My parents and I stood around our butcher block table, each of us nursing the last bit of wine in our respective glasses as I checked my phone for at least the hundredth time since we’d gotten back from the La Bellas’. I wondered when and if Julia was ever going to text me like I’d asked. My mother teased me after the tenth time she caught me checking, and I had nothing to say for myself, except that I was a determined man who was currently obsessed with all things Julia La Bella. I had it bad.

“She’ll call you,” she tried to reassure me, but I wasn’t convinced.

“I asked her to text when she got home. What if her dad changed his mind and told her to stay away from me again? He wouldn’t do that, right?” I glanced between my parents, who looked more relaxed than I’d ever seen them before, their shoulders no longer tense, their faces no longer creased with worry lines.

My dad spoke up, “He won’t change his mind. He can’t. Not now that he knows the truth. And I saw the weight lift off of his body the same way it lifted from mine. Can’t imagine he wants to go back to carrying it again. I sure as hell don’t.” He blew out a relieved breath, and it shocked me how much stress we’d all been forced to live with without truly realizing the physical effects.

I almost asked my parents if they were okay with the idea of Julia and me being together, but I didn’t. Their blessing would make things easier, but I honestly didn’t give a shit anymore. Nothing and no one was going to stop me from getting the girl. Not this time. Not ever again. And I decided that if Julia didn’t send me a text within the next thirty minutes, I’d go over to her house and punish her just like I’d promised.

Hell, maybe that was exactly what she wanted. I wouldn’t put it past my girl to push my buttons for fun. No sooner were the thoughts crossing my mind than my phone vibrated across the table, alerting everyone to the fact that I had a text message. I reached for it like it was a fire I needed to put out, a huge smile plastering itself on my face without my consent as soon as I noticed the sender’s name on the screen. It was the name I’d had for her in my phone since we were teenagers even though I’d only seen it come across my screen once before—Julia LBR.

Here’s your text, bossy.

I laughed out loud when I read her message, and my parents both looked at me with the dopiest expressions on their faces.