Any qualms I’d had about scaring him off by saying it too soon were gone, and even though Jordan wasn’t there yet—or at least, he hadn’t said it back—I wasn’t worried. Itwasquick, but it was also real, and the way my boy responded to me was all I needed.
“Andy,” Mom said as we finished dinner, standing to grab a couple of the serving dishes. “Help me clear these to the kitchen?”
Jordan immediately shoved his chair back. “I’ll help, Mrs. A.”
She beamed at him, but shook her head. “Sit, honey. You’re not allowed to help until you start calling me Mom like I told you to.”
An adorable blush spread across his cheeks.
“Besides,” she said as I stacked some plates and went to follow her. “I need to get my son alone so I can grill him about whether or not he’s treating you right.”
“Uh,” Jordan said, doing a fantastic deer-in-the-headlights impression. “Yes?”
“Ignore her,” Lizzie said, flipping her hair. “She probably just wants to double-check that she got the right size paj—”
“Elizabeth,” Mom snapped, cutting her off. “No spoilers.”
She rolled her eyes. “It’s not a spoiler when you get us the same thing every year.”
Mom huffed out a breath, but couldn’t argue the point.
I followed her into the kitchen. “You did get my message with his sizes, right?”
“Of course I did,” she said. “I bought the pajamas last week. Oh, I also got him a coat.”
I laughed. “So did I.”
Her lips twitched. “I’m pretty sure William picked up a new one for him, too. We’ll see if he can remember to wear one if he has three.”
Probably not… but I could help with that.
“So… is a coat the only gift you got him?” she asked, far too innocently for me not to be suspicious of her motives.
“No,” I said, even though a couple of the gifts I had for him were definitely not ones that we’d be opening in front of my family. “Why?”
She winked at me. “Because he’s a keeper.”
“Definitely,” I agreed, scraping dishes while she started stacking the dishwasher.
After a minute of silence, she huffed out a breath. “Andrew, don’t tease me. What else did you get him? Are you putting a ring on it, or not? We don’t want to lose him.”
“So, you’re saying you like him?” I said, grinning.
She straightened up from the dishwasher, putting her hands on her hips. “I’m saying that I’d like the boy to start calling me Mom, and it’s onyouto make that happen.”
Kate popped her head around the corner. “Mom, you do know you’re insane, right?” she said, rolling her eyes. “Andy can’t marry Jordan. They just started dating.”
“Are you eavesdropping, young lady?” Mom asked.
“Totally,” Kate said unrepentantly, sucking on a candy cane. “But only because I want to make that apple cider with whipped cream before we open presents tonight.”
“Apresent,” Mom said, pinning Kate with a mom-look as Kate started bustling around the kitchen getting out the ingredients for spiced cider. “One each, honey.”
“Iknow, Mom,” Kate said, rolling her eyes again… as if she’d already forgotten all about pushing to open more than one every single year.
Mom turned back to me, raising an eyebrow.
“What?” I asked.
