,” Jace said from the back seat while I pulled out of the condo’s parking lot.
Olivia turned around from the front seat to look between us. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but the three of us have done enough talking about this relationship to last a lifetime. I want to date you. Take me somewhere fun. Let’s do something and then go home and do each other.”
I laughed. “Wow, I can’t argue with her plan. You?” I asked, looking at Jace in the rearview mirror.
“She had me at do each other,” he said.
“I have an idea,” I said, putting my hand on her knee.
“Good.” She faced the front of the car again. “It better be loud and fun because I haven’t had a night out like this since before Kaylee was born.”
“We’ll go to Jace’s favorite hookup spot,” I said, smirking at him. I turned to Olivia. “Are you up for a queer bar with a lot of music and dancing?”
“Yes!” she exclaimed, bouncing in her seat with excitement.
“You really never took her out to do fun things?” I scolded Jace playfully.
“She’s a very committed mother,” he said. “And the few times I’ve taken her out without Kaylee we went to quiet places since she always said she was overstimulated and wanted quiet.”
“He’s not wrong,” Olivia said. “I do like the quiet, and I choose not to go out and stay home with Kaylee most of the time. But now I have two hot dates, and I want to grind all over you and let the music flow through me. I want to be fun again!”
“Like you were the night you got knocked up?” I teased.
“Yes. Because that was still one of the best nights of my life,” she said with a satisfied smile.
“Mine too.” I took her hand in mine, and a few minutes later, I pulled into a spot on the street a block away from Fusion.