Hiram:
After minutes of driving, we get to Juniper’s mother’s house. It is a small house in town, which looks comfy. There is a compact car parked in front of it, and June’s mother is standing in front of the house. When we pull up, she rushes toward the car.
Before I can open the door, Juniper gets it, rushing toward her mother.
“Mum!” she exclaims, throwing her arms around her. Her mother pats her back slightly. Then I get out of the car, and Rhea follows. I grab our joint luggage while Rhea takes her bag.
She looks almost the same as June, but her hair is black. They pull away, facing Rhea and me.
“You already know Rhea,” June says, and Rhea waves at her.
“Hi, Nelly,” she says, and June’s mum flashes a smile.
Before June can say a word, her mother walks to me with her arms open.
“And you must be Hiram,” she says, and I receive her hug and face kisses, which are brief.
As soon as she pulls away, my eyes darts back to June as I wonder what she must have said about me to her mum.
“It’s wonderful to have you all in my home today,” she says, then she reaches for June’s arm. “And I cannot believe I will be a grandma soon!” she squeals in excitement.
We make our way toward the front door, but before Nelly can open it, it flips open, and a little boy, about the age of ten, rushes out.
“June!” He yells, attacking her with a hug, which almost sends her crashing to the ground, but I hold her from behind.
“Carefully, Milo, before you squash the baby,” Nelly warns, and a chuckle escapes Rhea and June’s lips while I look at the little boy holding onto her for dear life.
“I’ve missed you so much, my baby,” June says, then she picks him up and he wraps himself around her, facing me.
As soon as our gazes meet, a frown forms on his face. I flash him a smile, but he doesn’t let up with the frown. It is official, I have a competition. He sticks out his tongue, and my smile falls. All this while, no one notices, and the girls chat away as we make it into the house.
When we get into the house, June drops Milo, then Nelly helps us take off our jackets, which we hang on the coat rack by the door. We drop our bags too.
“I made dinner enough for everyone, and I made a special chicken soup for you, June. It should calm your nerves and put you to sleep real quick.” Nelly says, and I begin to mutter a prayer for it to actually work.
We leave the passage to the living area, which is warm and cozy. There is a fireplace in front, and there are little portraits decorating it.
Nelly leads us to the dining area, which is equally small, but the seats are bigger than the ones at June’s old apartment, so I figure I’ll be okay.
We all take a seat, and Milo sits close to June while I sit opposite him with Rhea by my side. He keeps his eyes on me the entire time.
Nelly says a quick prayer, and we start to eat. My eyes don’t leave June the entire time, and I notice how happy she seems discussing with her mum. It almost makes me want to suggest she come live with us, because I need to lighten her burden, and it seems I’m not doing it perfectly as I don’t know what she really wants, and asking is useless.
“So, Hiram, June tells me you are good at paintings,” Nelly begins, and I glance at her with a piece of steak in my mouth. “What kind of paintings do you have? Do you have something recent I can see?” I almost choke on the meat in my throat as she says this, then I clear my throat, dabbing my mouth with a napkin.
A chuckle escapes June’s lips, and Rhea covers her mouth with a hand. Nelly looks around the room in confusion.
“Um…” I get her attention again. “For now, I don’t have anything I can really show. The rest are back home,” I say, and she nods, taking a sip from her glass of water.
I inhale deeply, and I glance at June, who is still laughing. My brows are slightly drawn down, so she blows an air kiss at me. Then I focus on my food, imagining Nelly finding out about the fact I’ve only been able to paint naked pictures of her daughter.
“So, how are things back home, Hiram?” Nelly asks, picking a pea with her fork. She holds the fork up with her gaze on me.
“We are getting by. The past few weeks have been rough, but we’ve been able to get through it, and I know it will be better.”
“Mmh.” She nods, putting the pea in her mouth. Then she chews it slowly. “Milo, don’t!” she yells at once, and I glance at the little devil in front of me to see him bending the mouth of his fork with a pea on it, aiming it at me.
“Okay,” he says in a low tone, then he drops the fork. My gaze moves from him to Juniper, who is stroking his back and whispering into his ear while he fixes his eyes on me.
“You really don’t like me, huh?” I say to him, and he shakes his head.
“He is like that with every guy that has walked through the door since his father passed,” Nelly says.
“He thinks you want to take me away from him,” June adds, and I shake my head, trying to convince him. “Which you do,” she knocks down my plan, and he frowns even more.
I flash him a smile, but his face remains angry. June ends up feeding him throughout the entire dinner while he keeps giving me death glares.