Page 61 of A Very Miller-Cooper Life

“Well, as your big sister, I definitely don’t have to say it, and I also think you’re amazing.”

This finally made Carter crack a smile. “It was four minutes.”

Olivia smiled triumphantly and I knew it was because she was proud of herself for cracking Carter’s shell, even if it was just a little bit. “Still counts.”

“So, what should we do today?” Ronan asked as he stood from the table to take his dishes to the sink.

“I’m not in the mood to do anything.” Carter moved her spoon around in her bowl, but still didn’t eat anything.

“I have an idea.” Reagan put her dishes in the sink as well, then sat down. “How ’bout Mama and I finally tell you the real story of how we met? It’s a pretty good one.”

Olivia rolled her eyes. “I thought you two met because Mom and Jamie went to college together. It’s really not that exciting and probably the last thing Carter wants to hear about.”

“There’s a lot more to it. Trust me,” Reagan said with a laugh, her eyes getting that far away look they always did when she was reminiscing.

I did my best to catch her eye and give her a look that conveyed exactly how I felt about sharing this story with ourchildren. Sure, they were older now, but there were still certain parts they didn’t need to know.

Reagan subtly nodded at me. She then smiled at the kids. “The SparkNotes version, of course.”

Olivia put her hand on her hip and looked between her brother and sister. “That just means they’re going to cut out the parts where they had sex.”

Ronan brought his finger to his mouth and fake gagged. “Thank god.”

Carter chuckled. “Yeah, really.”

“Anyway,” Reagan sat her hands on the table and lifted her eyebrows as her eyes darted between the rest of us. “I met your mama when Uncle Jamie convinced me to go home with him for a family reunion.”

Olivia yawned dramatically. “You told us that. And it was love at first sight, yada yada.”

Reagan put her hand up. “Okay, fine, but what we didn’t tell you was that I went with Jamie to pretend to be his girlfriend.”

Ronan sat up straight, a sudden sparkle coming to his eyes. “Wait. What?”

Reagan nodded. “Yep. He wasn’t out yet, and it was a different time, so he worried about how his parents would react. I figured out once he asked me to come with him that he had been telling his family that we were dating for years.”

Olivia now sat up straighter as well and she lifted one eyebrow. “And Grandma and Grandpa actually believed what you were saying? Did you look more straight back then? Because I could pick out you and uncle Jamie as being gayer than gay from over a hundred feet away.”

I laughed, because it was true. I still couldn’t believe that I actually thought Reagan was straight at one point. “People willsee what they want to, even if it’s glaringly obvious that they should be seeing something else.”

“So, Grandma and Grandpa wanted you to be straight?”

I sucked my lips into my mouth as I tried to figure out how to answer this. I never wanted to lie to my kids, but I also didn’t want them, especially Carter, to ever think their grandparents didn’t accept every part of them. Especially with what she was going through now. “Like Reagan said, it was a different time.”

“Well, I’m glad they came around,” Carter said with a smile.

I faked a smile back because had they really come around? Sure, they hadn’t said anything about Carter dating Marcie, but I still didn’t believe that meant they weren’t homophobic anymore. Not after everything else they had done.

Ronan waved his hand. “Okay. Keep going. Did you know that Jamie had a gay sister?”

Reagan shook her head. “I didn’t even know he had a sister at first. Neither Charlie nor Jamie were out to each other, which made the whole thing even more crazy.”

“So, what happened when you got there?” Olivia leaned onto the table as if she was trying to get as close as she could to Reagan so she didn’t miss anything.

“Well, as I’ve told you guys, I was smitten with your mama from the moment I laid eyes on her. Since Grandma and Grandpa thought Jamie and I were dating, they didn’t want us in the same room, so I ended up sharing a room with your mama. One night, we were sitting out on the roof, and without even thinking, I kissed her.” Reagan stared into my eyes as if it was the first time she was ever seeing me. “That was it. I was completely done after that.”

“Oh, come on.” Olivia crossed her arms in front of her chest. “You have to give us more than that. How long did it takeyou to finally tell everyone? How did they take it?” She giggled. “Was Uncle Jamie pissed? I bet he was, right?”

“That is actually the best part of this story.” When I stared daggers at Reagan, she nodded at me once again. “Nana caught Charlie giving me a kiss. It became this whole big thing because she thought I was cheating on Jamie with his sister. The whole family became involved and we had to clear up what had actually happened. It wasn’t funny at the time, but it’s hilarious now.”

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