Twenty-Two

N ova and Millie stood in front of the large display of flowers and plants at the market. He'd bought bouquets for his own mother dozens of times over the years, but he knew her tastes. What if they were allergic to flowers?

Nova quickly texted Jimmy to find out. He got back to him quickly and said they weren't allergic to flowers and would love anything he chose. "That's only partially helpful," Nova said out loud.

"What is, Daddy?" Millie June asked.

He looked over and saw his daughter was carefully stroking a pale pink tulip petal. "I'm not sure what kind of flowers to get Jimmy's mom and grandmother. What do you think?"

"I don't know them," she replied. Sometimes her logic knocked Nova for a loop.

His lips trembled, then spread into a smile. "Okay, what flowers would you pick?"

Millie retracted her finger and pressed it against her pursed lips. "Hmmm." She walked up and down the display. Nova checked his watch and saw that they had plenty of time left to decide. His precocious daughter skipped back to the pale-pink tulips. "This one," she announced and sidestepped to her left, pointing to the yellow tulips beside it. "This one too."

Nova dropped a kiss on top of her head. "Excellent choices."

"Thanks, Daddy," she said, skipping ahead of him.

Once they were back in the car, Nova turned to look at his daughter in the back seat. "Do you remember what I said about behaving?"

Millie rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm not a baby."

"No one accused you of acting like a baby," Nova said. "I'm just really nervous about meeting Jimmy's family. This is important." Her eyes widened at his serious tone. Fuck . Way to put a ton of pressure on your daughter, asshole . "Millie, I said that all wrong. You're going to be great. They're going to love you and the flowers you picked out for them."

She smiled at him, and Nova forced himself to relax. "Do all girls like flowers, Daddy?"

"Not all and boys can like flowers too, you know." He and Scott tried really hard not to parent based on archaic gender norms.

"But does Jimmy like flowers?" Millie wanted to know.

"We've never talked about it, but I think he would appreciate a nice gesture like flowers."

"Uh-oh," Millie said. "Should we go back in and get him some? I don't want Jimmy to be sad."

And so they made a mad dash back into the store, and this time, Nova's eyes landed on a darker shade of pink tulips. They reminded him of Jimmy's blushes, so he bought them. By the time he reached Jimmy's house, Nova had forgotten to be nervous.

"Wow!" Millie exclaimed when she saw the pink Victorian house. "Jimmy lives here?"

"Yes. With his mother and grandmother," Nova said. "Are you ready to meet them?"

She nodded eagerly. Millie carried Jimmy's flowers while Nova carried the ones she'd picked out for the special ladies in his boyfriend's life. The door swung open before they reached it, and Jimmy smiled at them. Nova's chest tightened with unadulterated joy. This man with the sun-fire hair and cinnamon freckles had come to mean so damn much to him.

Nova leaned forward and kissed him. "Hi."

"Hi," Jimmy said before looking down at Millie. "Is that Camilla June under the big floppy hat?"

She giggled and handed her pot of flowers to Jimmy, then spun around to show off her frilly purple princess dress, which twirled around her froggy rain boots. "It's me, Jimmy!"

"I missed you so much," Jimmy said, leaning down to kiss her cheek.

"Are you going to bring your boyfriend inside, or do you plan on conducting this meet and greet on the porch?" an older woman asked from somewhere behind Jimmy.

"Mom, hush," a second woman said. Nova assumed it was Jimmy's mother.

"I'm just eager to meet them," his grandmother said.

Jimmy stepped aside and opened the door wider. He waved them inside and said, "Please come in before they start bickering."

Nova stepped inside the foyer and saw two petite women smiling up at him. The younger of the two stepped forward.

"I'm Jimmy's mother, Georgie," she said. It was uncanny how much Jimmy resembled her.

"It's nice to meet you, ma'am. I'm Nova," he said. Noticing her pink blouse, Nova extended the pale pink tulips toward her. "These are for you."

"Thank you so much," she said. "Tulips are my favorite." Then Georgie placed her hand on her mother's shoulder. "This is my mother, Doris."

"It's lovely to meet you, Nova," Doris said.

