Until Cece (Happily Ever Alpha World)

“Good to hear.” He steps back and finally allows Mom her turn to officially meet him.

She puts her hand in his demurely with a flirty smile, and I shake my head with a silent chuckle. “Oh yes, my dear. You’ll definitely do.” She looks him up and down as he towers almost a foot taller than her.

“Mom!” I scold.

She lifts a brow and looks at me. “What? I only speak the truth. Look at him.” She gestures up and down his body with the hand not still held in his, and Chaz clears his throat, stepping up to take her hand from Winston’s.

“That’s enough of that,” Chaz murmurs, and Mom and I giggle while Winston grins, reaching up to rub the back of his neck.

“Did you just get here?” Mom asks Winston.

He shakes his head. “I’ve been here long enough for your lovely daughter to make me a fresh jug of her famous sweet tea we added to the menu a few months ago. I’ve been missing it,” he replies, looking down at me with a soft smile that indicates it wasn’t just the tea he missed, and I melt against him.

“I missed you too,” I say quietly, and I’m surprised how easy it is to admit it in front of people.

“So did we miss out on you meeting the girls?” Mom inserts, breaking into the googly eyes we’re giving each other as we turn to face her again.

“Just Ruby,” he tells her, the smile on his face widening.

She furrows her brows at me. “The twins haven’t been down to meet him? Surely Ruby ran up to tell them about the man downstairs with Mommy as soon as it happened.”

I shrug. “I’ve been waiting for the stampede, but it hasn’t happened yet.”

“So about that,” Winston says, and I look at him. “If it’s all right with you, I have a surprise for Lola. After what you told me about how she reacted to her father’s girlfriend, I wanted to make sure I made a good first impression.” He pulls his phone out of his pocket and shows me an email confirmation, and if I wasn’t already head over heels in love with him, this would’ve done it.

I glance up at him and am sure I have hearts in my eyes, and he gives me a sexy smile that makes me internally swoon. “She’ll love that. Did it say six tickets?”

He winces. “I was so excited when it popped up in my search that I only counted you, your girls, me, and Nick. I didn’t take into consideration your parents might want to go.” He flashes them an apologetic look.

Mom waves her hand dismissively. “No, no. Whatever it is, it should just be you all. You don’t need a seventh and eighth wheel.”

I tug his hand back toward me to look at the time. “It starts at five this evening?”

Win nods. “Yeah. It’s a limited showing, only running for two days.”

“Oh my goodness, she’s going to shit,” I tell him, and he barks out a startled laugh.

“I’ll take that as a good thing. I’m going to run home so I’m there when Nick gets off the bus, and then I’ll be right back. How about you tell the girls to get ready, so we can get the hard part over and I can start my wooing?”

35

Winston

I glance in my rearview mirror at my little boy, seeing him look out the window as we drive to Cece’s house. I haven’t told him about his mom yet. My surprise for Lola has multiple purposes. Besides to win her over and get on her good side, I also want to take Nick out to do something fun, out of our norm, introduce him to Cece and the girls, give him a lot of good to think about before I drop the bomb about his mom being put in jail for the foreseeable future.

“Any requests for dinner, buddy?” I ask, turning down the music.

“Pizza!” he yells, and I chuckle, not surprised. The boy would live off of it if I let him. A total strike to his chef father’s heart. Luckily, he likes the pizzas I make him at home and not just the frozen and fast-food kind.

“I think I can make that happen,” I reply, and I see him grin widely.

At a stoplight, I send Cece at text.

Me: Y’all down for pizza before the surprise? It’s Nick’s request, and I’m trying to butter him up before I tell him about his mom.

Cece: Pizza is always a yes for us

I see the dancing dots appear, indicating she’s typing another text, but then they stop. And then they start up again as if she’s questioning what she’s wanting to say. Finally, it comes through, and I understand why she was cautious to ask.

Cece: I know this is all new. And he’ll just be meeting us for the first time. But if you want me to be there when you talk to him, I will be. I’ll always be there for you… and Nick.