Page 58 of Outlaw Heartstrings
Introductions are smooth, and while Jagger is a bit shy and hiding behind me at first, he starts to loosen up quickly, getting to know his cousin, his new grandma, and his uncles.
We sit down to eat, squished around the dining table along with a couple extra tables that are pushed together.
Jagger and Cameron hit it off immediately. They barelymanage to eat their pizza with all the jokes they’re busy entertaining us with.
“Knock, Knock,” Jagger says to Cameron.
“Who's there?”
“Cows go.”
Cameron’s brows pinch together as he tries to figure this one out.“Cows go…who?”
“No, silly, cows go ‘moo’!” Jagger shouts, and they both break out in laughter.
Throughout dinner, the boys go back and forth like that, each telling their own goofy knock-knock jokes. It’s hard not to just sit there and grin. Seeing Jagger happy and getting to know his new family takes that last bit of weight off my shoulders.I always worry about him fitting in and making friends, but this group immediately takes him as one of their own.
Everyone here seems to be having a great time. My mom and Easton’s mom have ended up seated together at the far end of the table, catching up on lost years. I see them smiling and laughing the whole time. They were always friendly, but now they have a shared grandson to bond over. The two women are having their own private conversation,
Mom looks morealivethan she has in a long time.It’s nice to see her with a friend.
She was friends with everyone in the entire town just a couple years ago. But now, most people don’t seem to know how to treat her.
I think that a lot of our community realizes that she was just as much a victim as everyone else when everything went down with my dad and his mistress and the church. But some of our judgier neighbors like to play the whole ‘how did she not know?’ card, which is just plain stupid.
I look around the small kitchen, taking everything in,watching Jagger and Cameron as they continue to play together, listening to the laughter of the Raines brothers.
Easton’s eyes catch mine across the room, and I grin at him.He grins back.
He looks so laidback and handsome tonight, in a casual long sleeved blue shirt, open over a white graphic tee. His dark waves are tousled to perfection. His angular jaw has just the right amount of scruff. And every time he aims that perfect smile at me, my ovaries get confused all over again.
He’s my nephew’s dad. My nephew’s dad. My nephew’s dad.
That constant reminder is the one thing that’s keeping me from leaping across this table and eating him up like a snack.
“Thank you…” he mouths at me across the distance and it makes my stomach jump.
“Thankyou,” I mouth back.
Jagger and Cameron hop up from the table as soon as the meal is over. Then, they’re lining the hallway with plastic race car tracks, building the ultimate setup for an upcoming Hot Wheels race.
Easton and his brothers clean up after our meal. They take piles of dirty paper plates and cups to the trash, so Mom won’t have to deal with it later. Then the guys relocate to the living room, where they crowd around my mom’s too-small furniture, watching baseball on TV.
It’s amusing to watch how Jagger keeps dashing over to talk to Easton, showing him something new every few minutes. Despite the constant interruptions, Easton is patient and good-humored. Heck—he looks like he’s loving the attention, chatting with the boys and high-fiving Jagger left and right.
For someone who just became a dad a few days ago, hesure looks like he knows what he’s doing. Which just further cements what I already know.
I should have told him sooner.
I’m just lucky that he doesn’t hate me after the things I’ve done. I can see now that I’ve made some huge fuck-ups over the years. I can admit that I handled the issue of Jagger’s paternity all wrong. But I am so grateful for the invisible forces that stepped in to bring us all here. I feel incredibly blessed.
The grandmothers are still chatting merrily and I zone in to their conversation.
“We need to hang out again soon,” Easton’s mother says to mine.
“We do,” Mom agrees.
“I mean it, Patty,” Monica insists. “After everything you did to help my family back in the day, the least I can do is be your shoulder to lean on while you heal.”
