Jason squeezes my thigh gently, leaning down to kiss my forehead. I look up at him, and I see so much adoration in his eyes that I could simply burst.
What I don’t expect, however, is for Lennie to screech. “YOU’RE GETTING MARRIED!”
And then for my own daughter to respond, also screeching, “I KNEW IT!”
My face turns the brightest shade of red I think it’s ever been, and I squeeze my eyes shut in embarrassment. There’s a hushed laughter at the table, and I don’t know what to do.
I open my eyes, and Jason reaches to clasp my hand in his. “Girls, we talked about this. We’re not getting married.”
I look over to Marley, cringing internally as I hope she isn’t upset that I might be taking over her special moment, but all I see is a giant smile and laughter in her eyes. My worries about upstaging her go away and I let out a deep sigh.
“But you kissed my mom,” Presley counters, pointing at me. “And she’s all red! You’re getting married! You saidpeople who are in love get married, and she’s definitely in love.”
“Presley, quiet down please,” I say, trying to get her to lower her octaves. “We’re not getting married.”
I look to Jason for guidance, and he’s still looking at me with those chocolate brown eyes full of love. “No, we’re not getting married. We are together, though. We are dating,” he announces, and the table lights up in cheers and congratulations. I can’t help but be overwhelmed by the complete outpouring of love.
Jason continues, “It’s still new, and we are figuring things out, but I guess the cat’s out of the bag.” He wraps an arm around me, pulling me into his embrace.
He’s so different when he’s not fighting his feelings, though I guess I am too. It’s much easier to fall for him than fight the connection between us. I can take a full breath and sink into the possibilities the future might hold.
35
JASON
Everyone knows. Everyone knows Fallon and I are dating, and I didn’t spontaneously combust. Now that we’re here, I don’t quite understand what I was so worried about all this time, but it seems as though it was all wasted energy.
After brunch, Fallon and I took the girls back to my place, and we explained our relationship. We told them we are dating, and even though we are, we might not get married, because sometimes people break up. The girls seemed to understand, and were happy with that response for now. Time will tell if they really understand and don’t tell everyone they see that we are getting married.
Fallon still has to tell her mom that we are together, but she doesn’t foresee it being an issue. We’ll have dinner with her the next few weeks so she can get to know me. I’ve really only met her in passing, and I’m looking forward to getting to know her mom better. I’m in my office, working on some back end things, when there’s a knock on the door. Thomas and his dog, Arson, are standing in the doorway.Thomas is still in his full uniform, like he recently got off a shift.
A glance at the clock confirms my thoughts. “Hey, what’s up?” I ask my younger brother.
He shrugs, flopping down in one of the extra chairs I have. “Just another day,” he responds, his voice gravelly.
Arson bounds over to me, shoving his head in my lap as he tries to get some head scratches. I do, scratching behind his ears, earning me a low moan from him.
“Did something happen?” I ask. We can usually tell when Thomas has an off day at work. He leans on us, usually without even realizing it. You kinda have to pry the information out of him though. He shrugs again, and a knot forms in my gut. When he is reticent to even give you any information, it usually was a very bad day. “Thomas?”
“I don’t think I’m ready to talk about it, yet,” he admits. “I didn’t want to go home.”
“That’s fine. Do you want to come have dinner with Lennie and I?”
He glances up, and I see how bloodshot his blue eyes really are. “Can I?”
“Of course. I wouldn’t have offered it if I didn’t mean it. Besides, Lennie will love the one-on-one time with Arson.”
“Thanks, man.” He comes across the small room to give me a hug. I hold him tight, letting him take his time, listening as his breaths shake in my ear. I’m not going to push him for information, but hopefully he knows he can tell me anything. It makes me wonder if it has anything to do with the drug circles that seem to be popping up locally. He’s run more OD codes in the last year and a half than he has in his entire career, and they can’t get to the bottom of it.
When he pulls away, I squeeze his shoulder. “Can you distract me?” he asks, and I nod.
“Sure.”
“What’s going on with you and Fallon?”
I smile, honestly a little surprised it’s taken him this long to bring it up, though it has only been a few days since Sunday Brunch. “What would you like to know?”
“How did it start? Last I heard, you were avoiding her like crazy.”
