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“That man made his bed,” Mom said with a huff. “What about Claire Jameson?”
“Cash’s mom is upset that she lost all that time with her grandson. She video chatted with him and Cash. Cried through the entire thing. Said that she hadn’t forgiven her husband yet.”
“John should be ashamed of himself for what he put the three of you through.” My dad shook his head. “He’s not the man I thought he was when he lived here. Definitely not a Blossom Berry Falls fella.”
I couldn’t help but smile at that assessment. John and Claire Jameson were far from small-town folks. When I’d first met them all those years ago, I was immediately intimidated. Claire seemed to be always put together nicely: perfectly styled shoulder-length hair that never had a strand out of place, clothes that appeared to be tailored just for her, and always just enough makeup to make her face glow. I remember me and Mia running into her at the grocery store. We were in cutoff jeans, tank tops, and flip-flops. Granted, we were teenagers, but she looked as though she had just finished selling one of those million-dollar houses on television.
“Cash is disappointed in him.”
“And what about you and Cash? How are you two getting along?”
Oh. Let’s see ... first, I told him in no uncertain terms we would not be getting back together. So instead, we had mind-blowing sex. And every time I look at him, my insides turn to goo. He still can read me and knows how to turn me on like a light switch. Nothing major.
Obviously, I wasn’t going to share any of that with them. “We’re doing fine. Once we stopped the blame game and realized we both made bad assumptions, things smoothed out for all of us. Plus, Jimmy adores him. Always had. That’s the other thing. He wants Jimmy for the Hawks.”
My mom gasped. “He’s fourteen.”
“That’s amazing.” My dad beamed, making me roll my eyes.
“Yes, to both of those things. We still need to talk about the future, but putting that pressure on my son isn’t what I want to do. Although college is more important than baseball.”
Before anyone could say anything else, the door swung open. We all turned to see Jimmy and Cash walking in, laughing about something. Jimmy tossed his bag down and looked up, a huge smile spreading across his face.
“Grandma! Grandpa!” He rushed to them and threw his arms around my mom first and then my dad. He looked back and waved Cash over. “My dad is here,” Jimmy announced, bringing tears to both my mom’s and my eyes.
Dad stood when Cash walked toward him. “It’s good to see you, Mr. Hall.”
Thankfully my father took Cash’s offered hand and shook it. “You too. Please call me Bob. We’re all adults now.”
“And family,” Jimmy announced. “Right, Dad?”
My mother and I exchanged a glance full of trepidation.
“Right.” Cash turned toward my mom. “You haven’t changed a bit. Still look more like Hannah’s sister than mother.”
“You’re sweet. Always the charmer. How are you, Cash? We were sad to hear about your injury.”
“Thank you. I appreciate that. But I’m doing well. Better than ever, actually.”
Jimmy shared that he was going to go shower and ran up the stairs. Meanwhile, Cash walked over to me, kissed my cheek, sat on the arm of the couch next to me and started playing with my ponytail as though it was the most natural thing to do. “So what are we all talking about? Did Hannah tell you I was moving back to town?”
My mother brought her hand to her chest, and I rolled my eyes. “No, that is going to be wonderful. Isn’t it, Hannah?”
“Yes, it will be great for Jimmy.” That earned me a slight tug on my hair from Cash. I glanced up at him, and he smirked like only he could.
“Any other news you need to tell us?” my father asked, leaning his forearms on his knees.
I shook my head, and just as I was about to say, “Nope!” Cash chimed in with, “Yes, I’m still in love with your daughter.”
“Can you please excuse us?” I stood so fast I almost knocked Cash off the sofa. Snagging his arm, I pulled him into the kitchen. The first thing I did was open the refrigerator to get out the pitcher of lemonade, and I counted to ten as I did it.
Cash leaned against the counter, arms crossed in front of his chest, looking all gorgeous and relaxed.
“Did you want help pouring?”
“Are you out of your mind?” I whisper-shouted.
“You don’t want help pouring?”
