Page 19 of Fierce-Jax

“We don’t have to leave for thirty minutes,” she said. “It starts at ten.”

It was only a little after nine, but she was going to get there early since she had to sign waivers. It was not how she wanted to spend two hours of her Saturday morning, hanging out with several moms she’d never met before, but since her mother was the one always dropping her daughter off at school, it was time to make her presence known to her daughter’s friends.

“I don’t want to wait,” Gianna said, jumping around. “Can’t we go early and stop and get a snack?”

“You had breakfast,” she said. “What kind of snack are you talking about?”

“Grandma stops at Dunkin Donuts and I get milk and two munchkins when I’m hungry before school.”

“Grandma is famous for that,” she said. “Even though you eat breakfast at home.”

“But I like them,” Gianna said, putting her hands in front of her face in prayer. “And Grandma gets her big fancy coffee.”

She laughed. “I think you’re tattling on Grandma to get your own way,” she said.

Her mother wasn’t supposed to be drinking those heavily sugared coffees anymore since her last physical said her blood sugar was a bit high.

Gianna shrugged. “Can I please? I can’t sit here and wait.”

Her daughter’s voice sounded as if she was being tortured. “I suppose,” she said. The last thing she wanted to do was develop a headache listening to the pleading.

It wouldn’t hurt for her to get something to drink either. A large iced coffee to keep her awake while she watched kids running all over the place thinking of everything she’d rather be doing.

“Yes,” Gianna said, lifting a fist in the air. “I’m not sure what sneakers to wear.”

“If you don’t pick them out in two seconds we aren’t leaving now.”

Her daughter raced to her closet grabbed the first pair of sneakers on the floor and sat to put them on.

“I’m ready now!” Gianna said, coming over to hug her legs and lift her arms up.

It reminded her of embarrassing herself in front of Jax saying that she still carried her daughter.

But she wouldn’t be embarrassed over her daughter wanting to be held and hugged.

She was going to hold onto her child as much and as long as she could.

She picked her up and got the hug she was craving, gave it back, and started to tickle her daughter to the wiggling and sounds of giggles until Gianna wanted to get down.

“Now you burned enough energy you need to recharge with munchkins.”

“So I can get more than two?” Gianna asked.

She closed one eye at her smart salesman daughter. “You can because you’ll be running around for a few hours.”

“You’re Gianna’s mother?” the birthday girl’s mom said to her thirty minutes later.

They’d gotten their drive-through snack, and her daughter ate it before they entered the place, but Dillion walked in with her half-finished large iced coffee.

“Yes,” she said. “I’m Dillion Patrick.”

“Oh, Gianna’s last name is Cannon. Or did you keep your maiden name? You’re a doctor, right?”

“Yes, I kept my maiden name since it was on my medical license.”

It was just easier to say that half the time. No one needed to know she wasn’t married to Alec.

She was positive this woman in front of her, who hadn’t given her name yet in a proper introduction, knew that Gianna’s father had died and was looking for more information. The long appraisal over her jeans and sweater said all she needed to know.