“Is that my prince?” a woman yells from the front door before he can speak. Jason flinches. “There’s my baby! My little drummer boy. My Jolly Ollie!”
The adorable brunette squeezes him in a damn near bear hug; while he threatens me with his gaze.
‘Ollie?’ I mouth with a grin.
Jason’s eyes narrow further. ‘Shut it,’ he mouths back as he hugs his mother.
She pulls back, grabs his cheeks, and stares into his eyes, the way all mothers seem to do.
“I’m so happy to see you! I thought you were dodging my calls.”
Jason winces at her words. “No, Mom. I didn’t dodge your call. I was asleep.”
She studies him for a second, not fully convinced. “What brings you out here, today? You said you wouldn’t be here until tomorrow—not that I’m complaining.”
“Someone is in need of holiday cheer, today,” he tells her.
“You?” Her question is skeptical at best.
“No. I have plenty.” She snorts but he points in my direction. “She hasn’t done any of this shit in a long time.”
On instinct, his mom pops his chest. “Watch your mouth.” Then, her brain catches up with his sentence. “She?” His mom looks through the driver side and hits me with a megawatt smile. “You brought a girl home, Ollie?”
“No, Mom…”He trails off because she isn’t listening. I barely have time to remove my seatbelt before she swings open the door and damn near pulls me out to treat me to one of her bear hugs.
She smells like sugar cookies. I accept the hug for as long as she gives it; it is the closest thing to maternal attention I’ve had in a long time. With my parents gone, my uncle—the rich and very happy bachelor—had to raise me. He never married, and my mom’s mother wasn’t very loving and had checked out a long time ago. My paternal grandmother died when I was a baby.
“I can’t believe I’m actually meeting a girl he knows. Hell, I hardly met his prom date in high school. You must be special.”
“Moooom!” Jason chastises.
I laugh; it’s not her fault Jason didn’t tell her why I’m here. She studies my white, long-sleeve shirt and jeans, then shakes her head.
“No. This won’t do.” I don’t know what she’s talking about, but she grabs my hand and marches toward the house and yells over her shoulder. “We’ll see you inside, Ollie.”
Inside looks like Christmas exploded. It’s neat, and the décor makes sense, but Christmas is everywhere. It even smells like a combination of cinnamon, pine, and baked cookies. She stops in front of an older version of Jason with fewer muscles.
“Look who’s here, Matthias.”
“My early Christmas present,” he jokes with a wink.
Yeah. This is without a doubt Jason’s dad.
“Ugh.” She pops him, much like she just popped Jason. “No. Ollie’s girlfriend.”
“Well, I’m not—”
“What’s your name, darling?” Matthias cuts me off with his outstretched hand.
“Bree,” I answer as I accept his handshake.
“Nice to meet you, Bree. Call me Matt. My wife has a habit of calling the men in her life by names, we don’t like to answer to. Isn’t that right,Ollie?”
I giggle, and Jason snorts as he pulls his dad into a hug.
“I don’t know, I kinda like Jolly Ollie,” I tease Jason with a smirk.
“Only my mother can call me that.” His voice is meant to warn me to let it drop, but this is too good.
