Page 134 of Single Mom's Guide to Love

I don’t know if he planned it, or if this is all very happenstance, but the two are coordinated in the best way. Both are wearing navy blue dress pants and a white collared shirt. Logan has paired his with a jacket, but no tie. But Jayce? He’s went for a vest and looks so handsome. They’re both wearing brown shoes, and I’ve never asked Logan to fix his hair before, but how he did it makes him look like such a little man.

My guys. The two men in my life I don’t know what I’d do without. One made me a mom. One made me a wife.

Both made me complete.

“Look at you guys!” I say as I greet them at the bottom of the staircase. I kneel down to get a better look at Jayce and give his vest a tug to make sure it’s laying right. “Where did you get this?”

He looks up to Logan with the biggest smile. “Logan and I went shopping. Do you like it?”

I nod and smile from ear to ear. “I love it.”

I stand back up and pretend to fix the lapels on Logan’s jacket. “When did you do this?”

He just gives me a mischievous smile. “Last weekend. When Maeve’s away, the boys will play. And buy new clothing.”

I’ve tried to limit my travel since everything with Josh went down, even if it came out that his reasons for wanting custody were bullshit, the numbers he threw at me weren’t wrong. I’ve made it a point to cut back on my travel, but unfortunately I’m not able to get rid of it all together. And sometimes those trips don’t always coordinate to weekends when Jayce is with Josh. Like last weekend, when I had to head to Dallas for three days. Luckily I now have a husband who is more than capable of handling a weekend of solo parenting.

And I must say…not having to figure out which one of my family members was keeping Jayce was rather convenient.

“You both look so handsome,” I say, giving Logan a small kiss before hugging Jayce. “Now, as soon as our guest is ready, we’ll go.”

“Guest?”

I can’t answer Logan’s question as Quinn pops out of the bathroom. “Surprise!”

“Aunt Quinn!” Jayce sprints toward the bathroom, barreling into her. “Where did you come from?”

We all laugh at Jayce as I grab Jayce’s jacket. “Your mom would like to know that as well.”

“Well, I came from Arizona on an airplane,” Quinn says. I don’t appreciate her sarcasm, but technically she answered Jayce’s question so I’m not going to say anything. “I just wanted to be part of tonight so much!”

I raise an eyebrow as she slips on a pair of knee-high boots. “Really? That’s what you’re going with?”

She looks at me like I’m nuts. “What do you mean really? It’s my parent’s forty-first anniversary party. Of course I’m going to come home for it.”

Something is up, but because Quinn wouldn’t feel bad lying to a nun, I can’t tell what it is. “You’ve been home three times in four months. And that’s on top of the few times you came home last year that were unusual. Is something going on?”

Quinn nonchalantly shakes her head. “Nothing going on. Just didn’t want to miss out. But can we continue this interrogation in the car? If we don’t leave soon we’ll be late, and what would the people say?”

“I don’t appreciate your sarcasm.”

Quinn gives me a side hug. “But I do appreciate you being my taxi. Now let’s go!”

There aren’t many fancy restaurants in Rolling Hills. And when I say many, I mean none. Which is why when you want something nicer, you come to Franklin, which coincidentally is where Logan and I live.

Convenient on a night when we’re running late and no one seems to care but me.

“Move it!” I yell, quickly unbuttoning my seatbelt. “Everyone out!”

“Maeve. Chill,” Quinn says from the backseat. “It’s just dinner with our family. Literally no one will care that we’re five minutes late.”

I snap my head back to her. “First of all, have you met me? I thought we were close. Second, when they do ask, I’m throwing you under the bus. So can you please get out of my car so we can go in?”

“Sheesh. Touchy tonight,” Quinn says, acting like she’s not the reason we’re late. Because she is. Besides her unexpected arrival, the second we were buckled she informed us that she left her phone inside. She wasn’t in that many places, so I don’t know why it took her ten minutes to find it.

“Mommy! I have to pee!”

I groan from Jayce’s words. “Okay. We’ll go inside.”

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