Chapter 26

Chapter Twenty-Six

Larison

“I know I decided to open a bookstore, but this is a lot of books,” I said as I stared at the boxes filling the shop. It was finally the day to put them all on the shelves and everyone was here to help. It was going to be an exhausting sweaty day and I’d already cranked up the air and made sure to have plenty of water and snacks on hand.

Each of the shelves was labeled with which category and genre, and I’d done my best to label each box, but so many of them had several books in them that went to different shelves, it was going to be a process to get everything where it needed to be and in the right order.

“Give us our marching orders,” Jo said, wearing one of the T-shirts with the store logo on it. She’d been the first one to get one. Mostly because she snatched the first one out of the box and said it was hers.

“One box at a time,” I said.

“Let’s do this!” Sophie cheered.

A few hours later we had most of the shelves filled and we were all worn out, so we’d decided to take a break to stretch and hydrate and eat. I’d made up a bunch of containers with protein bars and cheese and crackers and fruit with Jo’s help.

The past few weeks with her had been amazing. She was basically living with me and Juniper and having her there made everything better. I couldn’t imagine a better person to be by my side and to help raise my daughter.

We still hadn’t talked about the fact that she had taken on the role of second parent. I didn’t know why I was avoiding the conversation, but we just had so much else going on.

My moms had been bugging me about it ever since that first official dinner with them. They had officially given Jo their stamp of approval and now when we went to visit, I wasn’t the only one they tried to force feed and give unsolicited advice to. The thing was, I could tell Jo didn’t mind it. Her relationship with her own mother was a little complicated and I wasn’t sure if she had even told her about me. I probably should have been offended, but I understood why she wouldn’t. She and her mom weren’t exactly close, and I knew that she kept her life private for a reason. It was fine. My moms were ready to adopt her as a second daughter whenever she was ready.

“Do you think this is going to make my arms stronger?” Cade asked, flexing.

“You should come to my Pilates classes,” Eloise said. I had told her not to lift anything for fear that I’d injure the bestselling author, so she was working on alphabetizing instead. Much less dangerous.

“You could always join my workouts,” Stace said, flexing and putting everyone else to shame. She had moved one of her shifts so she could be here, and I was so grateful because she could do a lot of the heavy lifting and was more than happy to.

Hunter was helping, but she did spend a lot of time just watching Stace. I couldn’t even blame her.

“I think your workouts would kill me,” Cade said, and everyone laughed.

“I can’t believe this is going to be real in another week,” I said, looking around. With the books on the shelves, this place really did look like a bookstore. Very soon I’d be open for business and then it was all on me to make this a success.

No, it wasn’t all on me. I had Jo, and Sophie and the rest of them. My moms would have been here today if I’d let them. Mama was still recovering from her surgery and I wouldn’t risk her new hip when I already had plenty of hands.

Wild to think about how many people had come to help today. I wasn’t in this alone. I never had been.

“Hey. You okay? You’ve got your contemplative face on,” Jo said, touching my arm. She sat next to me, our backs propped against the checkout counter.

“I am good. Very good. Better than ever.” I leaned over and kissed her. Juniper had wanted to be here today, but it seemed like a bad idea with all the heavy books and boxes around, so she was with my parents. I’d been sending them progress pictures all day.

I was surrounded by people who loved me and my daughter. My life had never been better.

“I’m happy,” I said, pulling Jo into my arms.

“Me too,” she said. “Me too.”

“I’m actually dead,” Jo said when we got home that night. “I think my arms have been murdered.”

“Agreed,” I said. “I’ve got some ice packs in the freezer if you need them.” It was just the two of us tonight, since Juniper was having a sleepover with her grandparents. The apartment was quiet, and I was grateful that we had some time just for us.

“No, I’m good,” she said, stretching her wrists out. “So, I have something to ask you.”

That sounded serious. My mind instantly jumped to something bad.

I braced myself. “What is it?” She couldn’t be breaking up with me. I wouldn’t allow that to happen.

“My new lease is supposed to start on the first of September. But I don’t think it makes sense to keep my place if I’m always here. I know we’ve never talked about me moving in, but…I kind of did.” She gestured around. The apartment had changed a bit since she’d started staying here. Most of the shifts were so gradual that I didn’t even notice. Her clothes in my dresser, her skincare on the sink. But then her books had come here, and some of her cookware was in the kitchen and her favorite things were in the pantry and the fridge. She’d folded herself into our lives so seamlessly we didn’t even realize it had happened.

“I know it’s a lot to ask but…” she trailed off.

“Yes. Move in with me. Officially.” She didn’t need to beg or dither or worry she was taking things too fast. We were past that already. “I would love to have you here with us all the time.”

She smiled and hugged me tight.

“I love you so much.”

“I love you, Josephine.”

She kissed me with so much passion that I wasn’t even thinking about my sore arms anymore.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you. I found us a dining table. Or a potential one. This woman in my building is moving out and I just happened to run into her and she asked if I wanted it.” She showed me a picture of a lovely simple wooden table. It was round and had matching chairs. Very mid-century modern which wasn’t exactly my taste, but I wasn’t going to turn down free furniture.

