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“For the sake of my ability to keep my dinner down, can you please stop the face-sucking?” I scolded.
Slowly, my dad lifted his head and blinked his blue-gray eyes a few times. “I don’t say anything when the boy kisses you in front of me,” he reminded us.
“‘The boy’ has never kissed me like that in front of you,” I returned, sitting in the chair beside him after Braxton pulled it out. “You two were putting on a free show for everyone.”
Mom waved her hand in front of her face, her brown eyes glazed with—ugh, I didn’t want to think about why her eyes were so glittery. Her lips were swollen, and her cheeks had a pretty glow to them that burned through her makeup, making her look overheated. Shaking my head at the both of them, I smiled despite the flutter of nervousness still making me uneasy. Drake and Lana Stevenson were the embodiment of soul mates. I was used to very public shows of affection between them, and as a kid, I’d secretly coveted the same kind of relationship with someone when I grew up.
Feeling Braxton’s fingers caress my exposed neck caused by my hair falling over my shoulder, I leaned into his touch. When I’d met Braxton, I’d met my own soul mate. He’d given me the fairy-tale relationship I’d always dreamed of, just as I knew he’d give me the fairy-tale forever we both deserved.
Daddy shifted in his chair before running his fingers through his long hair, untangling it from where Mom had knotted her fingers in the thick locks only moments before. As he pushed the strands back from his face, I couldn’t help noticing how healthy he looked. He was leaner than he’d been before the transplant, but in a good way. His skin had a glow to it instead of that jaundiced yellow color from his heavily scarred liver caused by all his years of drinking when he was younger.
Catching me looking at him, he leaned over and touched his lips to the side of my head. As he pulled back, he lifted his phone from where it had been facedown on the table. “Emmie sent more listings. Two of them are in the same neighborhood as us. There’s one closer to Shane, but I’m partial to this one myself.”
I shifted my chair closer to him so we could look at the pictures of the house he professed to like so much. All it took was a glance at the address to realize why he was so partial to it above the others. It was just a few houses down from the home I’d grown up in.
Laughing, I poked him in the arm. “I told you already, Daddy. I want to do an actual walk-through of any house we consider. We’re looking for our forever home, so it has to tick all my boxes or it’s a no.”
“I’m just saying, it’s a great location, and according to the real estate agent, it fits the criteria for all the things you want.” He rested his arm along the back of my chair and lowered his voice. “And it will make your mom really happy if you’re that close, Nev.”
Mom would be happy. Sure. I totally bought that it was she who would be the happiest if we picked a house so close to my parents.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and pressed a hard kiss to his cheek. “I’ll give it extra consideration when we do the walk-through,” I promised.
That spread a goofy grin across his face. It made me happy to see it and be the one to put it there.
A foot wrapped around the leg of my chair, and I suddenly found myself only inches from Braxton’s chair. It was adorable that he couldn’t go even a few minutes without me close enough to touch. From across the table, Mom laughed. “That house just happened to get listed a week ago.”
“Angel,” Daddy grumbled warningly.
“What?” she murmured, blinking at him in faux innocence. “I’m just making conversation about our neighbors, babe.”
“Seems like they aren’t your neighbors any longer,” Braxton commented with a smirk.
“I’m surprised he didn’t try to pull his antics on the couple directly next door,” my mom said, taking a drink of her water.
“Nevaeh wouldn’t have liked that house,” Daddy told her with a shrug. “Besides, that house only has three bedrooms. This one has five. That gives them plenty of room if they want to start having babies soon.”
“Pregnancy and grad school at the same time?” I shot all three of them a glare. “Not happening.”
“Soon doesn’t have to mean right away,” Mom amended. “It’s an unspecified time frame.”
I folded my arms over my chest and cocked a brow at her. “I’m not having a baby while I’m in grad school.”
“That doesn’t really mean anything time-wise,” she argued with another laugh. “You’re an eighteen-year-old college graduate. You’ll have your doctorate in no time.”
“I could take the job offer from NASA after all.” I didn’t realize the words had even slipped out of my mouth until I saw my parents stiffen.
“You were offered a job with NASA?” they both exclaimed at the same time, each with a different emotion in their voices.
Mom’s was full of wonder and awe, whereas Daddy’s was sharp and filled with dread.
“She didn’t take the offer,” Braxton rushed to answer for me while I fought an overwhelming feeling of guilt for my moment of word-vomit. I hated that I did stuff like that. There were too many pieces of data in my head all at once, and random comments just slipped out. Usually they were things that embarrassed me, but there were times—like in that moment—when they were words that caused those I loved pain.
“I didn’t take the offer, Daddy,” I reaffirmed and was rewarded by the tension fading from his handsome face. “Actually, I turned it down before they even finished their pitch. I don’t want a job to distract me while I’m getting my PhD.”
“Smart thinking,” he said then grimaced. “But if NASA will make you happy, then you should take the job.”
“Living in Santa Monica near you and Mom, married to Braxton, that’s what will make me happy. The job doesn’t matter.”
