Jason laughs loudly. “Oh oh!! I see how it is. Trained her, did you? Bet you didn’t have her actually LISTEN to any of it.”
“I didn’t want to scare her off,” I smirk. “Where’s Jake?”
“With grandma.” Justin points past the people.
“Can’t see him from here. I’ll head over. Want him to meet you,” I tell Luna, leaning down to give her a kiss.
“What the hell, Jett, seriously,” Jason says.
“Yeah, man. Were you joking, or…”
Luna answers for me. “He’s joking. I just met him outside.”
Choking back a laugh, I nod. “Yep.”
They stare at us, not sure what to believe. But then Mom hurries over and ruins it.
“Luna! Oh, look how pretty that dress is. It’s perfect! The dressing room did it no justice. Out here it just shines!”
I steal a glance to Jason and Justin and they’re glaring at me, the first with his hands in his pockets, the latter crossing his arms.
“Thank you, Mrs. Cocker. I’m sorry about last night.”
Mom loses the smile for a moment, but being such a seasoned hostess, it comes back as quickly as it left. “It’s an ongoing feud, honey. Nothing to do with you. I’m just happy you both came.”
I let go of Luna and give Mom the hug she wants. “Sorry, Ma. Lost my temper.”
“I know. You both always do that. You’re just too alike is the problem, in all the wrong ways.”
Justin asks, his voice weighted, “Run in with Dad?”
“Yeah. Probably won’t be talking to him today.”
“Oh!” Mom cries out, seeing kids eyeing the wedding cake like they’re going to stick their fingers in it. She runs off to stop them.
“Let me introduce you to Jake, Sunshine.”
“We want the story, Jett!” Jason calls out.
“Well, then don’t just stand there with your panties in a bunch. Follow us!” I tell him, taking Luna’s hand and leading her across the grass. We nod and smile to people as we make our way through.
Jake’s kneeling in front of Grandma and since she’s pretty deaf, we overhear her loud voice telling him, “You just have to forgive each other. Talk things out, but not everything. Some things you just let go!” He’s nodding, soaking it all in when he sees me coming. His eyes dart to my hand, and at how it’s not empty, then cut to her face. He rises up with a frown, the same confusion they had.
“Giving him marriage advice, Grams?”
She looks over from her chair and explodes into surprise. “Jerald!!”
She’s the only one who can call me that and I’ll never mind. It’s her husband I was named after. I miss the guy. He was good. A quiet man. Served in World War II. Sure did love our Grandma.
I give her a hug and lift her from her chair, then set her back down. “I’m gonna cuss up a storm, Grams. Just warnin’ ya.”
“Don’t you dare!”
Reaching for Luna, I say, “I want to introduce you to my lady.”
Luna with her dark beauty and that beautiful dress complimenting her olive skin, steps up and gets the once over from my grandma…three times. “Hi, Mrs. Cocker.”
“Well, aren’t you a pretty thing?”
After he received only irritated shrugs from the twins, Jake is done being patient. “Jett…”
I turn to him. “Luna, this is the man who’s getting married today. Jake, Luna. Luna, Jake.”
He shakes her hand. “It’s very nice to meet you.”
“He does look like Nancy,” Sunshine tells me, glancing to the brothers.
Justin and Jason have ice-green eyes and dirty blonde hair, like me. Only they’re more model-handsome. I’m more kick-the-shit-out-of-you.
Jake, he’s darker skinned and brown-eyed, just like Ma.
“Jeremy looks more like Jake and Ma, too, baby.”
Grandma demands, “Jett, did you get married without telling us?”
“Not yet, Gorgeous,” I grin, grabbing her aged hand and kissing it, with a wink. “But if we do, we’ll probably elope. Luna and I aren’t the big-wedding types.” I look to her for agreement and she nods with a look that says, no fuckin’ way are we doing this shit.
Jake crosses his arms as the twins walk over to stand on either side of him, like an interrogation is about to happen. Jaxson strolls over and sees this. “Surprised?”
The three of them look over and realize he already knows.
Just for the fun of it, Jax rubs it in. “They’ve been staying with me.”
“WHAT?!”
My older brother and I start cracking up. “Shit, your faces!”
“Language!” Grandma cries out.