Page 99 of Fierce-Jax

It might be a good learning lesson for Gianna to see the dynamics. That her mother would support Jax also.

Hadn’t she always wanted a relationship like that? Where they were partners?

“Did you have a bad day at school?” Jax asked Gianna.

Gianna moved to the table and climbed up to her seat.

Dillion got the plate and made her daughter’s dish with her burger, some rice, and the vegetables she pulled out of the microwave and put in a bowl first.

“I had fun today,” Gianna said.

“Did you get upset because you couldn’t get your banana and that is why you cried?” Jax asked.

“I’m hungry,” Gianna said. Dillion put her daughter’s plate in front of her and Gianna didn’t hesitate to grab her burger and take a big bite to prove her point.

“We all get hungry,” Jax said. “And it makes us cranky. It’s called hangry.”

“Hangry?” Gianna asked.

She laughed over her daughter saying the word.

“Yep. It happens to me all the time. It’s hungry and angry at the same time. I’m angry because I’m hungry and it makes me cranky,” he said. He leaned in and lowered his voice. “Makes me want to cry too, but I don’t.”

“Why not?” Gianna asked.

They both filled their plates and then sat to eat too.

“Because sometimes when you cry, you hurt other people’s feelings around you. They might not know the real reason you’re upset. They could want to help or they could be frustrated too trying to figure it out. Like tonight, your mother had a long day and you started to cry over a simple thing.”

“But I was hangry,” Gianna said, giggling.

Long gone were the dramatic tears. “Then you should say that and we’ll both know, but you still might have to wait for dinner,” Dillion said.

“Maybe you could help with dinner to get it on the table faster,” Jax said.

“I can do that,” Gianna said. “Grandma lets me eat the food while she cooks it so I don’t get so hungry waiting.”

Which just went back to being told she was the boss but her orders were not being followed.

Guess there was no winning here.

“I’m not Grandma,” Dillion said. “You have to learn that. What I say always goes. When you’re with Grandma you have to listen to her.”

“And when I’m with Jax, I’ll listen to him,” Gianna said. “He’d let me have a banana, I know it.”

Dillion rolled her eyes when Jax laughed.

He tried and it was all she could ask.

31

SOMETHING TO LOOK FORWARD

“Dillion is nice,” Trent said on Memorial Day.

Everyone had the day off and his parents wanted to have a small gathering for Eli to meet Gianna.

He didn’t dispute it because it’s not as if they had any plans, but they spent the entire weekend together.

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