"The pleasure is all mine. I brought these for you."

Her cheeks flushed just like Jimmy's as she fussed over the flowers. "It's my favorite color," she said, touching a broach on her blouse. "Did Jimmy tell you that?"

"I picked them out," Millie announced. Nova looked down and saw his daughter had hidden behind Jimmy and was peeking around his legs. It wasn't often Millie displayed an ounce of shyness, which meant she was nervous too.

"Whose flowers are these?" Jimmy asked.

"They're for you," Nova replied.

"Some boys like flowers, Jimmy," Millie announced.

Doris and Georgie giggled and looked like they'd fallen entirely under his daughter's spell already.

"Yes, they do," Jimmy said. "I don't just like these flowers, June Bug. I love them."

She poked her head out again and said, "Daddy picked yours out."

Jimmy looked at Nova and smiled. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Nova reached out to his daughter, and she placed her tiny hand in his and stepped out from behind Jimmy's legs. "This is Camilla June."

"You can call me Millie or June Bug," his daughter told them.

The women spent a few moments fussing over her dress, rain boots, and hair, and she was too eager to tell them everything she knew. A good spy, Millie would not make.

"You have spots on your nose and cheeks like Jimmy," Millie told Georgie. The two women laughed while his daughter looked up at him. "What are they called?"

"Freckles," Nova told her.

"We're so happy to have you in our home," Doris told them.

"Jimmy," Millie said, looking up at him with big blue eyes. "You didn't tell me you live in a giant dollhouse."

"I didn't?"

Millie shook her head. "It's so pretty."

"Do you like dollhouses, Millie?" Georgie asked.

"I loved them," she replied, jumping up and down.

"Well, if everyone wants to step inside the sitting room," Georgie said, "I have a big surprise."

"Yay!" Millie said. "I love surprises."

She let go of Nova's hand and grabbed Jimmy's mother's instead. The woman smiled down at his precocious daughter as she chatted a million miles a minute. Nova snagged Jimmy's wrist when he started to follow immediately.

"Just one little kiss," he whispered. Jimmy gave him two.

"A giant dollhouse!" Millie yelled.

"Wait until you see this thing," Jimmy said. "The craftsmanship is unreal."

They entered the sitting room, and Nova was stunned by the massive dollhouse. It had to be three or four feet tall. "Wow," he said, echoing Millie's sentiments. "I've never seen anything like it."

"Probably never will," Doris said. "My husband and I bought this at a yard sale and restored it one room at a time. He passed away before it was completed, but I kept working on it because he wanted our Georgie to have a special dollhouse."

"It's absolutely incredible. The intricate detail in every room is just amazing."

"Millie, would you like to play with it?" Georgie asked.

His daughter gasped and spun to face him. "Can I, Daddy?"

"If it's okay with Georgie and Doris," he told her. "Please be careful, June Bug."

Georgie got Millie set up before helping her mother with the drinks.

"This is going pretty well," Nova said. "Why did you sound so nervous on the phone earlier? Didn't you think I wanted to meet your family?"

"I figured you would want to meet them eventually, but I wasn't sure you wanted to do it on Millie's first night back," Jimmy replied.

Nova glanced over at his daughter, who happily hummed a tune from one of her movies while she played. "There's nowhere else we'd rather be." He moved to kiss Jimmy again just as the ladies returned with their drinks.

He'd expected the whole tell-us-about-yourself chat, but it was handled in a friendly, conversational way instead of a grilling. Since Jimmy had mentioned their overprotectiveness, he'd expected them to ask what his intentions were for their future. He'd tried to come up with an answer beforehand but faltered each time. Not because his feelings for Jimmy were so minor that he couldn't imagine a future together, though. Quite the opposite was true. When he looked ahead, he couldn't envision a life without Jimmy.

Maybe the ladies sensed Nova's feelings were genuine, or perhaps his silent gestures gave him away—the way he had reached for Jimmy's hand as they sat together or the lazy way Nova stroked his thumb over Jimmy's fingers every few seconds. He was sure they didn't miss his inability to look away from his boyfriend's smiling face for long. Everything about Nova screamed he was smitten with their beloved Jimmy, and it must've helped ease any concerns they had.

