"Thank you for having me here again, Mr. and Mrs. Noble," I politely say on the morning that Logan and I are leaving to head to my home.
"You are welcome, son, and you are welcome here any time," Mr. Noble says with a smile, pulling me into his body for a hug that I am happy to return.
"Thank you," I whisper into his shoulder with a grin before we pull apart, and Logan and him hug as I hug Mrs. Noble.
Five minutes later, we are in the truck, our stuff loaded into the back seat, and Logan is driving us toward my home. I have placed the address into the GPS on his phone, so he has the directions. The closer we get to home, the happier I become, and I dance in my seat. Logan smiles at me with a good-natured laugh.
"There is the high school I used to attend," I point out to him as we pass the two level, brick building. "There is the library where I spent a lot of my time alone."
"Why did you not spend time with your friends?" he curiously asks.
"I lost all of my friends when I came out as gay, and I did not make any new friends until you, Shay, and Xavier," I admit softly as I drop my eyes to my lap.
"Hey, there is no need to be upset, Brae," he quickly assures, reaching over to hold my hand in his on top of my lap.
"I just admitted to you how pathetic I was, and am," I mumble with pink tinted cheeks.
"No, you told me how horrible people can be when someone speaks their truth," he says, sounding frustrated with people.
Humming in agreement with him, but I do not comment, and my mood brightens again when he turns onto my road, and into my driveway.
"Mama!" I scream after Logan has parked, and I am out of the truck, running toward her.
Mama is standing on the front porch in front of the front door. Mama stumbles backwards at my impact, and she laughs as we wrap our arms around each other tightly.
"Oh, how I have missed you, Braelin," she tearfully whispers into my neck as I dig my face into her neck.
"I have missed you, too, mama," I murmur with blurry eyes as I take in her perfume of lavender and vanilla.
Pulling apart, I give her a teary smile as Logan joins us on the front porch, and I introduce them.
"It is very nice to meet you, Ms. Grayson," he politely greets her as he smiles at her. "Brae has spoken very highly of you."
"You too, Logan," mama greets back with her own smile at him. "Brae does not shut up about you when we talk."
My entire body burns at her comment, despite it being true.
"Mama," I whine, not wanting her to embarrass me any further in front of my boyfriend.
"Oh, hush, Brae," she teases. "By the time you boys leave here, I am gonna tell him all the stories I can about you, and show him everything that involves you."
We walk inside the house, and I shut the door behind us, and the three of us took off our shoes by the door, and left these against the wall.
Heading into the kitchen, mama leans her hip against the counter by the sink, asking; "Would you boys like a snack?"
"Can we have a cookie, one from Gloria's, if you have any, please?" I softly request, sure that Ms. Gloria sent mama home with her famous cookies if she knew I was coming home from school.
"You know she sent home her cookies for you," mama grins with a wink as she moves to the cupboard by the fridge to grab out the cookies.
She hands me the box, and I swear I am already drooling over the cookies without even eating one. Opening the box, I hold it out toward Logan, so he can take some. He takes two with a curious expression as I hold the box toward mama, and she takes two with a knowing smile at Logan. I take two for myself, close the box, placing it on the counter, and watch Logan's face as he takes his first bite of the cookie-goodness.He takes a small bite of the cake-like cookie, and his face morphs from curiosity to surprise while he chews with his mouth closed.
"Oh, my goodness! This is amazing!" he groans once he has swallowed his bite with wide eyes.
Smirking at him with a nod of agreement as does mama.
"Ms. Gloria's secret recipe that will only be shared with whoever inherits her diner when she passes away," mama tells him.
"Man, we are buying a dozen or two of these before we head to Shay's" Logan groans before taking a bigger bite.
Widely grinning at him with a furious nod of agreement because I want to see Shay and Xavier's reactions to these cookies, too. We spend the day with mama, laughing and talking, helping her cook lunch, and much to my horror, mama does tell Logan embarrassing stories about me. She also shows him pictures of me, and items that I have made her from over the years. We have dinner at Gloria's Diner, and our meal was free at Ms. Gloria's insistence as her Christmas gifts to us. Much to my horror, Ms. Gloria even tells Logan stories of me from when I was a small child, and he intently listens to every single story she and mama tell him.
I have a feeling my entire body is going to stay flushed for a while because of their telling Logan embarrassing stories about me. I also feel he is going to tease me over these for a while, too. I will secretly enjoy this, but if anyone asks, I will deny enjoying his teasing.
I hope one day, Logan and I can tell our future children's attachments embarrassing stories about them.
