AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He looks over at me and smiles. "I feel better."
Brax narrows his eyes at both of us. "Wait. You were just holding hands. Are you two..."
A light blush coats my cheeks as Jace starts laughing and looks down.
"I fucking knew it!" Brax yells as he leaps to his feet. "I so called that shit!"
"Braxton! Language," Mrs. London scolds him.
He stops immediately and sits down. "Sorry, Mom."
"It's no wonder you're almost failing English, with that mouth."
Despite the fact that Brax is almost eighteen, he has always been a mama’s boy. It's actually rather adorable, but it's the last thing you would expect with how he acts otherwise.
Mr. London snickers. "She told you."
She turns around and lightly smacks her husband across the back of the head. "You're not much better. I hear you when you're watching football. Where do you think he learned it from?"
"Ha-ha," Jace teases, but the second she whips her head back over to him, the smile drops right off his face and he shields his head.
She looks over at me and sighs playfully. "I hope for your sake you never end up with all boys."
"You and me both."
DINNER ENDS UP GOING surprisingly well. I don’t even know what I was nervous about in the first place. Jace’s parents have never been the kind to judge. They would look at me the same way no matter if I’m their son’s friend, girlfriend, or wife, even.
After we all finish eating, Jace, Brax, and Mr. London all go back into the living room while his mom and I stay at the table. She watches her family leave the room with a loving smile on her face before turning to me.
“I don’t know how you did it,” she says.
My brows furrow. “I’m sorry?”
I’ve known Mrs. London since I was ten and I got my pigtails stuck in her rose garden, but I’ve never seen her look at me the way she is now. There’s something more to it. Somethin
g that makes me feel less like an outcast and more like family.
“He’s different with you.” She glances over to make sure he isn’t coming back. “I honestly thought he would never be the same again after what happened, but tonight, I saw a side of him I haven’t seen in months.”
Looking down, I try to hide my blush. “I didn’t do much of anything.”
“Sure, you did,” she tells me honestly. “I’m not sure how, but I firmly believe you played a key part in saving my son’s life, and I can never thank you enough for that.”
I don’t know what to say. The words are stuck, jumbled with the lump growing in my throat when I think about how far Jace has come just in the last couple weeks. Mrs. London gets up from her chair and walks around the table, so she has to pass by me. She puts her hand on my shoulder and smiles.
“You’re good for him, Paige, and I’m glad you two finally see that you need each other.”
I'M SITTING IN MY room, working on finishing up an assignment I have due. Jace has another therapy appointment, and I'm glad he's going. From what he's told me, he's finally starting to open up to her, and I'm hopeful that it'll really help him. I may not know most of what he's been through, but if it was bad enough to turn him to drugs, it's definitely something he needs to deal with.
The doorbell rings, but I don't make a move to get it. My mom is already downstairs, and this assignment is due tomorrow at noon. Sure, I could put it off for a bit, but since I don't have any plans now, I'd rather just get it done.
"Paige!" My mom calls. "It's for you!"
That's weird. I'm not expecting anyone. Unless, maybe Jace got out of his appointment early for some reason? To be honest, I hope that's not the case, because that would mean he ended it early intentionally. Things have been going so well.
"Tell Jace to just come up here!" I shout back.
If I'm going to need to deal with this tonight, I better get this thing done as soon as possible. The last thing I want is to risk him relapsing. My mind goes through all the possible scenarios that could have happened. Maybe she tried to force him to talk about what happened in Tallahassee? I mean, I saw firsthand what that did to him when Carter did it. Or maybe she just had a family emergency and needed to leave early?
