Page 57 of A Very Miller-Cooper Life

Olivia smiled back at Carter and squeezed her arm. I was glad I was able to catch the moment in my rearview mirror. Even though they had a great relationship, sincerely sweet moments weren’t their usual love language. With all three kids, they tended to show their love more through teasing each other.

After finding parking, we lugged all of Olivia’s crap from the car to her dorm room, where her roommate was already in the process of unpacking. “You must be Jax,” Olivia said, not giving the poor girl a chance to answer before running across the room and wrapping her in a tight hug.

The girl didn’t seem to mind and immediately embraced Olivia in return. “Olivia! It’s so great to finally meet you.” She stepped back and studied Olivia as if she was stunned to see her standing there. “I feel like I already know you so well that it’s crazy to think this is the first time we’re meeting in person.”

“And you must be Mom.” Jax turned to me with an outstretched hand. She was tall and skinny with long blonde wavy hair that went into a red ombre near the tips. There was a small rainbow tattoo on the ring finger of the hand she was holding out to me and a rainbow of dots tattooed across her wrist. She had a few other tattoos, but I couldn’t make out whatthey were. Jax shook her head. “Or is it Mama? I can’t remember which of you Olivia said was blonde and which was brunette.”

I took her hand and shook it. “I am Mom.” I pointed over my shoulder at Charlie. “That’s Mama.”

After shaking Charlie’s hand as well, she looked between the two of us, literally beaming. “I still can’t believe Olivia has two moms. I tell her every time we talk about how lucky she is. I love my dad, but still.” Jax looked away from us to focus her attention on Carter. “And you must be Carter. Olivia has told me a lot about you.” She bit her bottom lip and didn’t try to hide the fact that she was totally checking out my daughter as she ran her eyes up and down her body. “You didn’t happen to break up with that girlfriend of yours, did you?”

Carter’s face turned more red than I had ever seen it, which was saying a lot for her. “Um, no. We’re still together. Hopefully for the long run.”

Jax ran her eyes over Carter once again. “That’s too bad,” she said flirtatiously.

Olivia playfully smacked Jax’s arm. “If you keep hitting on my sister like this, I’m going to start to think you want to sleep withme.”

Jax scrunched up her nose and waved her hand. “You’re not my type.”

Olivia scoffed and put her hands on her hips. “We’re identical.”

“Yeah, but you have a completely different style.” Jax pointed at Carter. “I like my women more straight edge.”

“Well, don’t hold your breath for Carter. She’s like madly in love or whatever.”

“I’ll be okay. I already have some options lined up.” Jax winked at Carter making her face somehow become even more red.

“But we’re sticking to our deal, right?” Olivia asked. “No serious relationships while we’re here?”

“Obviously. I am way too young to settle down. No one is taming me.”

“Well, Olivia, it sure looks like you got the perfect roommate match,” Charlie said with a laugh. “That makes me feel better about leaving you in this big city.”

Jax threw an arm around Olivia’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, Mrs. Miller-Cooper, I’ll take good care of your little girl. I’ll make sure she only gets herself into the fun kind of trouble.”

Watching Olivia and Jax interact the rest of the day brought back memories of meeting Jamie and how quickly we clicked just like these two were. I was happy she had Jax and even though it was only the beginning, I had no question they would be there for each other throughout college and beyond. Charlie was right. That definitely made me feel better as we got back into the car at the end of the day and drove away from the city.

“Two down. One to go,” I said as I sighed and watched the city grow smaller through the rearview window.

Another week passed before it was time to take Carter to school. Since she was going to school in Philadelphia, she was the closest of the three. It would be simple to go back and forth to see her whenever we wanted, which only made this drop-off the slightest bit easier. I would no longer walk downstairs in the morning to find Carter already awake, sitting at the kitchen counter with her nose in a book. We would have to drive to exchange our favorite books with each other rather than walking down the hallway. Even though I was sure she would call me much more often than the other two, over the phone I wouldn’t be able to see her face light up over something that really excited her.

“I’m sorry you only get us for your drop-off,” I said as we carried the last of her items into her dorm. Unlike Olivia, Carter’s roommate wasn’t there yet because she had insisted on arriving early.

Carter shrugged. “It’s no big deal. I’m glad I could be there for the other two. Plus, it’s a lot easier for me than it is for them. I can see you two whenever I want. Plus, I’ll have Marcie here with me.”

“When is Marcie arriving?” Charlie asked.

Carter picked up her phone then set it back down. “They should be arriving any time now, but she’s going to spend the next few hours with her family. We already have a reservation made for a dinner date later tonight.”

“So, what I’m hearing is you’re all ours for now, huh?” I asked.

“Yep.” Carter ran a hand over the sheet she had just put on her bed. “I was hoping we could walk around campus and figure out where my classes are so I don’t have trouble finding them on Monday.”

Ah. My responsible child. One out of three ain’t bad, I guess.“That sounds wonderful.”

After finding her classrooms, then doing another lap around campus so Carter could figure out the best way to navigate from one place to another, we spent the next few hours walking around the city.

When it was time to say our goodbyes and I started to cry, Carter reminded me that she would be seeing me in a week for Ronan’s first football game. I gave her one more hug and took a few steps away before I remembered the present I had in my bag for her. I pulled out the book and held it in the air. “Carter. Wait. I have something for you.”

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