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“Man, we’re so glad you could make it.” Caleb slaps my outstretched hand and pulls me into a hug. I slap his back and move to give Gemma a hug as well. When I step back, I gesture to Jane and introduce her to everyone.
She puts on a charming smile, shaking everyone’s hands and engaging Gemma in conversation while I say hi to the rest of the band. I keep glancing back at her, watching her make Gemma and Caleb laugh while holding her own.
Our groups kind of merge into one and I position myself close to Jane, putting my arm over her shoulders as I do so.
“Hey, we’re going to that new club that opened down the street, you two want to come?” Caleb asks.
I look down at Jane and she gives me a shrug, leaving it up to me. I wonder if this is something she truly wants to do or if it’s more of a “I don’t want you to miss out on time with friends” thing.
“Uhh, I think we’re going to go grab some dinner, actually.” I feel Jane relax under my arm and know I made the right choice, but I wasn’t lying about food. Anything I can do to prolong the night.
“Alright, man.” Caleb gives me an easy smile and we say our goodbyes. I appreciated being able to introduce her to a small portion of friends, some that I know will behave themselves while I try to get this woman to give me a shot.
“What? No way.” I dip my spoon into the ice cream that Jane and I were sharing, we found a late-night ice cream food truck that was open and ordered way too many sweets and were working our way through it all, sharing bites with each other like some sort of lovesick couple. I was enjoying it far too much.
“Yes way.” Jane giggles. “My mom would have drilled holes into my head from her eyeballs alone if she could have.” She laughs some more and I grin at her.
She was telling me stories of her times at charity events in New York that featured some elites of the world, including one of the First Ladies of our country and how Jane had slipped and spilled red wine all over the lady’s white dress.
“I’m sure it wasn’t that bad,” I hedge. She’s talked about her mom several times and not very many have been in a positive light.
“Oh, it is. She expects perfection from her perfect test-tube baby.”
I raise a brow; I hadn’t known that tidbit of information. “You’re a test-tube baby?”
“Yup.” Jane takes a scoop of the ice cream and slides it into her mouth, pulling it out slowly.
“So, you don’t know who your dad is?”
“No idea. It’s all a mystery. But my mom didn’t want to waste her time trying to find a partner for life, she was much more interested in making her company successful than creating the perfect family.”
“Well, I guess that’s one way to do it. No family is perfect anyway.”
Jane cocks her head at my words. “Well, I guess that depends on your definition of perfection.”
I smile at her. “Okay, what’s your definition of perfection?”
We’re sitting on a picnic table, the food covering almost half of it and Jane twists in her seat so she’s straddling the bench, her attention fully on me as she uses her hands to demonstrate.
“Okay, here’s what I see. I see a house, nothing huge but big enough for like four or six kids.”
I raise my brows but don’t interrupt, completely amused and intrigued at her vision.
“I want it to be just outside of the city, something easily commutable but not downtown like I live now. I mean, I live on the outskirts overlooking everything, but I want to be a bit farther away.”
“Okay.” I laugh, trying to picture a specific location.
“It’ll have a wraparound porch, or at least a big front one. With giant trees surrounding it and a huge play fort in the backyard. Oh! I want a dog, too! Like a golden retriever or something.”
“Sounds nice.” I smile. “And all of this comes with the perfect, mother-approved husband?”
She looks at me then, a soft smile on her face. “It would be ideal if my mother approved, yes. But…”
“But?” I ask, noting how much closer to each other we’ve both scooted.
“But… I think I just want someone who can make me laugh.” Her eyes seem to get lighter with every word and I can’t make myself look away. “Someone who will love me for me, quirks and all. Who makes me feel comfortable and safe.” She licks her lips. “Someone who will take me to my first concerts.” Her last sentence is on a whisper and I can barely hear her, all I can think about is making that move that I’d been thinking about for the past… well, several weeks.
I don’t even realize how close we’ve gotten or who moved first but then my hand moves to cup her jaw and angle her chin up. She looks into my eyes and maybe she sees the question in them because she moves forward and presses her lips to mine.
