After an hour and a half of getting ready (much longer than I usually take), I finally joined my family downstairs. Ronan and my mom were already back from the store and had started grilling, and Olivia’s car was pulling in the driveway. I joined my mom and Ronan out back, because I wasn’t ready to face Jax yet. I couldn’t avoid her for long, though. Not even five minutes later, there was a tap on my shoulder, and I turned to see Jax standing there.
Butterflies fluttered through my stomach when she smiled at me. “I need to get back inside and hang out with your sister so she doesn’t accuse me of liking you more than her, but I just wanted to come say hi. So, hi!” She waved her hand in a half circle to emphasize her greeting.
“H-hi. Did you sleep well?”Get a damn grip. You’ve known her forever. Don’t start getting awkward now. It was one kiss. A great one, but just one and that’s how it’s going to stay.
Jax bounced back and forth on the balls of her feet as if it was impossible for her to stay still. “I did! The bed was much more comfortable than the couch, so thank you.”
“Of course.” We both stood there just staring at each other as if we were both waiting for the other person to speak, but I wasn’t sure what else to say. All I knew was that if Jax kept looking at me, the tingling sensation spreading throughout my body was going to get the best of me and I might do somethingincrediblystupid, like kiss her right here. “I guess you better get back to my sister, huh?”
“For sure.” Jax turned around and skipped away, completely unaware of the moment we had just shared, or at least, what had felt like a moment to me.
The day was nice, but pretty uneventful. I was always at my happiest when my whole family was together, so I found myself smiling and laughing throughout the day. The only time I spent with Jax was when we were both in conversation with the same person, but that made sense since we would be going home together.
When it was late in the afternoon, my brother announced they had to leave so they could get home before it was super late. I asked Jax if she wanted to head out as well, and she agreed, which was good since I still had a list of things to do to prepare for the week ahead.
“Wait!” my mom shouted above everyone. “Before everyone leaves, I want to get a picture of all of you together. We need some updated pictures.”
We really didn’t since my moms’ vow renewal had only been a few months ago and we had plenty of pictures from that,but I wasn’t going to say that to her. I knew how happy it made her to have an ungodly number of pictures of her children.
My siblings must have felt the same way, because we all gathered together without any complaints. My mom looked over to where Mallory, Quinton, and Jax were standing and waved her hand at them. “I saidallof you. Let’s go.”
Jax pointed to herself. “Even me?”
My mom scoffed. “Of course. You’re family.”
The smile on Jax’s face made it seem like my mom had just told her she was part of a prestigious organization, not just a member of our crazy family. It was cute though. Waytoocute.
Quinton and Mallory naturally stood next to my sister and brother, which left Jax to stand by me, almost as if we were a couple.Which we’re not.
I shook these thoughts from my head and smiled for the picture, trying my best to ignore the warmth of Jax’s body pressed against mine.
My mom smiled proudly after taking a few pictures. “This is a really good one. I’m definitely getting this printed.”
“Get it made nice and big, so it can go over the fireplace,” Jax joked. “If I’m family, I need to be in more family portraits.”
The picture that was currently over the fireplace was one of our whole family from Ronan’s wedding. My moms were obsessed with that picture, so I was pretty sure it was never coming down.
“That’s very true.” My mom wrapped Jax in a tight hug as if she really was one of her own children. “I’ll find a good place for it, don’t worry.”
That answer seemed to satisfy Jax, and there was an extra skip to her step as she said goodbye to all of my family members and gave them big hugs. I followed her lead and after just a few minutes, we were back in my car with Speck lying peacefully in Jax’s lap.
We listened to music quietly, neither of us saying a word. “So, I’ve been thinking,” Jax finally spoke into the silence after an hour had passed.
I swallowed hard as my palms became sweaty against the steering wheel. My mind swirled with thoughts of what Jax might say. Was this about the kiss? Did she regret it? Did she wantmoreof it? “Yeah?”
“I’m off on Saturday next weekend. Maybe we could do the picnic that day. That way, we get it in before it starts to get too cold.”
God, I was stupid. Here I was thinking Jax was talking about the kiss when she most likely wasn’t even thinking about it anymore. Of course she was talking about the list. That’s what all of this was about. “The picnic sounds great.”
A fake romantic date when my heart refuses to get in line with my head—just great.
Chapter 14
The day of my picnic with Jax, I woke up early after being in and out of sleep throughout the night. All week, I switched between dreading this day and looking forward to it more than I should.
When I walked into the living room of my apartment, I was surprised to see that Jax was already awake and jumping around to some dance workout video on the TV. She stopped dancing and paused the video when she noticed me. “Sorry. I didn’t wake you, did I?”
I shook my head and brought my hand to my mouth to try to stifle my yawn. “No, I didn’t even hear you. I just couldn’t sleep.”
