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“I’m proud too.”
He kissed my temple. “Thank you.”
Since everyone was ending their walk in the town square, it felt like we were swimming upstream, against the flow of people.
“There’s my family!” I said, seeing my moms and brothers in the crowd heading toward us. Fiona must’ve stayed back at the town square. I wondered if she had an art project ready to unveil there tonight.
Ryan went tense beside me. “Should I—do they—are we good?” he finally got out. He’d created some space between us even though our hands were still linked.
I pulled him back against my side. “We’re good. Come meet them. They’re going to love you.” I hadn’t meant to say the word love. It was just a phrase, a saying. But my cheeks heated as it passed my lips.
He didn’t seem to notice. “I hope so.”
Momma smiled as we approached. “Well, this is a welcome sight. Hello.”
“Momma, Mom, this is Ryan Moreno.”
He held his hand out and shook each of theirs.
“We know who you are,” Mom said. “But it’s nice to officially meet you. I’m Lauren,” she added. “This is Jessica. Jess.”
“It’s nice to meet you too,” Ryan said. “After all this time.”
“It really is a shame it hasn’t been sooner,” Momma said. “And I’m sorry that we’ve … let a lot of unresolved history breed new misunderstandings.”
“Not sure they were all misunderstandings,” Ryan said. “I think my parents could have been kinder.”
I snaked my arm around his waist, appreciating his words.
“We all could have been,” Mom said.
“I’m Harris!” Harris said with a big smile. “I like your reindeer.”
“They aren’t mine. They’re Santa’s,” Ryan said in a serious voice.
Harris laughed.
“We’ll walk with you,” I said to Mom.
“No!” Marcus said.
“What? Why not?” I asked.
“We were hoping you would swing by the house and pick up…” Momma started but seemed to forget how that sentence ended.
“The cookies,” Mom chimed in. “For the announcement in the town square tonight. We left them on the table.”
“Cookies?” I said. “People are bringing desserts?”
“They sure are!” Mom said.
“Why are you all acting weird?” I asked.
“We can get them,” Ryan said. “If you need us to.”
“Great!” Momma said. Then she surprised me by giving Ryan a hug. “Thank you.”
Mom hugged him as well, and Marcus gave him a fist bump. Strange. I narrowed my eyes at Marcus.
