For Hating Me You Sure Are Possessive

26: Jumping to Conclusions

We both laughed as she rushed from the room, her cheeks red with excitement. With Maver having moved out she hadn’t been able to play the mom role in months. Diana was the type of woman who lived to be a housewife and mother. She did a great job of it in my opinion. Maver thought she was over bearing but that was only because he didn’t know how good he had it. 

“How much would you like Kare Bear?”

“Not too much. I really only stopped by for my bike,” I admitted.

He looked over at me as I took a spot t the table. “It’s a little cold for a joy ride,” he commented. I nodded in response and he finished pushing some of the eggs onto the plate for me and brought it over to me. “What do you need your bike for?”

I sighed and picked up the fork, poking at the yellow scrambled eggs. “I left my key at Maver’s.”

Maver’s father sat kitty corner to me at the table and peered across it at me. “Your aunt isn’t home?” he asked already knowing the answer. I shook my head and he sighed. “Kara I wish you’d just move in with us.”

“I’ll be eighteen soon enough. By the time you got custody of me I’d already be old enough to have my own place.”

“She wouldn’t even notice if you lived here,” he pointed out of my aunt. 

I knew it was true and busied myself with shoveling eggs into my mouth. The whole reason I’d stayed away from the house once Maver had moved out was for this reason. I loved Maver’s parents but I wasn’t going to free load off of them. My aunt got an allotted amount of money for me per month so with her it was different. Besides, I barely saw the woman so had no qualms about living at her house. I was left well enough alone. 

Maver’s mom’s voice rang out as she entered the kitchen no longer dressed in her pajamas. “I always told you she’d visit before Maver would, didn’t I Jared?”

He nodded, his eyes losing their impatient sheen they’d taken on. I’d spent most of my years growing up in this house. He was more of a father to me than my own. I’d been calling Diana and Jared ‘mom’ and ‘dad’ for years now. I knew that he wanted nothing more than me to move in with them. It was more than the fact that I’d become their surrogate daughter; it was because they genuinely cared about my wellbeing. As nice of a feeling as it was it still made me feel out of place some times. 

“I can’t stay too long,” I informed them as I pushed around the last few eggs with my fork. “I can visit on Wednesday though.”

“I’ll be gone Tuesday to Friday,” Maver’s mother informed me with a sigh, “I have to cater for a wedding in Ohio.”

Jared took my plate the second I finished the eggs as he stood up. “I can take you out to eat then Kare Bear.”

“You never take me out to eat anymore,” Diana pointed out as her husband stopped before her with my empty plate. 

He smiled, his smile lines growing around his cheeks and the corner of his eyes wrinkling as he kissed her forehead. “That’s because you cook better than any restaurant could.”