Free Date Night (Wish Come True Book 1) by R.C. Matthews

plus a variety
of appetizers and salads. Rounding out the meal was a full sheet of cake from
the grocery store where Mrs. Jenkins worked. My mother and I finally fixed
ourselves a plate of food and made our way to the tent to find a seat to enjoy
the fruits of our labor.
    “Come sit here dear,” an older woman
with shoulder length blond hair said while patting the empty seat next to her.
She looked somehow familiar. It took a few seconds before it dawned on me who
the stranger was.
    “You must be Aunt Mary.” I beamed and
extended my hand to the woman. “JT told me you were hoping to make it up for
the party. I’m glad to finally meet you. This is my mother, Judy.”
    “Oh, yes.” Mary acknowledged my
mother with a nod of her head and held out her hand to shake. “We’ve met
before. It was quite some time ago. Good to see you again, Judy. You couldn’t
have been more than three or four at the time Jordan. That’s probably why you
don’t remember me.”
    Mary and my mother fell into polite
conversation while I attacked my food with gusto. All of the preparations had
caused me to develop a ravenous appetite. I quietly observed Mary hoping to
glean some more information about her. I knew JT’s family used to visit his
aunt at least once per year while his folks were alive but those visits had
ceased after their tragic accident. Their relationship became somewhat strained
when JT had respectfully declined her offer to move to Atlanta five years
before to live with her. My ears perked up when I caught the tail end of Mary’s
sentence.
    “…legal guardian. I was so worried
for the two boys and wished they would have come down to Atlanta to live with
me. Did you know his mother and I were raised by our Aunt? To be able to give
back in the way that our Aunt gave to us…well…it wasn’t meant to be. I must say
JT has done a fine job.”
    Well that shed a little light on why
his Aunt Mary was upset with JT’s decision. JT had adamantly refused to move
away from their childhood home, certain that doing so would devastate his
younger brother even more. The life insurance proceeds had made it possible for
JT to pay off the mortgage and keep the monthly running costs of the home low
while he pursued his college degree.
    I couldn’t recall Mary’s profession
but I suspected that in a pinch she would offer financial assistance to JT if
he really needed it and condescended to asking for help. But that wasn’t in his
nature. He was proud and resourceful and stubborn. Just like his ex-Marine Corp
father. I scanned the party tent and found JT sitting a few tables over with a
group of Derek’s friends and Chloe glued to his side.
    JT looked up and his eyes connected
with mine. He acknowledged me with a slight nod of his head and a brief smile
that set my heart racing in my chest before he turned to answer a question from
the group of guys. Were we eventually going to have to talk about the make-out
session from the night before or did he plan to pretend like it had never
happened? Not if I had anything to say about it. I watched him get up from the
table and head into the house with his empty plate of food and Chloe nipping at
his heels.
    It took all of my self-control to
rejoin the conversation with my mother and Mary instead of bounding into the
house after them. It bothered me when my green-eyed monster reared its ugly
head. I knew JT couldn’t help the way Chloe felt about him and he’d not given
me any reason to feel jealous. Hell! He wasn’t even my boyfriend. Yet the
feelings were there all the same.
    After ten minutes passed without JT
reappearing, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to clear our used plates. I
picked up more used plates as I made my way toward the house, almost convincing
myself that my real intent was to help clean up, rather than spy on JT and
Chloe. I shifted the pile of plates into one hand in order to pull back the
screen door to the house but paused at the sound of Chloe’s words which