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“Will there be enough food?” Jay asked.
“She was the one to tell us to invite you,” Janessa said. “So I’m sure that she must be planning enough.”
“Okay. I’ll be there.”
“Great!” Janessa flashed him a smile before disappearing once again.
He wasn’t as frequent a visitor at Janessa and Charli’s place as Gareth was—even before he’d gotten involved with Aria. Part of that was because most days, he’d had enough of the siblings he worked with. He had no desire to socialize with them in the evening.
When he’d been dating Casey, she hadn’t liked to hang around with his family, so he’d rarely spent much time with them. Now, he dropped by once a week, usually, but now, here he was, going for dinner again when he’d been there only three days ago.
After he finished his work for the day, Jay tugged on his jacket and grabbed his keys and phone off the desk. The others were just leaving the building, so he followed them out, locking up as he did.
“Are you coming right over?” Janessa asked.
“I might as well. There’s no need for me to change, is there?”
When she shook her head, he headed for his car. Gareth and Aria had left already, so only his car and Janessa’s remained in the lot.
He swung by the grocery store on the way to pick up a bouquet of flowers to express his thanks to Denise for inviting him for dinner. His mom would be proud of him. Both of them.
At the house, he knocked on the door, then stepped inside since they were expecting him. Conversation and the smell of food greeted him.
It was so different from when he stepped into his apartment. There was never any sort of welcoming presence there. That didn’t really bother him, but that didn’t mean he didn’t appreciate it when he encountered it at Janessa and Charli’s or his parents’ homes.
“Heya, Uncle Jay,” Layla said when she spotted him.
Gareth had been holding her, but he set her down when she wriggled in his arms. She darted over to Jay and lifted her arms. Though she was probably too old to be carried, Jay alwaysindulged her, swinging her up so that she could hook her arm around his neck.
“Doesn’t it smell yummy?” she asked as she rubbed a hand across his hair. She’d started that as a toddler whenever he’d held her, and she was the only person he allowed to do it.
“It does smell really good.” He couldn’t quite place his finger on what the scents might mean as far as the meal being prepared, although he could pick out the aroma of freshly cooked bread. That was enough to make his mouth water in anticipation.
As he made his way into the kitchen, he realized it was more than just him and Gareth who’d been invited. Cole and Skylar were there, standing close, fighting if their expressions were anything to go by.
After handing the flowers to Denise and thanking her for the invitation, Jay set Layla down and headed for the teens. “What’s going on?”
Cole scowled at him while Skylar crossed her arms and kept her irate gaze on Cole.
“I was asked out on a date,” Skylar said.
“Oh?” Jay bounced his gaze between the two of them. “What’s the problem, then? You know the rules Dad has for dating.”
“It’s Aiden,” Cole muttered.
“Ah, I see,” Jay said with a laugh.
“Would you be laughing if Will had asked Janessa or Charli out?” Cole demanded.
Jay considered it for a minute, then shrugged. “I wouldn’t care much now if he dated one of them, but I might not have been too thrilled about it at your age.”
“Exactly.”
“But I wouldn’t have beaten him up if he asked one of them out,” Jay continued, then peered more closely at Cole. “You didn’t beat Aiden up, did you?”
“Of course not,” he scoffed. “I just don’t think they should be dating.”
“It’s not like we’ll be going off alone together,” Skylar said. “He just invited me to go out with you guys on Friday night to get ice cream.”
