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“Don’t be, I like that I do that to you, that the guy I’m falling madly in love with wants me just for being me, but also wants more than just to sleep with me,” she returns, and if there was even one ounce of doubt before, it’s now gone. This girl is mine, and I’m keeping her—for good.
Chapter 7
Jasmine
I keep sneaking peeks at my phone as family dinner continues. Cleo stole Adam’s phone earlier, sending me a photo of her hair, asking if it would look okay to wear to school tomorrow or if she had to take out the braid and wash it like her uncle said. Jaime put it in a French braid after her bath last night, but it looks like Cleo slept hard and a lot of it was falling out already.
It was so hard to pull myself away from Adam last night, and I’m already missing him. I sent back a message asking her what time they left in the morning which had Adam taking the phone, sending me a message back simply with the time. No questions, just when they left the house in the morning for him to drop Cleo off at school.
‘Tell Cleo if she washes her hair tonight without arguing, I’ll be there thirty minutes before you’re going to leave tomorrow to braid her hair if she wants,’ I send, smiling at what Carly says to Mom when she asks how her she’s been feeling the last few days.
You don’t have to do that, baby, but I’ll gladly take seeing you before I have to go to work after missing you all day.
‘Me too. Now tell Cleo I’ll see you both then,’ I reply, my heart fluttering when two messages pop up, one from Cleo based on all the thumbs up and heart-eyed emojis.
Someone’s excited and Cleo is too if you can’t tell. See you in the morning, baby.
‘See you in the morning,’ I return, then sneak my phone away when Jillian wiggles her eyebrows at me with a grin.
“Am I going to have to tell Mom you were on your phone with your boyfriend at the table?” Jillian teases and I shoot her a warning look as it draws questions from the others here tonight. Mom does family dinner every Sunday, only one a month is a ‘mandatory’ for everyone living in town, and the others are for those who can make it that week with their schedules.
Tonight, that’s Carly and Johnnie—plus kids, Jamison, Jeffery, Jaime, Jillian, Joe, Julie and Serena—plus kids, Jesse and Maddie—plus kids, and me. Jennie usually only comes on the mandatory nights and the ones where she has something to brag about.
Jude and Eden are home with the babies. The twins are teething and since they had a night out Friday, they didn’t want to have six crabby babies here and the rest of us feeling like we have to look after them.
Jackie and Ethan have three sick ones at home, so they didn’t want to risk spreading it to anyone else. I get that and appreciate it, even if I don’t have kids to worry about yet.
Jordan gets a pass since he lives out of town of course, but that’s still seven sets of eyes that have slid over to me, not to mention Dad’s. I guess Mom didn’t tell him about my date last night or it wouldn’t be quite the surprise.
“I’m sorry, did you just say boyfriend?” Jamison asks, his brow lifting my way and I know he’s pissed I didn’t tell him anything. I just didn’t want him running Adam off before we went on a single date.
I don’t see him running now, but I don’t want to risk it either.
“She’s just playing around,” I state with a shrug at him. “I had a date. A single date last night, that’s it.”
“Uh huh, and you’ve been smiling at your phone for the last twenty minutes because?” Jillian questions, resting her chin on her on the table, staring at me.
“Be nice or we’ll start asking about all your dates, Sis,” Julie tells her and it’s cute watching Jillian’s face brighten.
She’s probably the most outgoing of any of us girls, had the most dates, but they’ve all been singular dates. I don’t think she’s seen the same guy twice, which is fine with Dad because it means he doesn’t have to worry about the boy doing something stupid.
“I don’t look like a googly eye loon reading the messages from them before I block them though,” Jillian says with a shrug, before returning to staring at me. “So, was it him?”
“A couple of the message were from him, yes,” I state with a sigh, rolling my eyes at her. “The rest were from his niece he has guardianship of, and who I’m putting together a birthday party for in three weeks. Speaking of which, I’m going to need some help to create and put together the idea.”
“What kind of help?” Julie asks as I look from her to Jamison to Joe knowing they’ll likely be my best options.
“Well, if we’re done eating, I can show you the drawings I did, and you all can probably help me figure out what’s going to work best. We’re going to have it at my place so there won’t be issues with set up and since I had you all put in those anchors throughout the space to hook things onto, should be plenty to support things,” I tell them with a growing grin.
“How old is this niece?” Jamison asks when we’re in the living room and I’ve dug out my tablet.
“She’ll be ten,” I admit, giving Serenity a smile as her eyes light up. “She said you’re nice to her at lunch.”
“Who?” Serenity asks, leaning into Serena’s leg with a grin as her moms press kisses to her temples.
“Cleo,” I answer making her eyes widen a bit more.
“She has funny hair and she’s really quiet. I never see her at recess to play,” Serenity says, and I nod, giving her hand a little squeeze.
