Page 52

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I wish I hadn’t been right, but I was. Middle school flew by, and before I knew it, the kids were getting ready for their eighth grade dance. Luckily, we got to be part of it since Reagan and I had volunteered to chaperone. Ronan and Carter wereokay with our decision, but of course Olivia told us we needed to act like we didn’t know them. It was useless since we already knew most of their friends and classmates, but we still respected her wishes to let them go in before us.

We stood outside of the car at the school while Carter waited for her siblings to give themselves one last look in the car’s side mirrors.

I turned to Carter. “Do you think you’ll dance with anyone tonight?” Her brother and sister had both been very vocal about who they would be dancing with, but she hadn’t said anything.

Carter shrugged. “I doubt it. The person I like doesn’t like me.”

As her mother, that was hard for me to believe. I didn’t understand how anyone couldn’t like my perfect daughter. “How do you know?”

“She has a boyfriend. I don’t think she likes girls at all.”

Before I could say anything else, Olivia grabbed her hand and started pulling her away. “Come on. Carmen and Isabella are waiting for us inside.”

Once our children were out of earshot, Reagan leaned close to me. “Did our daughter just come out to us?”

I smiled with pride as I watched them walk away. “No. Because she didn’t have to.”

There were many times I questioned if I was doing the right thing as a parent, but this definitely wasn’t one of them. Sure, it was easier for a girl with two moms to admit she liked girls, but the fact that she didn’t feel the need to turn it into a big deal made me happy. Her “coming out” experience was so much different than mine and I was proud I could give that to her.

Reagan must have been feeling the same way I was, because she put her arm around me and sighed contentedly. “We’re doing an okay job, aren’t we?”

“We definitely are.” I nodded my head toward the school. “Now what do you say we really embarrass our children and go bust a move on the dance floor?”

Reagan held her hand out toward me and when I took it, she surprised me by spinning me around and dipping me then placing a soft, yet mind-numbing kiss on my lips.

“Let’s do it.”

The night flew by as we danced together and pretended to look for inappropriate dancing. The only child we ended up embarrassing was Olivia. The other two had fun dancing with us. Once their classmates all said how cool Charlie and I were, even Olivia wasn’t embarrassed anymore.

When it was time for the students to get into their sleeping bags and go to sleep, Reagan and I were assigned hallway duty, which meant we were responsible for making sure no one snuck away to… well, do whatever it is eighth graders do when they sneak away. I refused to think about what I would have been doing at that age now that I had children who could be doing the same thing.

After a few hours of talking and watching shows on our phones, I could hardly keep my eyes open.

“Do you want to take shifts monitoring?” Reagan asked. “I could take the first one so you can shut your eyes.”

“No, I’m fine.” The big, unintentional yawn that followed my words completely blew my cover.

Reagan laughed. “Just shut your eyes. I’m fine. I promise.”

I laid my head against her shoulder and finally let my eyes close. “Can you believe our kids are going to be in high school soon?” I asked sleepily.

“Not one bit. It’s insane. I feel likeIwas just in high school. How the hell do I have three kids who are?”

“Do you think we’ll survive?” I asked, only half kidding.

“I honestly don’t know, but I guess we’ll find out soon.”

I sighed.Much too soon.

Chapter 13

Reagan

The High School Years (14-18)

“Photo time!” As I lined the kids up on our front porch, I took a good look at them.