“Mommmm!” Reese screeched, racing into the kitchen from the backyard, wrapped up in a towel and dripping water from the pool throughout the house. “Mom! Mom! I made two new friends Catie and Garrett and they are so much cooler than Mia and Randy and and and their mom said I could go to their house sometimes and make cookies and stuff and and and, who are you?” Reese breathed out as she looked toward my parents after rambling off a million words a second.

Mom smiled to the little girl and bent down to meet her at eye level. “I’m Michelle, and this is my husband, Richard. We are Oliver’s parents.”

Reese’s eyes bugged out. “You made him?”

“That’s right,” Mom said.

“Like, he was in your stomach?”

“Yup, yup.”

“How?” Reese questioned. “He’s so big.” We all laughed, and she looked confused as to what was funny. “That’s my mom over there, and I was in her stomach when I was a baby, too,” Reese said matter-of-factly.

A flash of despair washed over Emery’s face as those words left her daughter’s mouth, and no one else caught it, because they weren’t looking her way. It disappeared as quickly as it had shown up.

“Anyway, Mom! Can I go to Catie and Garrett’s house sometime?” Reese said, coming back around to her main point.

“We’ll see, honey. But how about you get back outside. You’re dripping water all over the house.”

“Okay, Mom, thanks.” She dashed out of the room as fast as she entered, yelling, “You guys! My mom said yesssssssssss!”

“And that right there is my daughter, Reese,” Emery said. “The energetic bunny.”

“She’s adorable and looks just like you,” Mom said.

Emery simply smiled and didn’t say anything else.

Dad rubbed his hands together. “So, I’d better get a quick bite before Oliver and I get the grill going.” Without any hesitation, he dived straight into the meatball sliders, groaning in pleasure as he bit into one. “Holy moly, this is good. You weren’t kidding, son. She is amazing.”

“Amazing, huh?” Emery asked with a smirk. “You think I’m amazing.”

“Yeah, they were. You said she’s freaking amazing. I have a memory like no other,” Dad argued.

“All right, how about the two of you head outside and get the grill fired up. You’re talking too much,” I ordered, shooing my parents away.

“I can tell when we aren’t wanted. Okay. We’re going. It was a pleasure meeting you, Emery. Hoping we get some time for some girl chat later on,” Mom said, winking her way.

Why the wink, Mom?

The two of them took each other’s hand and danced their way to the backyard, because that was what my parents always did with one another—they danced and joked and loved on each other.

The only time they’d ever stopped dancing was when Alex passed away. I was happy they’d found their rhythm again.

Emery was still smirking my way with her hands on her hips.

“What?” I asked.

“You think I’m freaking amazing, huh?”

“Oh God. Don’t let it go to your head.” I dramatically rolled my eyes as I popped one of her apps into my mouth.

“Too late. The ego has been inflated. I am freaking amazing, and no one can tell me differently.”

I shrugged. “You’re average at best.”

Her jaw dropped open. “You’re lying.”

“I’m lying.”

She smiled.

I smiled.

My gosh, I was beginning to fall in love with that woman’s smile.

“I should go ahead and help my dad with the grill. But yeah.” I rocked back and forth in my shoes. “We’ll talk later.”

“Wait, before you go.” She leaned forward and rested against the countertop. “Can you tell me how freaking amazing I am?”

20

OLIVER

“Well, I’ll tell you what, that Emery girl can really cook,” Dad said as he and I sat in the studio while everyone else was outside waiting on the fireworks to begin, although they wouldn’t start for a few hours. We’d spent the past few hours celebrating the holiday outside, and I wanted to share some of my new music with him to try to get his input.

“She’s a very nice girl, too,” Dad added.

“She’s a hard girl not to like.”

“Based on her cooking skills, I see why you like her, too,” he joked. “So, is she?”

“Is she what?”

“Your girlfriend?”

“What? No. We are just . . .” What were we? Associates? Friends? Were Emery and I friends? “No. She’s not.”

“But you like her, and don’t go lying to me trying to deny it. I’m your father, and I know when you’re lying. All those years dating that Cam girl, and I ain’t ever seen you look at her the way you look at Emery. She must mean something big to you.”

I agreed. I knew it had only been a few short weeks since I’d met Emery, but she was the first woman I’d ever found myself opening up to be with. I knew if I was going to be hers, I had to crack open the layers of myself that I normally kept to myself.