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“Yeah, didn’t think he was going to try and use my sister to get a bid,” Jamison grumbles.
“Well that’d be kind of hard to do since he didn’t know who you all were until we walked in here,” Jasmine says drawing more looks at us. “I never told him my last name or talked about the company.”
“I was about to ask her for it Thursday when we stopped in at the school so I could add her to the approved list to pick up Cleo. She was stopped by some of her nieces on their way in, but I didn’t have to interrupt them since the secretary already knew her information,” I add rubbing Cleo’s shoulder as she leans back against us.
“Really? So you just happened to go into my sister’s place and just happened to start dating her right as you were putting in a bid to the company?” Jamison asks, stopping when a hand comes down on his shoulder. The man has to be Jasmine’s dad and a bit of nervousness hits me.
“Jamison, look at your sister,” he says, and it pulls my eyes to her as well, as she curls up in my side more. “Now look at the way he’s looking at her and tell me he’s trying to pull something over on us.”
“But…”
“We get it, she’s your twin and you’re never going to like anyone she’s with, but hey, we’ve already seen what kind of guy he is, so give him a break,” Jesse states and looking from him to his father the resemblance is remarkable, but it’s nothing when a couple women move up and it's like looking at one twenty years in the future or the past.
“Dad, this is Adam,” Jasmine says smiling up at me before her hand rests on Cleo’s shoulder, “and this is his niece Cleo.”
“It’s nice to meet you son,” Jake says, shaking my hand before crouching down to Cleo. “I think you might already know someone here, why don’t we go find Serenity and the other girls and let Jasmine introduce your uncle to the others? I think we can find some cookies if you don’t tell anyone,” he adds making Cleo smile, taking his hand with total ease. “I’m Jake, but you can call me Pop-pop, Papa, or Grandpa if you want, I suspected you’ll be my grand-niece soon based on the way your uncle’s looking at my girl after all.”
Cleo lets out another giggle, her eyes dancing with our secret as she hurries out with him.
“Seriously, that’s all the inquisition he gets?” the younger of the two that look nearly identical says pulling a chuckle from the older one.
“You were his first little girl to get married, of course he was harder on Ethan, but it worked out better than you anticipated thanks to your momma, didn’t it?” the older one says and Jasmine laughs, before filling me in on how Jackie introduced Ethan to their dad, and how they announced their engagement the same day Jillian was born.
“Not your boyfriend, hmm?” a younger girl asks Jasmine as she pops up from behind us, and while it’s not as shocking to see the resemblance of the girls, it’s still amazing, and explains entirely why Doug said all the girls were gorgeous.
“This is Jillian the little brat,” Jasmine states, making me chuckle because the love flowing between them is something amazing that I certainly didn’t have with Marcy. This family though…it’s definitely what Cleo deserves and at least now she’ll get to be part of it.
“You went to Hadley, didn’t you?” one of the women asks after introductions were made, and I’m not entirely sure I have everyone’s names correct.
“Why does it matter, Jennie?” Julie says, rolling her eyes at the other woman. “You can ignore everything she says and does, we only tolerate her because she’s family.”
“Be nice,” Serena states, and the look the two of them share is seen around the room by all the couples and I’m very happy to add to it with Jasmine.
“Just wondering because he looks familiar. Pretty sure he’s around my age so just curious,” Jennie says, rolling her eyes at Julie in return and I can hear Jasmine laugh beside me.
“Actually I did, graduated sixteen years ago in May, then came here to take over my father’s company when he died,” I state, not bothered by the fact in the least that she might remember me. I wasn’t wild even in college so it’s not like I did something with her and forgot.
“You were roommates with…Arthur Dale,” Jennie says, and I nod. “I dated him for like two minutes.”
“You lucked out because he was a creep and more,” I state, before turning my attention to the one person I’m here for—my girl.
I’ll hopefully get a few minutes with Jake to tell him my plans, ask his permission, and I’m sure I’ll be able to bring Jamison around to me. Eventually at least. When he sees how happy Jasmine is with me, I’m sure he’ll be cool with it.
Chapter 13
Jasmine
The last two weeks have flown by, and I honestly can’t believe we got all of this done. The center looks amazing. My brothers and Julie knocked it out with getting the structures set up and my team’s decorating of them is outstanding.
I lift my hands to my lips to stifle the happy little squeak that bubbles up and the light hits on the ring on my finger, making me warm entirely. Adam slipped it on my finger after we got home from him meeting my family, and I was speechless, even more so when he said it was more of a promise ring than my engagement ring, but to start planning our wedding because I was sure to have it soon.
I’m so anxious for him to actually propose. I pretty much already have the wedding planned, beyond the actual date and his attendants. Hell, I even have a dress picked out. It was from a trunk show, something that wasn’t part of a normal collection and I fell entirely in love with it last week.
I went into the store to buy a new dress for an upcoming event, but when I saw that one, I knew it was mine. It’s hanging in my closest at Mom and Dad’s right now.
I’m a little sad that we won’t have to worry about a baby bump just yet, but I’m sure it’ll happen when it’s supposed to, just like I met Adam when I was supposed to. I won’t mind having an extra month or two of just us and Cleo.
She loves the family dinners even more than I do, especially playing with Serenity and Amelia, and even Alex who’s only a year older than her. He turned eleven in December so they’re all close in age and coming to the party.
