Chapter 22—Jackson

Jackson didn’t understand why he was so nervous. He’d met girlfriends’ parents before, and never felt this nervous once. And besides, he had to keep reminding himself, Andi was not actually his girlfriend. So why was his heart beating so furiously that he worried it was going to jump out of his chest? Why were his hands sweaty?

“It’s a little hot in here, don’t ya think?” he asked Andi as he made adjustments to the air conditioner in his truck.

“No,” Andi laughed. “It’s December, and it’s like ten degrees outside. Are you okay?” she asked him.

“Yeah,” he said, shrugging off the question. “I’m great. Solid.” He could hear his pulse thudding in his ears. What was wrong with him? After a moment of silence, he asked, “I’m just wondering. How mean is your mom exactly?”

Andi burst into laughter, which did very little to ease the anxious knot in his stomach. “No, no,” she said, reaching across the cab to place a hand on his arm. The contact sent a slight jolt through him, and he had to suppress a smile in spite of his nerves. “She’s going to be awful to me,” Andi explained. “But she’ll love you. You have nothing to worry about. I promise.”

“Why on Earth is she mean to you?” Jackson asked.

“I’ve been a pretty big disappointment,” Andi said, looking down at her hands. “I think there were a lot of things she would have rather seen me do differently. Getting engaged was one of the first things I did that she seemed to approve of. She seems like she’s happy for me, actually.”

Jackson must have made a face because Andi was scrutinizing him.

“What?” she asked.

“What? Nothing,” he said, shaking his head.

“Something,” she argued. She crossed her arms in front of her chest—which was hard to do with her bundled in as many layers as she was wearing.

“It’s not my business,” he said. “I just think that’s a little messed up. It seems like there is plenty of other stuff to be proud of you for. You’re running your own business. You’re opening a storefront. You’ve gone to college. And more importantly than any of that, you seem like a decent person. But, getting married is the thing she approves of? That’s crap.”

Andi bit her lip and sighed. “I guess all I can say in her defense is that she’s old school. And also, she doesn’t know about the other stuff. I mean, she knows about college, but not my business. And not the bakery.”

Jackson looked away from the road for a second to stare at her wide-eyed.

“What?” she asked him.

“I’m supposed to be your fiancé. That’s kind of useful information so I don’t put my foot in my mouth.”

“Oh. Right,” she winced. “Sorry. I didn’t even think of it.”

“Is there anything else she doesn’t know?”

“It would be faster to tell you the things she does know about me,” Andi joked. “Like I said, we aren’t close.”

“Okay, fair,” he relented. “How about anything else I shouldn’t mention?”

Andi scrunched up her nose and furrowed her brow. “No,” she said. It sounded more like a question than a definitive statement. “How about you just follow my lead on everything? It’s not like I’m going to leave you alone with them at all. It’ll be fine.”

“I hope you’re right,” Jackson said. “I’m not a great actor. Probably should have mentioned that sooner.”

While they drove the rest of the way to the airport, Andi checked flight updates on her phone multiple times. Jackson wasn’t sure if she was nervous that her parents wouldn’t make it, or nervous that they would.

***

By the time they arrived at the airport, he couldn’t tell which one of them was more anxious, but he would have bet on himself. Why had he agreed to this again? Dread was growing in the pit of his stomach. His palms felt suddenly sweaty against the steering wheel. He was going to mess this up. He just knew it. What had possessed him to pretend to be engaged to a woman he just met? It was those cinnamon rolls. He’d been hypnotized by them.

When he finally found a parking spot, he pulled the truck in slowly, trying to prepare himself. He had to tell Andi he couldn’t do it. He was going to ruin this. It didn’t matter how much he needed the help for the festival, he couldn't go through with this. “Andi, I—”

But before he could get the words out, she unbuckled her seatbelt and turned to face him. “I just want to tell you again how much I appreciate your help. You are quite literally saving my life. I don’t know what I would do without your help.” She leaned over in the cab and gave him a small peck on the cheek before hopping out of the truck.

Jackson sat stunned for a moment. His cheek warmed right in the spot where her lips had been seconds earlier. Maybe he could do this. He could at least try, right?

It seemed as though Andi tried to prep Jackson for meeting her mother as best as she could. Jackson thought he had a pretty good grip on what he was getting into. He was expecting her to be harsh, bossy, and severe. Everything he’d learned up to that point told him to brace himself. So, he did.

And still, he was not at all prepared for what happened when he met her.

