“Is there another baby?”
"No," Beverly laughed. "CJ is the closest thing I have to a grandchild, so I got a little carried away. I don't regret a thing."
I placed him on the changing table and began to undress him.
“So…” Cole’s mother crossed her arms and leaned on the doorjamb. “How long have you been in love with my son?”
“I…um…I…” I stammered, unable to answer. I wasn’t sure what she would think if I told her the truth. My feelings for Cole and our situation were complicated. I wasn’t sure I could explain it to her. I could barely understand it myself.
"It's okay. Cole is pretty lovable." She moved over to the table and took over changing the baby because I apparently froze with CJ lying on the mat spread-eagled and exposed. "Does he know?"
I shook my head.
"I usually make it a point not to interfere with my children's lives, but I love seeing them happy. And Cole's happy. He hasn't always had the easiest time, and Lord knows Reggie and I did our best, but something has sparked in him since you and CJ came into his life, and it's good to see it. I just hope it continues." She pulled up CJ's pants and gave his belly a tickle before picking him up and bouncing him on her shoulder. "And don't worry. This conversation won't leave this room unless this one"—she indicated CJ—"picked up about a thousand more vocabulary words in the last five minutes."
When we reentered the dining room, I was more relaxed, but Cole was visibly tense.
“Did you find everything you were looking for?” Cole asked me while looking at his mother.
“I’m not sure what you mean,” Beverly said, retaking her seat at the table.
She smiled at me, which made Cole narrow his eyes.
“Yeah, I’ll bet,” he muttered.
cole
twenty-two
"So,does your family always fly in a private jet when you go on vacation?"
"Not always, but definitely for the last dozen years or so. My dad hates flying commercial, and my mom got tired of being asked if she was kidnapping me every time we went on vacation."
I was downplaying it, but traveling was really stressful for my family when I was a kid. My mother would carry a file folder with all of my paperwork—birth certificate, adoption papers, family photos, and my passport—even if we were flying domestic. No matter how many times she tried to tell me it wasn't my fault, I always felt guilty. One year we missed our flight to Cancun because of it, and Dad had enough.
"I've never been on a private plane before," Lisa said.
"This is definitely the nicest one I've ever been on," I said while smoothing my palm over the soft leather seats. "Kimberly's soon-to-be brother-in-law is a billionaire, and this is his plane."
“Is there really a bedroom?”
“Are you getting ideas? My parents are on this plane.”
“Hey, that’s an improper employee/employer conversation.” She narrowed her eyes at me with a smirk.
“You’re the one talking about bedrooms. I’m gonna have to report you to the HR department.”
“The HR department?” She laughed.
“Yup.” I pulled CJ into my lap. “Sir, I’d like to file a complaint about one of our employees. What do you think?”
“Joosh,” he replied.
“Well, that takes care of that.” I reached into CJ’s diaper bag and handed him a juice box. “Consider yourself warned.”
“Goofball.” She flashed me a grin that I never got tired of seeing.
My brother climbed onto the plane and started looking around, inspecting the seats, the paneling, and the windows before he approached me.
