Page 63 of About Last Knight

Jade smiles. “Sorry. It was too easy.” She walks over to Melissa and shakes her hand. Melissa relaxes and shakes her hand back.

“It’s nice to finally meet you, Jade. I’ve heard so many nice things about you.”

“You as well.” Jade looks her up and down. “You look more like you could be my mother than my own mother.”

She turns to me. “Are you sure Melissa isn’t my mother?”

Melissa laughs. She’s catching on to Jade’s sense of humor. She responds, “I think I would have remembered. Especially since I only seem to be able to produce boys. No beautiful girls like you.”

Jade’s eyes widen. “You have boys? How many? How old are they?” I can see Jade’s face light up. She must be excited at the possibility of a growing family circle. She wants that so badly. Just another reason for me not to screw this up. That, and I’m completely in love with Melissa. She didn’t say it back to me, but I’m hoping that’s because we were in a bathroom, not because she isn’t feeling it.

“I have three sons…”

Jade interrupts, “Are they cute?”

Melissa turns to me and gives me anI told you solook. I guess Jade’s into boys. I don’t like that at all.

I narrow my eyes at her. “They’re older, and they’re all married. Since when are you into boys?”

“Since puberty.”

Melissa laughs. She throws her arm around Jade. “I like you, Jade. Make him sweat a little. He deserves it.”

Jade smiles. “I’m going to be living with him now. I’ll give him a run for his money, don’t worry.”

I look at her. “Who are you right now?”

She smiles. “Your new roommate.”

I look at the pile currently sitting on my kitchen table. “Melissa, what’s in all those bags? Did you buy an entire store?”

She throws her hands up in obvious excitement. “Oh. Right. Jade, I got about five or six different comforters for you to choose from.”

Jade looks surprised. “For me?”

Melissa nods. “Yes. We can compare them to the paint color and then you can choose which one you like.” She turns to me. “When are the painters coming?”

I laugh. “You’re looking at them. We’re painting today. I told you that.”

She pinches her eyebrows together. “Weas in the three of us?”

I nod.

“I didn’t realize it was us doing the actual painting.” She looks down at her designer clothes and bites her lip. It’s so damn cute. “I didn’t exactly dress for it.”

“I think you left shorts in my bathroom. Just throw on one of my shirts with them.”

She slowly nods. “Okay. Just so you know, I’ve never done this before.”

Jade and I smile. “You’ll be fine.”

She walks into my bedroom to change. Jade and I begin walking into the other bedroom. “She’sreallypretty, Dad.”

I smile. “I know.”

“She seems nice.”

“She is.”

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