It wasn't hard for Nova to see why the man cherished Doris and Georgie so much. Their devotion to Jimmy and pride in the man he'd become was evident in how they spoke to and about him. It was also easy to see the impact the ladies had on the man Nova adored.

Millie's behavior had exceeded his wildest hopes as she played with the dollhouse for hours. Nova thought she'd pitch a major fit when he attempted to call her for dinner, but she only hesitated for a second before telling the dollies she'd be right back.

Dinner was a boisterous event with many laughs until Millie announced that Jimmy made the bestest pancakes in the whole world. Jimmy and Nova held their collective breaths while waiting for his mother and grandmother to respond. Nova was confident they'd known where Jimmy had spent his evenings when he hadn't returned home, but Millie was basically broadcasting it for all and sundry.

Georgie's lips trembled, and Nova worried she might start to cry, but instead, the woman smiled at Jimmy before looking at Millie. "I taught him the egg white trick," she said.

"Daddy's were a disaster," Millie said, shaking her head slowly.

Nova chuckled. "Hey, whose team are you on?"

"Team Millie," she announced. Then his daughter took over the conversation by detailing her time at Disneyland and her joy over getting a dog when Papa returned to Savannah for good.

A tiny part of Nova feared the lure of Disney would sink its hooks into Scott and he'd want to stay. They couldn't co-parent on different coasts, so they'd both have to move, or only one of them would have full custody of Millie. That situation wasn't suitable for anyone. Knowing Scott was planning to resume his life in Savannah after his contract ended alleviated Nova's fears.

When Millie started to look like a wilting flower, albeit the prettiest Nova had ever seen, he announced it was time to get his princess home for her beauty sleep. While Jimmy headed up to grab his overnight bag, Nova expected the women to make their move and pin him down with challenging questions.

"Thank you both for such a lovely evening," he told them. "Dinner was wonderful, and the company was especially delightful."

"It was our pleasure," Doris said, leaning over to drop a kiss on Millie's head. Then she reached up and cupped Nova's face, pulling him down to her petite height. He thought this was when she would lay down the law, but Doris kissed his cheek instead. "You're everything I've ever wanted for my sweet Jimmy."

Nova was incredibly moved by her praise and had to clear his throat to speak. "I won't let you down." It was a bold vow, but one he intended to keep. He hugged Georgie next. "Your son is the most amazing man. I feel like I should send you flowers daily."

Georgie giggled as she kissed Nova's cheek. "Just be good to my boy. That's all I want." A single tear trickled down her face.

"I promise," he said thickly.

Jimmy stopped at the bottom of the stairs. "What's going on?" he asked suspiciously.

Doris flinched like she'd been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. "Oh, thank goodness you're here, Jimmy. Your mother was making a play for your man."

Georgie swatted the accusation away while Nova laughed. "I did no such thing."

"I told you guys not to pin him down and demand to know his intentions," Jimmy said.

"Pretty sure your packed bag gives those away," Doris said with a playful wink.

"Mom," Georgie said at the same time Jimmy exclaimed, "Grandma." Both of them sounded aghast, but Doris only gained esteem in Nova's eyes.

Turning to Jimmy, Nova extended his hand to the beguiling man, who slowly approached the group to claim it. Nova wrapped his arm around Jimmy's shoulders and kissed his temple. "No one forced declarations from me."

Jimmy relaxed against him. "Oh good."

"I gave them freely."

"What did you promise?" Jimmy asked, suspicion returning to his voice.

Georgie giggled. "You'll find out in due time."

Doris gave an exaggerated yawn. "This old woman needs to get some sleep."

"Nice try, Grandma," Jimmy said. He kissed and hugged the ladies, then led Nova and Millie to the front door.

Once outside on the porch, Millie slipped one hand in Jimmy's and the other in Nova's. She skipped between them as they made their way to Nova's car. Eventually, she pulled free and ran ahead of them.

"What promises?" Jimmy asked.

Nova pulled him close and whispered, "I'll show you later."