Jackson and Andi waited next to baggage claim. His cheek still tingled from the kiss she’d given him in the truck. He knew it was just his imagination, but the sensation was nice. “So, uh,” he began eloquently, “we didn’t discuss PDA.”

“Huh?” Andi asked as she lifted onto her tiptoes to scan the crowds.

“Public displays of affection,” he said. “We’re supposed to be engaged. So, like, what does that look like?” Was he supposed to hold her hand or kiss her? It seemed strange for him to presume anything.

“How about, you just be the boss of that,” he said before she could answer. “I’ll follow your lead.” Was there any mistletoe in those Christmas decorations they got yesterday? He shook his head in an effort to dislodge the thought.

She stopped scanning and looked at him with wide eyes.

“What?” he asked.

“Nothing,” she shot back. “I just hadn’t thought about that. We should definitely hold hands. I used to try to hold Tim’s hand all the time, so that seems pretty authentic.”

“You used to try?” Jackson asked.

“Yeah, after a while I just stopped. He never seemed to want to. Various reasons every time. Now, it’s pretty clear what the real reason was.”

“Right,” he said. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have brought that up.”

“It’s fine,” Andi said, the anxiety in her voice mixed with sadness. “It’s true. And it’s less sad now. I’m taking back some of my power at least. Some of myself. Kind of.”

“I know what we’re doing is really unconventional,” Jackson said, looking over at her. “But it’s also really cool that you’re not just lying down and taking it. You’re doing something to try to make the life you want. That’s inspiring.”

“It is?” she asked, “Aren’t you already living the life you want?”

“In some ways,” he said with a shrug.

Before he could say anything else, she grabbed his hand. The warmth and softness of her skin next to his derailed his train of thought. Surprised, he looked at her and then down at their hands. She pointed ahead of them to a woman who looked almost exactly like Andi. She was of average height, with dark skin, big, chocolate brown eyes, and dimpled cheeks. If not for their different hairstyles, it would honestly be hard to tell the two apart.

The man next to Andi’s mother took a far more intimidating posture. Even from twenty feet away, it was obvious the man had almost half a foot on Jackson’s own height. And did he live at the gym? Who had arms that big? Andi had been so worried about her own encounter with her mother that she completely failed to mention that her father was built like The Incredible Hulk. He was staring Jackson down as he and Andi’s mother approached. All Jackson could manage to do was wave and smile.

“Umm,” he said, leaning down to whisper without breaking eye contact. “You forgot to mention something about your dad.” He spoke through the side of his mouth, trying to keep his smile intact.

“What?” Andi asked. “Didn’t I tell you he was white?”

She hadn’t, but that hardly seemed of note at the moment. “No. I couldn’t care less what color his skin is. You failed to mention that he’s roughly the size of a house and looks like he could crush me with his bare hands.”

“Oh,” Andi said with far too much nonchalance. “I guess I never noticed.”

She never noticed that her father’s arms looked like two fire hydrants. Sure. “He not only looks like he could kill me, his face kind of looks like he wants to,” Jackson whispered. He braced himself for the encounter as they got closer, and Andi waved her parents over with the hand not clasped in his.

Before he or Andi could say anything else, Andi’s mother was rushing over to envelop him in a forceful hug. “Timothy,” she said as she squeezed him around the middle. He awkwardly wrapped his arms around her in return, shooting a wide-eyed plea over to Andi, who was busy being engulfed by her father’s embrace.

“It’s so nice to meet you, Mrs. Owens—”

“Oh, no, Honey. Just call me Patricia. Or Mom,” the woman said, pulling away and holding Jackson out at arm’s length to look at him.

Her father turned to him then and held out a huge hand. Patricia was still holding onto him, but quickly let go when she realized it was time to make the trade. “Andrea Owens, you come here and give me a squeeze,” she said as she turned to her daughter.

Jackson stuck his hand out to Andi’s father and tried his best not to look pained when the man gripped it. He could surely break his hand if Jackson said the wrong thing. “You’re Tim?” the man asked, looking Jackson up and down. Jackson gulped.

“Yes, Sir,” he said, doing his best to keep his voice steady.

“I’m Todd,” the man said. “You can call me Todd. Or Sir.”

“Yes, Sir,” Jackson said again.

Patricia swatted at the man’s massive arm. “Todd, knock it off. You’re scaring the boy.”

In response to his wife’s urging, Todd gave a brief and unconvincing smile, followed by a wink. Jackson gulped again. It was going to be a long ride back to Cherry Creek.