“Looks good to me,” I said. “Do you need help moving it?”

“I’ll just send her a message and let her know we can pick it up in the next few days. She and I can put it in my place for now.”

She sighed and rested against me.

“Do you want to bring any of your other furniture here?” I asked. I wasn’t that attached to my things.

Jo looked around. “Not particularly. There are a few things, but most of my stuff just came from the sidewalk or thrift stores. None of it’s anything special.” Her fingers moved through my hair as they always did.

“We can go over to your place and see what you might want to bring with you. I’m not married to anything here.”

Jo sat up. “You’re not married to any of your furniture? So that means you’re available. For marriage?”

Oh. We hadn’t had this conversation either.

“I think I am available for marriage. If the right person came along. And probably after we had dated for more than six months.”

Her smile was slow. “But after six months you’re open?”

I nodded slowly. “Yeah. I’m open.”

“That’s good to know. Just so you’re aware, I am also open to marriage.”

I exhaled a long breath. “Good to know. Good to know.”

Jo kissed me again. “I think I’d like being married to you, Larison.”

I kissed her back, in total agreement.

“Hypothetically, if we got married, would you want a big wedding or a small one?” Jo asked me as we lay in bed together that night. Even though our arms were sore, we’d still fucked slowly, and I’d used my new harness to make her lose her mind twice.

“I think my moms would demand something that they can make a fuss about,” I said. “So no eloping. They’d never forgive me. Marriage is a big deal to them because it was out of reach for them for so long.” They’d had a ceremony at the city hall as soon as it had been legalized. I’d been the flower girl and had never seen them happier. Mom wore a white dress from her closet and Mama found a tan suit and we all cried and laughed the entire time with all the other couples who were also getting married. It had been amazing.

Jo thought about that while we held each other. “Do we even know that many people? My family isn’t big. There’re our friends and your parents and who else is there?”

We looked at each other at the same time. “Juniper.” We said her name in unison.

“Still. Not that many people.”

She was right. I had a few extended family members, cousins and aunts and uncles. But not enough to make a big hundred-plus person wedding.

“I mean, we could probably fit everyone in the bookstore,” Jo said, and I think she meant it as a joke, but as soon as the words were out of her mouth, I sat up.

“That’s a perfect idea,” I said. I could see it. I could imagine it. I knew exactly where we’d do it. We could move things around, and we had plenty of chairs that I’d bought for book club meetings. Plus, it wouldn’t cost us anything. If our group was small enough, we could rent a local restaurant or function hall for the reception.

I could see the whole thing.

“Oh, it’s a perfect idea, huh?” Jo asked, pulling me close so I was staring into her blue eyes.

“Yes,” I said, kissing her. “It’s perfect.”

We picked Juniper up the next day and she was full of energy and stories about what a good time she’d had with her grandparents.

“Jo Jo?” she asked from the backseat after she’d run out of steam.

“Yes, PJ?” Jo said, smiling and looking back at her.

“It’s not fair that you’re not my other mama. I want to have two mamas.” She sniffled and I almost pulled the car over right then.

“Oh, Juniper. I know it’s hard to understand, but it’s a big deal to become someone’s mama,” I said, glancing over at Jo. She was staring ahead through the windshield with an unreadable expression on her face.

“I…” she trailed off and tried again. “Juniper. If you want me to be your second mama, I will be. I would be honored to be.” She reached back and took Juniper’s hand. Juniper’s crying slowed and she smiled. It was a challenge to keep my eyes on the road and pay attention to what the other two people in the car were doing.

“I want two mamas,” Juniper said.

“I guess that decides it,” I said, choking back tears. “You’re a parent now, Jo. How does it feel?”

I glanced over to find her crying. She glanced over at me with tears on her cheeks. “It feels amazing.”

Even though Juniper had decided that Jo would be her second mom, she still wanted to keep calling her Jo Jo.

“That works for me,” Jo said, helping her out of her booster seat and giving her a huge hug, right there next to the car.

Juniper giggled and then took Jo’s hand.

“I have two mamas, I have two mamas,” she sang as we walked up the stairs to our apartment.

Juniper ran to the living room and started dancing, but I pulled Jo into the kitchen.

“Are you okay?” I asked her.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been this okay in my entire life. I don’t even know what to say.”

She hugged me hard and burrowed into me in that way that I loved.

“I looked into what it would take for you to legally adopt her as yours. I know we just started talking about weddings five minutes ago, but we’ve been moving fast this entire time, so I wanted to be prepared. Just in case.”

Jo leaned back, fresh tears in her eyes. “I would…I would love that.” She nodded.

“You would?”

“I would.”

We kissed again until Juniper ran over and begged for kisses, so we covered her until she screamed and ran to hide in her room, slamming the door.

“Juniper! We don’t slam doors in this house,” Jo said. The door opened and Juniper poked her head out.

“Sorry!” She closed the door deliberately slow.

“Our daughter’s got jokes,” Jo said, turning to me.

I put my arm around her, kissing her temple. “She does. Maybe she gets it from you.”

Jo laughed and hugged me again.