Page 84 of Single Dad's Christmas Cookie

“But not right now?” I asked.

“Not right now,” he agreed. He held on to me like he didn’t want to let me go.

I was content to sit on him and be held. It helped to fill the hole inside me with love and fuzzy feelings. If only I could have stayed where I was forever. I snuggled in a bit closer and hummed as I relaxed against Bryan.

“You know, I can’t arrange for a flight if you’re sitting on my lap,” he said. He didn’t sound very mad about it. He certainly wasn’t doing anything to shift me.

“This is nice. Why can’t you just stay here?”

“One, I have work to do, and two, I need to arrange for a flight to Atlanta so I can meet your parents.”

Adrenaline shot through my body. I jumped off his lap. Crap, he was going to meet my parents. “Are you okay with that?”

“Why wouldn’t I be? I’m not a kid anymore, Nova. I’m going to have to meet them at some point.” He reached out and took my hand. “Everything will be fine. Take Amelia and go pack.”

“Don’t you have to work?”

He nodded. “Ned and his report can wait. It’s not anything urgent. He’s going to sit on it for a few days as soon as I deliver, so I’ll give it to him later. I need to see if I can get us a flight in the morning. I don’t think I can book anything for tonight.”

With our hands still entwined, I tugged him to his feet. He slid his hands over my hips and gave me a quick kiss. “Go pack.”

I watched him walk out of the kitchen, his snack completely forgotten on the table. I turned to look at Amelia. She had completely ignored us. She was deep into her pretend play of the conversation between the Country Girl doll and the cat. Six-year-olds had some wild imaginations. It was amazing how deep they could go into their little make-believe worlds if allowed.

I let her play while I did a quick cleanup in the kitchen. I still needed to make dinner, but if we were going to leave in the morning, I didn’t want to stay up too late cleaning the day’s mess that I left.

I did a quick meal prep and got dinner started in the Crock Pot. I loved the timer on the rice cooker and got that set to start the rice so it would be ready in time for dinner.

“I think it’s time for your tea party to take a break,” I said to Amelia after I had to say her name a few times to catch her attention.

“But we’re not done,” she complained.

“You can finish later. You and I need to head upstairs and pack so we can go on a trip.”

“Where are we going?” Amelia seemed to have forgotten all about her tea party with the mention of travel.

“How would you like to meet my parents?” I asked.

Her eyes went wide. “Your mommy and daddy?”

I nodded. “Yeah. Your dad wants to meet them, and I didn’t get to see my mom for Christmas, so we’re going to go to Atlanta.”

As we headed upstairs to her room, she bombarded me with questions.

“I don’t know what you’ll call my mom. That might be up to her.”

“But you’re going to be my mommy when you and Daddy get married,” she stated matter-of-factly.

“That’s right. And you already call your dad’s mother grandmother. We’ll have to figure something for you to call my mom. I think that might be good for the two of you to discuss once we get there.”

Amelia climbed up on her bed. I began pulling out the clothes we would need. Bryan didn’t say for how long we would be gone, but I was the kind of person to overpack for even one night.

“Do you want to wear this?” I held up a dress that would suit the warmer weather in the south.

“Oh, I like that one,” Amelia said.

The conversation continued much along those lines. I picked out an outfit or two and Amelia told me whether she would wear it or not. She only rejected one dress I pulled out for her.

“I have to wear that when I go to Grandmother’s,” she said. She did not sound happy about having to wear it, either.

---