37. Chapter 37

After I left Max at the station to figure out the problem in his pants and turn over my idea of letting Jake rent the house while we built a new one, I drove over to his parents' house to pick up J.J.

"Jackson Jacob Carter," I heard Sharon yell as soon as the front door was opened.

"My name is J.J." He corrected in a snotty tone.

"What did you just say?" I asked after walking through the door. J.J. came up short when he realized I was there and heard him talking back to his Nana.

"She said my name wrong," he whined.

"Jackson Jacob Carter is your name. J.J. is your nickname." The little devil huffed at me and crossed his arms in defiance. I glanced over at the amused face of his grandmother. "I take it today has been a challenge?"

Sharon full-out belly laughed at me.

"Oh, sweet girl, you have your hands full today. He refused to take a nap and his has loaded him up with the candy they've been sneaking all day."

We both rolled our eyes at that.

"Greg!" I yelled when I heard him snickering behind the door to the den.

"Mind your business, girl."

"I'm gonna mind your business if you keep doing this. I'll mind your business all the way to his next dentist appointment, you giant brat!"

"Hey!" J.J. stomped his little foot down and poked his bottom lip out. "Don't call my Papa a brat."

I teasingly jabbed my finger into his puffed-out belly and stuck my tongue out at him. "Or what?"

"Or I'll tell my daddy." He insisted.

"Maybe we should tell your daddy about all that candy you've been eating," I suggested.

His eyes rounded out and he turned to glance back at his Nana who refused to save him. "I'm sowwy Nana." I rolled my eyes as Sharon tried to hide her laughter and failed. The smug grin that spread across J.J.'s little face spoke volumes for the trouble he knew he could wiggle out of by being cute.

"Come on, Mister Troublemaker, we have some paintings to work on at the studio until your dad gets off work."

"We gets to paint!" He yelled before he ran to grab his shoes.

"Sorry, we weren't ready," Sharon muttered as I followed her further into the house and leaned into Greg a hug as we passed his hiding place.

"You're rotten," I told him.

"You love me anyway," he teased back.

I rolled my eyes and patted his arm as it came around me to pull me into a side hug. "I ran the idea about Jake and the new house by your son today," I explained.

"How did he take it?"

"He pouted at first until I brought Jake into it and reminded him of all the updates he wanted to do to the house anyway."

"I knew the best of both worlds approach would be the ticket." Greg preened since it had been his idea. It was Sharon who rolled her eyes that time in the wake of her husband's not-so humble attitude..

Max made it home just before dinner when J.J. and I were still hard at work on our projects. I had to touch up a few spots on my own painting where he became overzealous at times and tried to help me instead of working on his own.

"You drew an outline for him to paint in?" Max asked as he took in his son's work of art. Truth be told, J.J. showed a lot of promise for an almost four-year-old.

"It helps to keep him focused on his own canvas rather than mine," I explained.

Max laughed. "Sorry about that. If you need more time to work on your stuff, I don't think my parents would mind keeping him longer."

"Tell that to your mom who had to put up with the sugar fairy supplying your son all day."

"Dad was always the softy of the family," Max offered in explanation as he chuckled and walked away to go get all of our dinner dishes put away. After not having a nap at his grandparents' house, J.J. had crashed immediately after eating most of his dinner.

"You mind if we spend the night, since he's already crashed out?" I rolled my eyes at my boyfriend for being so damn transparent.

"Of course, you're both welcome to stay." I had already walled off a portion of the downstairs to create a little bedroom for J.J. He enjoyed being there even more than his room at the house because he didn't like the brown walls there. His room still had old fashioned wood paneling in it. In the barn, everything was new and light to make the best environment for me to work.

"Perfect. I think we should just stay here now that we decided to build our dream house. Might as well get J.J. used to the move early before it happens," Max pressed.

"If I roll my eyes any harder at you or your dad today, I might just permanently injure them," I teased.

"You better get upstairs so I can make sure you roll them the opposite way for a while, to even things out." I giggled at his innuendo but didn't waste a moment in running upstairs to be with my man. Long day be damned. I was ready for the comfort being with my man provided.