Cool, so it’s obvious.
“Mom,” Jace said scoldingly.
“Don’t worry about us, if Jace loves you, we love you. Pretty much end of discussion unless you hurt him.”
“I will not be doing that,” I said, feeling confident for the first time so far. “Ever.”
“You two want a beer?” she asked as the woman I presumed was Lavi stepped into the room. Her long, dark hair was pulled into a side braid and she also wore a Bruin’s shirt with the number fifty on it. A glance at Sloane’s back revealed the nameHarrison, giving me the impression they were wearing them for Leo.
Jace’s eyes flickered to me before he responded to Sloane, “We’ll each take an iced tea.”
“Are you sure? Your boyfriend looks like he could use a drink.”
Jace shook his head subtly and glared at her over Lavi’s shoulder as she hugged him.
“I’m Lavi,” she said to me. “We’re really excited to meet you.”
“Thanks,” I said, shaking her hand.
Jace seemed to still be in a staring contest with his mother.
“Jace, my sobriety doesn’t have to be a secret,” I said calmly, before turning to Sloane. “I appreciate the offer, but I’ve been in recovery for seven years.”
“I’m sorry, Kayden.” Sloane shut the fridge door and handed Jace and me each a bottle of iced tea. “That’s a huge accomplishment. Let me know if we can do anything to make it easier on you when you’re here.” She turned to Jace and spoke through clenched teeth. “You are terrible at communicating with your eyes.”
“You’re all welcome to drink,” I said, opening my iced tea. “I really don’t mind.”
Jace opened his iced tea and grinned at me proudly.
“Not necessary,” Lavi said. “We want you to be comfortable.”
“Thank you,” I said.
“I don’t want to risk any other coded messages,” Sloane said with a disbelieving look at Jace.
“I thought he was pretty cute.” I laughed and tipped my bottle toward their shirts. “Does Leo have a game tonight?”
“Yes, and Lavi’s so excited about babysitting that she’s staying in to watch the game. Sutton’s going with Adrian instead,” Sloane said. “I know you don’t know us well yet, but that’s a huge shake up around here.”
“Oh wow,” Jace said, laughing. “You really do want a kid around again.”
Lavi’s responding smile was huge. “I really do. Speaking of, I’ll be right back. I got KayleePaw Patrolsheets and I want to put them on the spare bed before she gets here.”
“Do you need help?” Jace asked.
“Nope,” she said, already heading into the other room.
“She is seriously thrilled about having Kaylee tonight. Hopefully we can see her more frequently now that you and Liv are together,” Sloane said looking between us, as if to acknowledge that I was with Liv too. It was a small gesture, but it mattered, and it made me like her instantly.
If I brought Jace home to meet my dad, I would likely get punched in the face and called a homophobic slur. If I brought hometwopartners, I wasn’t positive he wouldn’t try to kill me.
“I’m sure you’ll be seeing more of her. Liv deserves real dates with us,” Jace said, smiling at me. “We all appreciate the free childcare from qualified babysitters.”
“Qualified?” Sloane asked. “You’ve heard the stories of us babysitting Leo when he was a kid right? We started with a fifteen-year-old for a reason.”
“We’re great with kids!” Lavi exclaimed as she came into the room with a stuffed dinosaur.
Sloane shook her head and gestured to the dinosaur. “There was so much shopping for this one overnight stay that I had to call in Sutton to relieve me. I’m pretty sure we have more craft and science kits than Kaylee will do in a lifetime, let alone twenty-four hours.”
