I smiled to myself. Tonight had been filled with so many firsts; it felt like a rebirth of sorts. It represented the beginning of everything to come and I was simultaneously excited and beat. Going through that kind of emotional upheaval, even when it was the best kind, wore you out. I felt like I could hit my mattress and sleep for a week.

“Do you want me to take you to get your car and your things from Jeanine’s?” James asked, one hand in his pocket.

I looked around at my parents, who were both intently watching us, before I opted out. “Not tonight, but thank you. I want to talk to my parents a little more.”

“Okay. What a night, right?” James said before giving me a soft kiss on the cheek. “Text me later?”

“I don’t have your number,” I teased, but it made him skip a step as soon as he started to walk out. He looked back at me, and I said, “Kidding.”

“Text me, or I’ll punish you later,” he whispered into my ear.

I swatted him away, my eyes narrowing with all the words I wanted to say but couldn’t. At least, not in front of my parents.

“Good night, Mr. and Mrs. La Bella,” he bellowed from the front door as he disappeared behind his parents.

“Night, James,” they said in response, my father’s voice less enthusiastic than my mom’s.

I turned to face them both. “You’re not going to be mean again, are you?” I directed the question toward my dad.

“I’m going to try my damnedest, but that’s a hard habit to break.”

I knew he was talking about me and James being together. But this was something I was willing to fight for now. Once being with James had become an actual option, something we could both have without causing our parents to kill one another, I realized just how badly and deeply I wanted the chance to be with him. There would be no giving up on us now. I refused to go down without a damn good fight, and I braced myself for it, assuming that it was about to come even though my dad had just been cordial as hell.

My mom interjected, “Your father will absolutely behave himself and be on his best behavior from this night forward. Won’t you, dear?”

He looked down at the woman he’d been married to for over thirty years and grimaced only slightly as he responded, “I’m going to try.”

“Uh-uh.” My mom shook her head with disapproval. “You’re going to do more than try.”

My dad swallowed hard, and I watched the lump in his throat move up and down. “I’ll be nice,” he slid out under his breath.