“She’s smarter than I am,” Tripp said immediately. “If I’m going to convince her she needs me, I need a little time to figure out how to do it.”
West chuckled and wrapped an arm around Tripp’s shoulders.
“There’s hope for you yet, troublemaker,” he said warmly. “You might just wind up being the most serious Lawrence in the bunch.”
20
JILLIAN
The evening of the Winter Formal, Jillian stood in the bathroom, looking at herself in the mirror while the girls gazed up at her with wide eyes.
“You look beautiful,” Posey said reverently.
“Thank you,” Jillian said, doing her best to model the way to graciously accept a compliment for her daughters.
In her heart, she knew it didn’t matter how lovely the dress was, her eyes were still sad.
“You and Tripp are going to look like a prince and princess,” Mari said, her green eyes sparkling.
The reminder of what she had given up stung, but Jillian took a deep breath and let it out calmly.
“We’re not going to the dance together after all,” she said, tugging the bodice of her dress up a little, even though it was already perfectly in place.
“What do youmean?” Posey demanded. “He’s yourboyfriend.”
“We decided it’s better for us to just be friends,” Jilliansaid, figuring it was best to make the decision sound mutual.
And it probably was. Tripp hadn’t even responded to her text.
“But he likes you so much,” Mari wailed.
Jillian turned to her older daughter in surprise. Mari was usually less prone to open displays of emotion.
“And he likes us,” Mari said softly, tears sliding down her little cheeks. “He talks to us and plays with us.”
Jillian swallowed over a big lump in her own throat, and crouched down to Mari and Posey’s level.
“Tripp still likes you very much,” she said. “He’s still a friend of our family. And he’ll still talk to you and play with you.”
Though I’m not sure when…
“The most important thing is that the three of us have each other,” she said, wrapping her arms around them. “And that we have Gram and Grampy. I don’t need a boyfriend, because I have all of you.”
“But he needs us, Mama,” Posey said softly. “He’s lonely.”
“Tripp has an even bigger family than we do,” Jillian said automatically.
But Posey only shook her head and leaned on Jillian’s shoulder, like her mother couldn’t possibly understand the sadness she felt.
Tears prickled Jillian’s own eyes and she wished she didn’t have to go to this silly dance. All she wanted was to stay home with her babies, cuddle up on the couch, and watch Christmas movies until they were all falling asleep.
“Cookies are out of the oven,”Gram called up the stairs.“Anybody want to help eat them?”
And now there are cookies?
“Go on, girls,” Jillian told them, giving them one last squeeze before she let go. “Enjoy your cozy night at home, and we can talk about all of this tomorrow.”
Posey peeled off of Jillian’s shoulder and Mari gave her another squeeze before heading dutifully downstairs. But soft footsteps just a moment later told her that someone wasn’t going to be lulled by cookies.
