Page 24 of Forever Foolish

“Hey,” she began curiously. “Did your parents get a new car or…”

And froze.

Chloe met J.J.’s gaze once more as her hand moved to cover her mouth in shock, spotting her mother standing behind him. She heard his knowing laugh as he stepped aside, holding out his hand to keep the screen door from slamming into them, allowing her mother to walk past him.

“Mama?” she asked tearfully.

“Hey baby…” her mother responded – only to see her father appear in the doorway, clapping a hand on J.J.’s shoulder and nodding at him… almost approvingly.

What was going on?

“Oh my gosh… Daddy?”

She was trembling as her parents were suddenly there, surrounding her and hugging her tightly as tears streaked down her face. It had been over a year since she’d seen them, and their phone calls had been so stilted sometimes. She kept talking about her relationship; they kept retreating, yet to see them here… now… with the man she loved, it was almost too much to handle.

“You’re here!” she exclaimed, almost in shock.

“Of course we are,” her mother whispered tearfully, kissing her on each cheek tenderly. “You’ll always be our little munchkin.”

“No matter how big you get – or what kind of warped decisions you make,” her father chuckled emotionally, hugging her tightly before dropping a kiss on the top of her head. “You know you could do so much better than that Post-kid…”

“Daaaaddy…” she muttered, rolling her eyes.

“But he’s all right,” her father interrupted, causing her to hesitate as she looked at him. “Don’t make me get all mushy or turn into some suck-up. Let’s just say that the boy might be within range of being good enough for my daughter someday.”

“You like him,” she gasped, stunned.

“Hush.”

“You really do… what changed?”

“Him.”

Her father’s eyes held hers as he nodded simply before hugging her again. Her mother laughed tearfully, hugging the two of them once more only to hear another voice nearby.

“You wanna bring the reunion inside?”

Startled, Chloe drew back, hesitating, and looked at J.J.’s father, Jamie, who was standing there beside her parents. “C’mon King, I think I owe you a beer or something.”

“I don’t drink, but I’ll take the ‘or something’…” her father chuckled, clasping the other man’s hand as he released Chloe, looking at her. “Are you hungry? I’m starving, and your boy can cook.”

“Oh, I know,” Chloe began, unsure where all of this was coming from as she spotted Lucy, J.J.’s mother, walking over to loop arms with her mother, pulling her into the house, their heads ducked together… like a couple of old buddies.

J.J. was standing there on the porch, his arms crossed over his chest, watching her. Chloe was left there, alone in the yard, looking at the man she loved in complete confusion.

“Am I in the Twilight Zone?”

“Not at all,” J.J. chuckled, walking to her side. “We just had a very long talk about a few things – and what the future was going to look like.”

“And suddenly, everything is okay? My mother and your mother are acting like besties? Our dads are having a drink together? You know how crazy this sounds, right? They barely talked at any of the Christmas gatherings but had enough of a ‘peace’ between them to be in the same room,” she blurted out, pointing at the house. “Those are four of the grudgiest people I’ve ever met – and I say that with complete love. My dad is the king of grudge— the McGrudgeon, if you will.”

“Chloe,” he laughed, hugging her. “He’s not so bad. He just wants to protect his baby girl.”

“He’s awful when it comes to you.”

“And I told him that if he wanted to be around tobounce a grandbaby on his knee, he was going to have to get past whatever he was hanging onto because it was ridiculous to hold you and me accountable for something long ago.”

“Grand… baby?” she whispered tearfully, realizing that he was not only talking about them getting married but having children and a family someday.

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