8
Jackson brought Mia to Sunday family dinner at his parents’ place. When they pulled up, everyone else’s cars were already there. They got out of the truck and knocked twice before walking in and announcing themselves.
“Hey, Mia!” Jackson’s mom said. “I’m so happy you could make it.”
Mia hugged his mom and the two of them walked off arm-in-arm. Jackson stared after them.
“Well, hello to you, too,” he muttered.
Jackson walked into the dining room, where most of his family sat around the table. Miles was in the kitchen prepping food, while his daughter Emma colored at the table. Noah was chatting with Ethan and their dad, while Jessa sat beside Emma. His mom and Mia stood off to the side, talking together.
Jackson went into the kitchen, where Miles was working quickly. “Need a hand?”
Miles looked up and nodded. “Yeah. If you wouldn’t mind taking some of these dishes out, that would be great.”
Jackson grabbed a few of the plates and carried them out to the table. Once his brothers and dad saw what he was doing,they stood up and went into the kitchen to help with the rest. Soon they were all sitting around the table with various pasta dishes, homemade garlic bread, salad, green beans, and wine, with sparkling cider for Emma.
“How’s work going, Mia?” Karen asked.
Mia smiled. “It’s going well. The schools are keeping me busy with the kids coming in daily.”
“I bet. It must be nice, though.”
“Definitely. It’s nice to share a love of books with kids. Especially Emma.”
“I like sharing my books with you too, Mia,” Emma said. “I really like reading that dolphin book with daddy.”
Emma’s class went into the library weekly to see Mia and pick out different books. Emma liked to tell everyone which books she was reading and how Mia helped her pick them out.
“That’s a good one,” Mia said.
“We love it. Right, Daddy?”
Miles looked up as if caught doing something he wasn’t supposed to. “Oh yeah. It’s riveting.”
Mia giggled and scooped a bite of pasta into her mouth. She finished chewing and motioned to the table. “This is delicious. Thank you, Miles.”
Everyone chorused their thank yous and Miles tipped his head in acknowledgment.
“So how did that date with Jimmy go?” Ethan asked. “You guys looked like you were having a good time.”
Jackson’s heart rate spiked at the mention of their date. The night had been weird. He hadn’t expected to see Mia show up. It hadn’t occurred to him when he went to the bar that night that he’d be witnessing his best friend on a date with his brother’s best friend. The entire evening, he had to avoid staring at Mia. It was bad enough they were directly in his line of sight. But when they got up to dance, something he knew Mia didn’tparticularly enjoy, and then saw them having fun, he couldn’t take it anymore.
He told his brothers he was exhausted and needed to get some sleep and took off. Truth be told, when he got home, he didn’t sleep. He waited in his dark living room like a fucking creeper for her to get home. Jackson wanted to make sure she got home safely, but the sick part of him wanted to see if Jimmy came home with her. He was relieved when she arrived by herself.
“It was fun. I enjoyed myself.”
“Oh, Jimmy is a nice boy. Are you going out with him again?” Karen asked.
Jackson shoveled food into his mouth, trying not to take an interest in the conversation, but he needed to hear everything that was said.
“I’m not sure. He hasn’t asked me to yet.”
“I heard Jeff asked you out for tomorrow night?” Noah asked.
Jackson dropped his fork, which clattered loudly against his plate, drawing the attention of everyone at the table.
“It slipped,” he said, picking it back up and shoveling more food into his mouth.
