Bonham (Pushing Daisies Book 3) by Heather Young-Nichols (the little red hen read aloud txt) 📗

of argument with her and her family. And her father’s lecture was pretty weird. Talking about giving her husband used goods and him thinking she is too easy to be a lady. It’s all bullshit. Jurnie could’ve been with a hundred guys. I still wouldn’t have thought of her as used goods. “Do you want me to meet them?”

“Eventually, but there’s only a little time before you leave and I want all of it. Or as much as I can get.”

“Oh, baby, you’ve got all of it until tomorrow. I do have to swing by my parents’ to say goodbye before heading to the airport.”

“I figured. I wouldn’t keep you from your family.”

“Come with me.” I wondered why I hadn’t thought of that before. “You’ve met everyone else. My parents will love you and that way, it’s not weird if you see them while I’m gone.”

“Yeah. OK. I’ll go with you.”

We spent that night wrapped in each other again.

Jurnie had called her supervisor at the radio station saying she had to have the morning off due to a personal emergency. She’d never missed a single minute, but she’d said this was important. I hadn’t asked her to do that. Or maybe I inadvertently had, given that I’d invited her to my parents’ house tomorrow. But I didn’t realize she had to work.

Shit. I’d forgotten about her job.

“Don’t worry about it,” she told me. “I was going to call in anyway. I said I want every minute with you, remember?”

Yeah. I remembered.

Lexi drove me to my parents’ house because that way, she could head home after we were done. It made more sense.

When we arrived, I told her to park on the street. Jurnie was playing with the hem of her dress as we sat in the car, which meant she was nervous about meeting my parents.

“Hey.” I stilled her hand. “My dad is a doctor, so he’s got great bedside manner, even when he’s not bedside. My mom is… my mom. She’ll probably hug you, but she’s chill.”

“Hug me? Does she hug all of your girls?”

“The ones I bring home because those are the ones who are important to me.”

She pushed her lips to the side like she was trying not to smile.

“We don’t have much time, though, so we better get in there.”

That almost smile slipped right off her face at the mention of my leaving. I hated the idea too. No, that wasn’t quite right. I loved the idea of getting back out on tour but hated leaving her. Especially when we weren’t going to get another break like this for a long time. I’d come back as often as I could and I was hoping I’d get her to come to me.

Then there were two weeks in Europe after the US tour ended.

Fucking hell, that was going to be hard. Unless I could get her to come with me by then. We had time.

Jurnie nodded then hopped out of the car as if those nerves had never been there in the first place.

Mack and Daltrey were already inside when I stepped in, holding Jurnie’s hand to remind her that she wasn’t alone.

“There you are,” Mom said as soon as she saw me. “Who do we have here?”

“This is my girlfriend, Jurnie,” I told my mom without hesitation.

“Well, Jurnie, what a lovely name. It’s nice to meet you.” Mom pulled Jurnie in for a hug as I’d predicted, which forced me to release her hand. Dad just reached his hand out for her to shake. Like a normal person.

“So you’re back to it then?” Dad asked.

“Yeah. This week went by fucking fast.” Dad gave Daltrey a stern look.

Dad didn’t care what we said or did when we were just around him, but he demanded a certain level of decorum if his wife, our mother, was around.

Probably why she was so happy to finally have Daisy, whom she’d named that way because Daisy was a flower amongst the weeds. Us boys being the weeds.

We chatted with Mom and Dad for about an hour, but then Mack said it was time to go. Jurnie dug her fingers into the back of my hand. Yeah. I hated it too.

“You can stay for lunch if you’d like, Jurnie,” Mom offered. “I’d love to talk to you some more.”

“Uh…” I glanced at my girl, who was looking up to me.

As her eyes moved from focusing on Mom to me, she said, “I’d actually love to, unless…” She pointed at me. “Unless you don’t want me. I don’t—”

I kissed her to keep her from finishing. “I’m fine with it. I just didn’t want my mom to pressure you into it. She does that sometimes.”

“I’m right here.” Mom put her hands on her hips.

“I know.” That was when she swatted me with the towel that had been sitting on the counter.

We all chuckled, but then I went over to her and pulled her in for a hug.

“I love you, Bonham,” she said, sounding tearful the way she did every time we left. “Be careful.”

“I’m always careful.”

“Yeah, right.”

“Love you too, Mom.”

Then it was Dad’s turn. He gave his words of caution and this continued until they’d gotten through all three of us.

We had to go.

I pulled Jurnie along behind me.

“When you’re done, come back in,” Mom called. “I’ll start putting some sandwiches together.”

That was for Jurnie. First, I wanted a minute with my girl.

Mack and Daltrey also said goodbye to her then climbed into the SUV to wait for me. The car started because they would sweat to death if they didn’t turn the air on.

“I really hate that I’m leaving you.” I brushed my fingers through her hair.

“I hate that you’re leaving.” Just a hint of moisture formed in her eyes. “This is so dumb. I’ve known you a week.”

“But what a week it’s been.” Now I actually kissed her lips. “A few things before I go.” I cleared my throat. “We’re together. There’s no question about that. We don’t see other people.”

“Agreed.”

“We’re going to