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“When exactly are you and my dad gonna get married?”
Cassie almost choked on the water she had just taken a drink of. Her eyes teared up and she started coughing so much she felt like she was going to hack up a lung.
JJ started pounding on her back. “Did it go down the wrong pipe?” she asked Cassie, a concerned look on her face. “That sometimes happens to me.”
“Why do you think we’re going to getmarried?!” Cassie shouted to be heard over the cheering of the crowd. The Thunder had won by twenty-three.
“Because you love him and he loves you. Isn’t that what people who are in love do? Get married? Besides, if you guys were married, I could call you my mom and we’d be a family.”
Cassie felt herself tear up. “I don’t even know if your dad wants to marry me.”
“He does. Trust me.”
“How do you know?”
“Cuz he looks at you like you’re a chocolate lava cake. That’s his favorite dessert. And he’s always pulling you into his chest for hugs and then he kisses you on top of the head. He does that to me all the time so that hasta mean he loves you, too.”
“You know, you’re pretty insightful for and eight year old,” Cassie replied.
“I don’t know what that word means.”
“It means you know a lot about stuff for a kid your age.”
“Well, of course I do,” JJ replied, a grin on her face. “I got my smarts from my daddy. And here he comes now.”
“How was the game?” Jamal asked, wiping the sweat off his face with the towel wrapped around his neck. “Good Christmas present?”
“The best,” Cassie replied. “And I actually can tell you what stuff means and know what’s going on in the game.”
“That’s my girl,” he said, kissing her on the cheek. “But just wait. Christmas isn’t over yet. I have one more present.”
“What?” Cassie asked, a confused look on her face. “We already opened all our presents.”
“This one is special.” Jamal turned around and took something off the chair in front of him. It was a small, black velvet box. Cassie gasped.
Jamal got down on one knee and opened the box. Inside was a beautiful diamond ring. “So what do you think? Would you like to be an official part of our family?”
Cassie shook her head, tears streaming down her face. “I would like that very much.”
Jamal took the ring out of the box and placed it on her finger. “Then let’s do it. Let’s get hitched.”
“About time!” JJ said, getting between the two of them and pulling them in for a group hug. “Now I really do have an awesome mom!”
“And I have and awesome fiancée,” Jamal said. Cassie’s heart was full of love as she looked at the adoration in Jamal’s eyes.
Cassie heard whispers from behind Jamal. Looking over his shoulder, she saw two news cameramen with their cameras trained on them.
Cassie sighed.
“What’s wrong?” Jamal asked.
“Look over your shoulder,” she said. “We have an audience.”
Jamal turned around, seeing the cameramen recording their every move.
“Well, you’ve been on the kissing cam in the arena. How about we give ESPN something to play on Sports Center tonight?”
Cassie wrapped her arms around Jamal and looked into his eyes. “Let ‘em watch,” she said. “My best friend is a makeup artist so I don’t evenlooklike I have a black eye! Even better, I can kiss you any time I want to now. And I’m not afraid of PDA. Just don’t jump over any more chairs to kiss me in the middle of the game.”
“Deal,” he replied, leaning down and kissing her deep and long. “I don’t care about PDA either.”
“WellIdo,” JJ said. “Kissing isgross.But if it makes you my mom, then I don’t have a problem with it. Now we can be a real life family.”
“We sure will,” Jamal said, pulling Cassie and JJ into his side for another hug. “On one condition.”
“What’s that?”
“We just have to make sure she doesn’t try to play any more sports.”
