Ready for You (Ready #3)(81)

I sat on the floor in between Mia and my mother, who was sitting above me on the sofa. I felt my mom’s warm hand touch my shoulder, and I turned toward her and saw her clutching Mia’s hand as she smiled.

“I’m so happy for you two. This house is beautiful. What you’ve done and accomplished together is beautiful.”

I knew she was speaking about more than the house. We’d managed the impossible, and this house was just the physical representation of the future. Part of our healing had been coming clean with everyone we loved. There were no longer any secrets with my family. They all knew the hardships Mia and I had faced so long ago and the recent ones we’d overcome. Mia had been so nervous about telling everyone, but I knew my family. It had only made them love her more.

“Thank you, Mom,” I said, sliding my hand up to grab hers.

We finished dinner, and I got kicked out of the kitchen as my family cleaned for us. As dessert was brought out, my palms started to sweat. It was just about showtime. I snuck a peek at Mia. She was leaning over the counter, checking out the goodies Clare had brought over, and talking about school. Since Clare was a high school teacher, she was always interested in Mia’s recent return to college.

“It’s good! I’m still a bit rusty. I feel ancient, but it’s only a few classes and two semesters, so I think I’ll survive.”

“You are not ancient!” I reminded her.

She’d finally stopped punishing herself and enrolled back in school to get her teaching credential. It had been a decision that was all hers, and I couldn’t be prouder. Of course, now that she was one step closer to her dream, she was starting to look to me to start pursuing my own.

I only had one at the moment, and I thought it was time to start living it.

Just as I was opening my mouth to make an announcement, asking everyone to gather in the living room, Clare yelped and then cursed.

“Oh, shit!” she cried.

“Mommy said a bad word!” Ollie said, which caused an uproar of laughter.

Clare turned, and I caught what all the commotion was about. She’d managed to spill her entire glass of wine down the front of her ivory-colored blouse, and it was now running down her pants onto the floor. I turned around immediately.

“My top!” she whined, shaking her arm in an attempt to whisk away some of the moisture.

Logan immediately stepped in front of her, blocking her view from the rest of the room. The men in the room immediately began chuckling.

“What are you doing?” she barked.

“Your blouse is now see-through, babe,” he said with a touch of amusement.

“Oh my God,” she muttered in horror.

Picking up a towel off the counter, I took several steps backward until I was in arm’s reach of Logan and handed it to him. The other women in the room helped clean up around her, and Mia took her upstairs to find something else to wear.

I looked around and huffed.

Okay, so that didn’t go exactly as planned, but there is still time.

After about twenty minutes, the women finally descended. Looking less stressed, Clare was now dressed in a pair of Mia’s jeans and a dark brown sweater without a speck of wine anywhere.

“I need chocolate!” Clare announced as soon as she hit the bottom step, which got an encouraging agreement from everyone else in the house.

Soon, everyone was grabbing dessert plates and digging into the platter of cookies and brownies and cutting slices of Mom’s homemade banana cream pie.

I guessed I would begin my plans after dessert. That was fine.

I helped myself to a brownie and sat down next to Mia, who was snacking on a cookie and speaking to Declan about his latest project. My foot tapped nervously as I waited for everyone to finish.

How long did it take to eat a dessert?

Of course, after everyone finished, another round of dishes had to be done.

Can’t do anything when there are dirty dishes in the sink.

That would surely end the world.

Once that was all done, I finally made my announcement. “Hey, guys, could I get everyone into the living room for a minute?”

They all gave me strange looks, and a few grabbed extra cookies as they went, but I managed to get all the adults and children seated quickly. Mia thankfully sat by herself in a chair, which made my life a bit easier.

“Thank you guys so much for coming. It really means a lot to Mia and me. This home has really become the embodiment of our new life together, and—”

“Oh, shoot,” Leah said suddenly. “Lily’s got a diaper situation, and wow, it’s, um…awful. Can we pause this for about five minutes while I go take care of this?”

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I nodded as she got up and took off for the office, grabbing the diaper bag as she went.

This was not my day—at all.

They all stared up at me expectantly.

“Well, just talk among yourselves!” I said, waving my hands.

I walked into the kitchen for a breather. I heard Liv and Mia continue their earlier conversation about going to the farmers’ market next week, and Clare joined in that she wanted to go as well.

Declan followed me into the kitchen, grabbing a couple of more cookies. He said, “It’s for the kids,” and then he turned as he was about to walk back out. “Hey, man, you okay? You seem a bit tense.”