I rushed to amend his statement. “I can stay wherever. If it’s Jett’s room, he’ll obviously sleep on the floor.”
“Of course he will.” Nancy winked at her son. Then she let go of my arm to pour some tea. She proceeded to add a splash of liquor into the hot tea before handing it over. “Take the edge off if you want. Just remember, you’ve been known to drink with me and Brey before dating my son. I’m still the same person, Vick. I just have more ammo to equip you with in the dating field.”
Truthfully, I’d always enjoyed a night out with Jaydon and Brey in college. Sometimes, Nancy would roll into town to see her son and join us. She was that woman who could fall in step wherever, completely comfortable and accepted anywhere.
“I’m trying to process everything,” I admitted. “I had a whole story prepared for today.”
Her smile warmed the room, and as I sipped the spiked tea, I relaxed a bit. “Isn’t it so much better to stick with the truth?”
The temptation to give an answer that would appease her was strong, but I gave the honest one instead. “Maybe. I’m not sure what to expect.”
“No one in love does.” She contemplated her estranged husband and my Phantom walking toward us. I would have corrected her—Jett and I weren’t in love—but I had a feeling she wasn’t talking about us anymore.
“A lot of traffic on your drive in?” Senior Stonewood asked.
Jett shook his head no. “Want to get settled in?” he whispered near my ear.
“Don’t steal her from me already. I barely get any woman talk around here,” Nancy pouted.
“You wanted this old man here with you all the time, Mom. Now you got him.” His dad scoffed at him as he steered me toward the stairs. “We’ll come have a drink once we get unpacked.”
At the top of the massive staircase, portraits of the Stonewood boys lined the walls. Their dark hair and blue eyes made them heart-stoppingly gorgeous children.
I halted to point at a picture of them dressed up in baby suits with their hair combed to the side. It captured my eye because they were all covered in mud—Jett, with his arms crossed, glared at Jax and Jaydon who were smiling ear to ear while smearing more dirt on each other. “This is the cutest thing ever.”
“Easter Sunday. My little brothers thought playing in the mud was a wonderful idea.”
A laugh escaped me, and Jett rolled his eyes as he held up my bags. “Bedroom’s this way, Pix.”
I scanned the wall. “Give me a minute. I have to absorb your childhood.”
He disappeared and then was back without our bags. His arms slid around me, and his scruff tickled my ear as he said, “See. No glaring issues in my childhood.”
I rubbed his forearms as I examined another picture with Jett on the side, glaring at his family again. This time, his mother and brothers were covered in paint while he sat casually on the side, completely untouched, in jeans and a white T-shirt. I pointed to it. “When was this taken?”
“I don’t know. Probably when I was fifteen. My mom hired a photographer to capture the family dynamics.”
“They captured them all right.”
“Getting paint everywhere for a picture serves no purpose.”
“What about enjoying yourself?”
“Washing all that shit off was not enjoyable. I guarantee it.”
I sighed and squeezed his arms before I turned to have him lead us to his room. “We’re so different.”
“Water and oil.”
“It must be something much more destructive.”
“No. Yin and yang. We’re working well together.”
“We’ll see.”
Our dinner that night was light. Nancy claimed to be preparing for the feast the next day. Brey and Jax showed up late that night after we’d retired to our bedroom.
As we got ready for bed, Jett slipped into dark shorts right in the middle of the room.