Goldie snorts. “Maybe you could’ve saved my brother from getting punched in the jaw.” She steps closer and studies my face. “Youlookfine.”
“I am fine. It was nothing.” I wave her back.
“I heard you staggered back into the tables and knocked down three shakes and two cups of coffee. It wenteverywhere,” Erin says as she walks in. “Hi, fam. Your favorite child has arrived!” She holds her arms out and embraces my grandmas with huge fanfare. “I heard we’re celebrating Camden losing his virginity.”
I cover my eyes with my hand. “I did not knock down any food or drinks,” I say grumpily. I sip some coffee because it looks like I’m gonna need an IV drip of it to get through this interrogation. “And my virginity wasn’t in question,” I say quietly but pointedly to Erin.
“Oooo,” she sings. “Let’s hope not, for our Juju’s sake. You gotta know what you’re doing to please our girl.”
“Oh, this boy knows what he’s doing, don’t you worry,” Grandma Nancy tells Erin. “When a man can slap dough around like he can, a woman can tell these things.”
“Grandma!” I yelp.
Dad’s laughing so hard he has to wipe his eyes.
“Did you lose any teeth?” Grandma Donna asks, moving around everyone to come look me over.
“No, no, all the teeth are intact.”
“If I’d known you fell down in the middle of all those hot and cold beverages, I would’ve hustled right over to your side when I came into the cafe,” she says.
“You couldn’t have known,” I say, giving up.
“Bosco had to help him to his feet,” Erin says, winking at me. “And the two of them nearly went flying into Beverly’s pancakes with maple syrup and all the whipped cream. You know how that woman likes her whipped cream.”
The grandmas hum in agreement. Even I know how Beverly appreciates a little pancake with all her whipped cream.
“But fortunately, Miss Idella ran across the room and held Camden up with everything she had in her.” Erin shakes her head. “Honestly, I didn’t know she had that kind of brute strength.”
I grumble under my breath, which makes Erin and Goldie crack up. I glare at Goldie and see that she has tears running down her face.
“Miss Idella and her brute strength,” she wheezes.
“Well, I’m just glad you’re okay. I’m going to have a word with that boy when I see him. He’s not too old for me to give him a tongue lashing,” Grandma Donna says.
“That’s what she said,” Grandma Nancy says tartly.
“Icannot,” I mumble, putting my head in my hand.
For all their talk about putting Jackson in his place, all he has to do is come in and say, “Grandma Nancy, look at you, looking sexier than Dolly Parton with a new wig. And you, Grandma Donna…mmm, mmm, mmm, you get more divine every time I see you. Meet my wife, Dove Fair. Baby, these two beautiful women are who all women should aspire to be like,” he says, kissing their hands one by one.
“Yeah, you knew you had to do some major ass-kissing to get in this kitchen, didn’t you, Jackson Fair,” Erin says under her breath.
“Every now and then I’m smarter than I look,” he says with a wink when my grandmas rush to get the extra plates on the table.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
UNBEKNOWNST TO ME
JULIANA
“Thanks for hanging out with my family,” Camden says as we walk to Jackson’s SUV.
“They’re wonderful,” Dove says. “Your grandmas are the cutest! Everyone’s so nice. And Milo and Goldie…dreamy. He is so…serious, and the way he looks at Goldie is––” She fans her face.
“Oh, he’s got you all ready to go, does he?” Jackson says, leaning over and kissing Dove’s neck. “I can go serious. If that’s what you’re into.”
Dove laughs and pushes him back. “You’re what I’m into.”
