Page 53 of A Very Miller-Cooper Life

All three of them had my hazel eyes, but aside from that, they really had become their own people. Ronan was tall with shaggy dirty blonde hair that was always falling in front of his eyes (yet, he still refused to cut it). He was wearing athletic shorts and his football jersey and wore the sly grin on his face that I was getting very used to.

Olivia was dressed in jeans and a cheerleading sweatshirt. I knew it killed her to wear a sweatshirt on the first day, but that was apparently what the cheerleading squad had agreed on. Her brown hair was cut to her shoulders and now had purple tips which she had done over the summer to make herself stand out (aka to get people to stop confusing her with her sister).

Carter was also wearing jeans and a sweatshirt, but the sweatshirt was by choice in her case and much baggier than the one Olivia had on. She had kept her brown hair as it was, with its original color and hanging a few inches below her shoulders.

After getting the pictures, we drove them to school. Not one of them looked back when they walked in together, and it took everything inside of me not to cry. When did they get so old?

“You’re trying not to cry, aren’t you?” Charlie asked.

I scoffed. “Of course not. It’s just high school. Why would I cry about that?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because our babies are growing up in the blink of an eye.”

There was a crack to her voice and when I looked over I realized that she wasn’t trying to hold back her tears. They were running freely down her cheeks.

“You were right. I was trying to hold them back, but really, when did they get so damn old?”

“I don’t know, but I’m really glad I decided to take today off or else I might start crying in front of a patient. Especially since most of my patients are the same age I feel like our kids still should be.”

I took her hand and squeezed it. No matter how much changed, one thing always stayed the same and it was the amount of love I felt for this woman. Actually, that wasn’t true. I still continued to love her more and more every day, even when it felt like that shouldn’t be possible.

“You feeling up to a breakfast date?”

Charlie smiled at me and it set my heart on fire. “With you? Always.”

“When are your parents getting into town?” I asked Charlie while we ate our breakfast.

Charlie rolled her eyes. “It sounds like they’re coming on Thursday. I don’t know why they can’t wait until Friday. Ronan’s game isn’t until seven.”

Everyone was very excited that Ronan had made the varsity football team as a freshman, but Mr. and Mrs. Miller were especially excited. It was as if watching Ronan play football and Olivia cheerlead was the perfect way to relive the glory days of when Charlie and Jamie were in high school. I was just hoping they didn’t make it into such a big deal that they hurt Carter’s feelings for not participating in any sports. It’s not like they didn’t have a lot to be proud of with her. She was already talking about all of the clubs she wanted to join, including future business leaders of America and mock UN.

“They need time to walk around town and brag about how they have a football playing grandson and cheerleading granddaughter.”

Charlie fake gagged. “I don’t understand why that’s still so important to them.”

“Haven’t you heard? The only way to succeed in life is to be a cheerleader or a football player,” I said sarcastically.

“Does that go for male cheerleaders and female football players, too?”

I brought my hand to my chest as if I was offended that she would even suggest that. “How could you say such a thing? Those do not exist.”

Charlie laughed, but after a few seconds, her face became serious again. “I need to tell my parents Carter likes girls. I don’t want to make a big deal out of it, because it’s not, but if she ends up getting a girlfriend at some point, I want to make sure they don’t do or say something ridiculous.”

I nodded. “That makes sense, because if they ever do something to hurt those kids, they can forget ever seeing them again.” I could feel my face getting red just at the thought.

“I love how protective you are of our family.” Charlie reached across the table and put her hand on top of mine and I felt some of my anger melting away.

“I just know how much they hurt you and Jamie, and obviously I can’t go back and stop that from happening, but I won’t let it happen to my kids.”

“Me either. That’s why we need to have this talk.”

*

Halftime of Ronan’s football game, when Carter went to sit with some of her friends and my parents went to the concession stand, brought the perfect opportunity to talk to Charlie’s parents.

Charlie was running her mouth about the most random topics and I could tell it was because she was putting off the conversation we actually needed to be having.

I cleared my throat to get everyone’s attention and took Charlie’s hand. “We have something important we need to talk to you about.” I stopped there so Charlie could take over if she wanted to since they were her parents.

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