NOVEMBER
“They’re going to love you,”I said, bending to kiss Mara’s cheek. “Besides, you’ve already met most of them.”
We stood on the Sorrentos’ porch, about to head into the belly of the beast with Mara’s first team Thanksgiving. Mara gave me a tense smile and shifted the green bean casserole in her hands. Though I was trying to soothe Mara, I couldn’t blame her. We were getting married the next day, and with each day we got closer, the tension grew.
“I know,” she said. “It’s just all getting real.”
I held Hazel on my hip, and Aspen held my other hand. My kids were spending Thanksgiving with Sydney, so it was just me, Mara, and her kids.
The door swung open and Jeanine greeted us with a broad smile. “Hey! So glad you all could come! Happy Thanksgiving!”
The scene inside was boisterous and loud, like always with our crew, and the nerves I felt on the porch melted away. No matter what the final result of this decision was, I knew these people had my back.
I helped Aspen and Hazel find other kids to play with while Mara looked for somewhere to put our dish. The next time I looked around, she’d found Gabi and was chatting her and Nikki up.
After some schmoozing, we sat to eat, and Jeanine stood. “Alright, you guys know the rules. I want everyone to say what they’re thankful for but I want to start with the kids.”
The kids had their own side table where they all sat on the floor, except the smallest ones like Hazel and Mikey’s daughter. The kids’ responses were cute as hell, from things like “friends and family” to “my doggie,” and then it came to Aspen.
“I’m thankful my mommy’s marrying Jack.”
A pause followed as jaws dropped and gasps sounded.
“Surprise,” Mara squeaked out with a flourish of her hands.
Mikey was of course the first to speak, or rather, shout. “Jackie baby, that’s amazing! Congratulations!”
Rome smiled and clapped with everyone else, but he widened his eyes and raised his brows at me. If someone was my conscience outside my body, it was him. He knew how quick my beginnings with Sydney were, and from the outside, this didn’t look much different.
“Isn’t this a little fast?” Obi asked and like someone’d sucked all the air out of the room, silence snapped back in. Obi looked around and shrugged. “What? What did I do?”
“Fast, schmast,” Mikey said, putting his arm around Jessie next to him and kissing her temple. “When you know, you know.”
Jessie leaned into his touch and turned to him for a kiss.
“I married Jeanine when we’d been together four months,” Sorrento shrugged.
It was true: other guys had moved fast too, and had much different results than Sydney and I had.
But they probably loved their wives. That wasn’t going to be a thing with me and Mara.
I was interrupted from my disassociation when I caught sight of Aspen, looking humiliated for causing such an outburst from everyone. I got up and crouched next to him.
“Hey, buddy,” I said, pulling him to my side for a hug. “You didn’t do anything wrong. Everybody’s just excited for us.” He still looked unsure, so I added more. “I’m thankful I’ll be your stepdad. We’ll have a lot of fun. And hey, I won’t tell your mom if you want to eat extra dessert today.”
That made him give up a reluctant grin.
“When’s the big day?” Jeanine asked. The room went quiet again waiting for our answer.
“Um, tomorrow, actually,” Mara said, her face flushed. More excited shouts followed her statement.
Stelle’s wife Kitty gasped. “Is this your engagement party? Bachelor and bachelorette?”
“Yeah, bachelor party! Right here, right now!” Mikey yelled, thumping a fist on the table. Jessie rolled her eyes and shook her head, and there was a chorus of groans from around the table.
Rome raised his glass to me, his expression still not fully joyful. “How about cigars on the patio after dinner?”
Sorrento raised his eyebrows at Jeanine, presumably asking permission. She grinned. “I’ll allow it, as long as the girls are allowed to smoke too.”
