The Reluctant Romantics Box Set (The Fall, The Mind, The Heart)

“So you’re in love with our Jack,” Rory said without apology. The whole table went into complete mayhem when .Jack’s dad threw a potato pancake at her. “Couldn’t let the woman have ten minutes, could you, weirdo?”

“RORY!” his Aunt Nadine scolded as Rory completely ignored their disapproval and met my eyes in challenge.

“I think you are. I think you’re a woman severely in love.”

Aware everyone, including an equally irritated Jack, was waiting for an answer, I stepped up to the plate.

Jack began to speak up this time as he put a hand on my thigh in reassurance, but I stopped him.

“Well, he’s got an awful lot of confidence, almost to the point of being a flaw. He’s outspoken and highly opinionated, and it can be overbearing. He speaks with a mouthful sometimes, which is just poor execution, if you ask me. And he does that texting thing, you know the one where he sends more than one to finish a complete thought. I hate it with a passion.” His parents, all five of them, looked on at me with good humor. “He’s got this whistling thing he does when he sleeps. It’s not so much a snore as it is pushing air through his teeth, drives me insane. His clothes don’t always match. He’s severely liberal and isn’t a fan of baseball which I, as a Texas Republican, find sad and completely un-American. The baseball part, anyway. He’s blind to any number of women vying for his attention and yet knows just how to seduce them with a few select words.”

Jack sat back in his chair with a chuckle and crossed his arms.

“He’s not a fan of rap, which I find completely tragic since he listens to everything else.”

“I love rap music,” Rory said, urging me on.

“He’s selfish with food, which is a major flaw as far as I’m concerned, and one of his best friends is my father, who he will have no problem reporting my every indiscretion to.”

“Boo,” Nadine said as the rest joined in chiding Jack, who turned to me with a smile.

“I mean, seriously, I have no idea what I see in him.”

His Uncle Spencer raised his glass and everyone followed. “Congrats, Jack.”

Jack leaned in and kissed me solidly on the mouth with an added “Nice.”

We all clinked glasses, and from there on out, conversation flowed much easier, and the whole table switched from interest in Jack and me to an apparent celebration the following night.

“Thirty-five years,” his Uncle Spencer said to his aunt. “Can you believe it?”

“And I had to propose,” Nadine said back to him with adoration.

“Not true, you beat me to it,” he said, giving her a wink.

“Still liked my proposal better,” she said as she gripped his hand and squeezed it over the table. He mouthed the words ‘I love you’ and she did the same as I looked on. His Uncle Spencer was a handsome older man and had a solid head of silver hair. He was what the two Js would call a silver fox. And his wife defined the word beautiful. And it was more than obvious they were still in love.

I found it encouraging that his parents, Jack Sr. and Amy, had also been married for over thirty years. I hadn’t believed him when he said our families were similar, but each minute I spent at that table made a believer out of me. Jack’s mother was quiet and reserved but very well spoken and had a sweet demeanor, while Jack’s father was just as outspoken or even more so than Rory.

“You should come tomorrow night. It’s going to be one hell of a party,” Jack’s father assured me. Jack looked like a mix of both his parents, getting his hair and eyes from his mother and his father’s strong features. I studied each of them as they spoke as I recalled the details Jack had told me of each of them.

“This party is thirty-five years overdue,” Rory said, looking to fill me in. “They got married behind our backs at the justice of the peace. No wedding or reception. We got nothing,” she bitched openly, full of contempt. Rory’s current hair color was black on the top with blue and purple tips. I had compared her to a Who at first sight and stood by it now as I took in her wild, hot pink jewelry. She was overly animated, but it suited her.

I was smitten with the whole group and saw a little bit of each of them in Jack.

Rory talked a mile a minute, but I heard the last of her question, “… so will you come? They’re finally going to have a wedding.”

“Wouldn’t miss it,” I said, unsure if I would make good on my statement. Jack and I still had to talk, and for a brief second, I started to panic about whether or not he would be excited about the news of a baby. After a long meal filled with delicious food I devoured in abundance and wine that remained untouched only by me, the dinner party came to a close. One by one, Jack’s parents retired to their rooms, giving us our privacy. I could see each of them smile as they hugged Jack. Nadine whispered in his ear as she left the room, and I saw a small smile play on Jack’s lips. They were a highly unusual family, but a beautiful one that worked. I was glad Jack had this kind of mix of people to raise him.

They’d made him into the extraordinary man he was.

“You look tired,” Jack said as he rubbed my shoulders before he began to clear the last of the wine glasses from the table.

“That’s just a nice way of saying I look like shit,” I said as I felt the day catch up with me.

“No.” Jack paused as he looked me over in his expansive kitchen. “You look beautiful… and tired.”

“I still want to talk,” I said as he grabbed my hand and began to turn off the lights. “I didn’t say I was staying.”