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Theo came down with damp hair and wearing a nice shirt.
“You look gorgeous,” I said, going over to her.
“Thanks,” she said, and I turned my face up for a kiss. “I thought I might as well, since we were going out.”
Her face and ears were red, and I could tell that she was embarrassed about wanting to dress nice to impress my parents. It was cute as hell and only made me adore her more.
“Shall we go?” I asked, slipping my hand into Theo’s.
“I can drive, if you want,” she said. Her truck was big enough to fit all of us, so Theo drove while I watched her from the passenger side, absolutely and completely in love with her. I couldn’t believe this gorgeous, sexy, talented woman wanted me, but I wasn’t going to question it.
The restaurant was packed, since the summer season was in full swing. Kids were out of school and vacations had started.
We had to wait for a table, and by the time we were seated, I’d said hello to half a dozen people that I knew from around town and had introduced my parents.
I checked in with Theo to make sure she was doing okay by giving her little reassuring touches. She was relaxed back in the booth and chatted openly with my dad about this and that. He asked her about her work, and she asked him about his painting. It was good to see them getting along.
Esme even came over from the bar to say hello and brought us all drinks on the house.
“What a lovely town this is,” Mom said, sipping her drink from Esme. “Everyone’s so friendly.”
“I know,” I said. “But it comes at a price, because everyone knows your business.”
Theo snorted.
“But it means people care about you,” Mom said.
“They care too much sometimes,” Theo said, which made everyone laugh.
Dinner was perfect, and we went home tired and happy. Theo and I went upstairs when my parents went to bed because we had a lot of work to do tomorrow to get ready for the party.
“You don’t need to run yourself into the ground tomorrow,” Theo said as we crawled into bed and she pulled me into her arms. “If I see you running around and not enjoying yourself, I’m going to be angry.”
“Oh, are you being stern with me now?” I asked. “Keep doing that, it’s hot.”
Theo growled, but it was in a playful way.
“Yeah, more of that,” I said, and she leaned down to kiss me.
“Can you be quiet?” she asked me as she slid her hand into my pajama shorts.
“I can try,” I whispered. We hadn’t fooled around since my parents had come, and I was suffering because of it. I briefly considered abandoning them and going to seduce Theo at work. I hadn’t followed through, but I’d thought about it.
“Let’s find out if you can be quiet,” Theo whispered in my ear before yanking on my shorts.
Chapter Eighteen
I did my best, but I still couldn’t look my parents in the eye the next morning at breakfast. My parents, to their credit, said nothing and acted completely normal. So either they hadn’t heard me, which was unlikely, or they were pretending they hadn’t.
Theo ran over to her place with my dad and brought the grill back and got it set up as Mom and I prepped the food. Paige and Esme arrived with their portable bar setup and lots and lots of ice.
Paige and my mom hit it off right away, and I wasn’t stressing about this party as much as I thought I would.
People started arriving and it was a flurry of introductions to my parents and organizing food and giving Theo orders for what to put on the grill. Dad stood by and helped, even though I told him to sit down and relax. He and Theo seemed to have an unspoken agreement to be in charge of the grill and I went ahead and let them.
Esme and Paige kept everyone supplied with delicious drinks, Linley and Gray and sweet baby Georgia came and brought cakes, Natalie and Em showed up with potato salad, Alessi and Charli brought a chopped salad, Sasha and Jax brought chips and fresh mango salsa and fresh-made salsa and several signed Jack Hill books for my dad, Hollis and Julia came with Amanda and more desserts, Piper, Mckenna, and Preston arrived with fresh-pressed juice that Esme mixed into her drinks, and Alessi and Hayden brought Alessi’s grandmother and extra ice, cups, plates, and napkins as I’d requested. Clint, Kim, Mia, and Oliver brought extra hot dogs, burgers, and corn, which was good because we vastly underestimated how much these people were going to eat. Sarah came with her family and I got to meet her husband and children.
My little yard was bursting with people, and I had never been happier in my entire life. The sun was out, the kids were playing and chasing each other with squirt guns, babies were being passed around, and I had my girl at my side.
