“Gross,” Abigail mutters from the backseat, but when I lift my eyes to the rearview mirror to meet hers, she grins.
I’d sat the girls down after they’d come home from my mom’s several nights ago and explained to them that Louise would probably be spending more time around us and asked if that was okay. I had also asked if they were okay with Lou coming with us to family dinner this week.
Chloe had screeched like a banshee, jumping out of her seat and making a mad dash for the coloring utensils. She and Bailey had insisted that I make her a card, to ask her properly, and no, it couldnotbe on a post-it note.
Abigail had been quiet, so while Bailey and Chloe were cutting out construction paper hearts to glue to the front of the homemade card, I’d sat down with my eldest and asked her if it was okay.
Because, ultimately, making sure my daughters are safe and happy and healthy will always be my first priority, even above my own happiness.
She’d shrugged, nodding. “Yeah, I think so. She’s pretty cool.”
“We’re going to take this slow,” I assured her. God, why was this so damn awkward? “We just… we like each other, and I think we’d like to see where this goes. But I want you three girls to be okay with it, too.”
Abigail nodded again. “I like that you smile more.”
“I do?”
“Yeah. You do.”
And that was the end of that. Simple. To the point.
Louise had come over for dinner with us the following night, and the girls had practically tripped over themselves to give her the handmade card asking her to join us at family dinner.
“I know I already asked you, but they insisted we ask properly,” I had whispered, grinning as Bailey and Chloe had bounced on the balls of their feet in excitement, hands clasped tight to their chests in anticipation.
I’m fairly sure my face had been the same shade of pink as the construction paper, but then she’d lifted those damn green eyes to mine, and I’d forgotten everything else. That blinding smile had appeared, dimple popping.
“Are you sure about this?” she’d asked tentatively. “Meeting the family…”
Twining my fingers into hers, I’d squeezed tight. “I’m locked in. Are you?”
She laughed up at me, nodding, eyes sparkling. “I like that.Locked in.”
Now, turning onto my mother’s street, I glance over at her again, squeezing the fingers I still have trapped in mine. “Breathe.”
Louise takes a deep breath in and then exhales slowly, and I grin over at her.
“Good girl,” I mouth, and she rolls her eyes, a true smile lighting her face for the first time since we left my house.
My mom’s car is in the driveway, as well as Joel’s Tahoe, and a giant black Suburban that I can only guess is Xander’s rental car. Before we’re fully parked, the front door is opening, and Joel is stepping out onto the front porch.
The girls are unbuckled and racing out the backseat of the truck before I can say a word. Bringing Louise’s hand to my mouth again, I murmur against her skin, “Ready, Princess?”
“Not even a little bit,” she whispers, but then takes a deep breath in and smiles over at me. “Let’s go.”
I laugh. “You’ll be fine. I promise. They don’t bite.” Climbing out of the truck, I circle the hood and come to her door to help her down, then lean down to whisper, “Well, I can’t speak forJoel. He’s more like a feral housecat we adopted and then just never left—”
The snort of laughter is exactly what I was going for.
Louise slaps her hand over her mouth in horror at the sound, but I grin down at her.
Joel has already wandered back inside the door with the girls, and the amount of noise coming from my mom’s tiny house is truly impressive.
Keeping my hand at Lou’s back, I guide her in through the front door, and down the very short hallway to the kitchen that opens up into the rest of the house. Mom is in the middle of the kitchen standing between my older brother Xander and his wife, Teddy, their newest addition securely cradled in her arms like she might not let go of her newest grandchild.
Joel and Abigail are standing opposite Mom and the baby. My brotherlovesbabies.
A stampede of kids rushes through the living room and down the hallway to the bedroom that the girls sleep in when they have weekends here. Bailey and Chloe are leading the way, followed by Teddy’s son and daughter from her first marriage.
