“Two years?! Does Mom know? Does Jackson?”
He shook his head. “No, I haven’t heard back from the organization yet. I signed up later than planned, and I might not be experienced enough for it.”
“When did you sign up for it?”
“Three days after I returned from Japan.”
“Vera,” I whispered. “She was the reason you waited.”
He nodded. “Two years would be too much for her. And if she wanted to give us another try, I wasn’t about to leave right after.”
“But what about the times after? If you did get together again, I mean. You’d need to travel for work. Hell, thatisyour job.”
“I know,” he sighed. “But when did this conversation become about me?”
I chuckled. “When you needed the mental image of your best friend jacking your little brother off out of your mind?” I batted my lashes at him and he pointed to the door. Laughing, I got up and left his room.
I had pancakes and Jackson to get back to.
Chapter 22
Jackson
A month later.
Christmas was just around the corner, and it seemed my present came just in time. Susie had called me this morning about my dream mansion, and I’d just signed the paperwork on it. If everything went as planned, the house would be mine in three days. Not that I would be able to move in with Pete just yet. The police were still investigating the former owner’s death and the other owner was under investigation for something else. Susie had warned me it could take weeks, if not months, before we could move in. But I was willing to wait if it meant owning that mansion.
I was on my way to pick up Pete for another date night. We had been back to Spring Roll, one time and tonight I was taking him back there again. We had a lot to celebrate and since I hadn’t told him about the mansion yet, I would get to do it over some good food and perfect company.
Ida and Linda were still getting along great, but I could tell Ida was hurt by her mother’s absence. She’d called and texted her mom to let her know she was okay and had gotten zero replies, even though she could see they’d been read. Linda had taken it upon herself to bring joy to Ida this Christmas, and since we were all celebrating together, it would be the best Christmas ever.
Pete, Linda, Mike, Ida, Dylan, and me, would be spending Christmas at Linda’s place. We’d agreed on all of us sleeping over, Mike on the couch and Dylan on the floor next to him. I much preferred having privacy with Pete in his room, not that I would dare try anything with everyone in the house.
I parked in front of the house and waited for Pete. It only took seconds before he came out with his heavy coat and beanie on. He looked so adorable like that.
He smiled brightly at me as he got into the car, then greeted me with a quick kiss on the lips. “Where are we eating?”
“Spring Roll,” I replied, loving the instant excitement that went through him.
“Yay!” He did a little happy dance in his seat. “You said you had a surprise for me, but I didn’t think I’d get this lucky.”
“Oh. That isn’t the surprise, baby,” I assured him with a smug smile.
“It’s not?” How could he still be this adorable?
“Nope. I’ll tell you over dinner.”
“Can’t wait.Wait, it is agoodsurprise, right?”
“Very good. Thebest.”
“Perfect,” he sighed, then looked out of his window at the snow. It had started snowing when I’d parked, but now the snowflakes came down bigger, but slower. I loved this time of year, at least until Christmas, and then I was over it.
I parked and we walked into the restaurant hand-in-hand. I’d learned which table was Pete’s favorite and had booked that one last time as well as this time. Pete’s surprise of me getting the right table yet again was so cute. It was so easy to please him.
We sat down and ordered our drinks, mine a coke, and his a lemonade. “Oh, you’re feeling adventurous today?” I smirked.
He rolled his eyes. “A pink lemonade is hardly adventurous.”
