She’d missed her own family though.
“Maybe you want to go snowmobiling at Christmas?” Beth said.
Anna stared at her dark ceiling. She’d never gone before. Neil thought it was too dangerous.
Jackson probably would too, but he’d trust her to make up her own mind.
“Anna? You still awake?”
“Yeah. Kind of. Snowmobiling sounds fun.”
“Great. I’ll tell Tony’s parents to save a run for us girls. When are you leaving for your football game?”
“Around noon.”
“Well, get some studying done. I cannotwaitto hear about this guy’s family.”
Something suspiciously similar to nerves rolled her stomach into an icy ball of fear. “I’m a little afraid of his mother,” she said. “Despite what you might think, I’m pretty sure I don’t talk Southern enough for her.”
Beth laughed. “Think of all the fun you’ll have telling me everything afterward.”
Yep. Fun. As long as she could concentrate on having fun, and not worrying whether she was wearing the wrong color shirt, or saying the wrong thing, or being too Yankee, or accidentally insulting anyone, it would be a blast.
Turnedout the theory of Jackson taking Anna Grace home to meet his family and the reality of it were two different kinds of fried chicken.
The theory had thick, crunchy skin and a juicy inside, a high meat-to-bone ratio. She was a special friend and his sister liked her enough to invite her to a football game that sethim on the outs with his whole family every year.
The reality was a mite bit moldy. He hadn’t been able to brush his teeth long or hard enough this morning to get the taste of dread out of his mouth.
Momma had had that look yesterday. Louisa had an entirely different one, as she’d spent three-quarters of the turkey dinner talking aboutJust Anna thisandJust Anna that.
Every time Louisa said Anna’s name, Momma ground her teeth. She kept her smile fixed and her tone pleasant as honey, but he still heard the grating teeth.
It’d been so bad poor Radish had tucked her stub of a tail between her legs and hid in the mud room until Jackson brought her leftovers.
So when he pulled up to Anna’s apartment half an hour early Friday morning, he thought maybe hanging out here all weekend was a better plan.
When he’d take a woman over being in the stadium for the Iron Bowl, heknewhe was in trouble.
Especially since he’d told Mamie he might bring Anna by for bowling after dinner.
Big trouble. Big,bigtrouble.
But Anna opened her door, looking sleepy and stressed out and happy to see him, and he’d never been so glad for trouble. “Anna Grace, you look like you need a break.”
She grabbed a fistful of his third favorite Bama T-shirt—the first two were packed away for the both of them tomorrow—and hauled him inside. He went right along, grinning as big as his old spaniel in a field of squirrels.
When they finally hit the road, Jackson was feeling a lot less stressed. Anna was wearing one of his favorite smiles—the kind she used only when she looked at him. But even when she looked away, when her brain might’ve taken her to thoughts of homework or work or her family or any number of things he hadn’t figured out yet about her, her lips tipped up like she had a secret. It made his chest feel all cozy, as though the outside world were cold and windy and snowy, but his heartwas wrapped up in one of Mamie’s old quilts in front of a fire in that place he’d rented the year he spent at Minot in North Dakota.
Wasn’t even dreading going back into that house that gave him indigestion again today, not with his spunky Anna Grace by his side.
The drive flew by with her chatting about whatever popped into her head, fiddling with the radio, nodding off and wheezing out a soft snore, and jerking back awake with that cute wide-eyed panic that she might’ve missed something. He almost missed the turn off the backcountry highway to head into Auburn proper.
He took the long way, which could’ve meant he toured every street in Auburn before heading toward the iron arches guarding the house Momma had married into. First, he picked one specific street between the airport and the university.
They drew up to a split-level brick home halfway up the block. Jackson slowed the truck. Anna had gone quiet.
Probably thought this was it.
