Date Night (Wish Come True Book 1) by R.C. Matthews Page A

to minors.
    The rest of the evening passed
enjoyably. We all danced as a group and I felt certain that Chloe had gotten
the message that I wasn’t interested in her. She seemed to have redirected her
full attention to Jared who was only too happy to focus all of his energy on
her. It gave me the opportunity for a little sexy dancing with Jordan that I
otherwise wouldn’t have dared to do. Jared could be so clueless about his
surroundings when he was into a girl.
    When day turned to night and we’d had
our fill of dancing, Jordan and I made our way over to sit down with my Aunt
Mary, Mrs. Billette and Grannie, who entertained us for an hour with stories
from their youth; stories that included both my parents and Jordan’s father. I
smiled over at Jordan knowing she was every bit as glued to their words as I
was. She’d only been eight when her father had died of a brain aneurysm. Her
memories of him must be somewhat fuzzy whereas my memories of my parents were
as clear as day.
    “I hate to be the one to break up the
fun,” Grannie said. “But it’s well past my bedtime.”
    “Of course,” Mary said, standing up
from her chair. “You must be exhausted. Please allow me to drive you ladies
home on my way back to the hotel.”
    Grannie patted Jordan on the arm and turned
to her daughter-in-law. “Just give me a few minutes alone with JT.” Grannie
waited for them to walk away before she dug an envelope out of her purse and
handed it to me. Taking my hand into hers, she locked her eyes on mine and
spoke from the heart. 
    “Congratulations in advance for
obtaining your Masters in Accounting. Very likely I won’t be here for the
actual graduation party so I want to give this to you now. Go ahead. What’re
you waiting for? I want to watch you open it…so it’ll...be as if I was there to
celebrate with you.”
    “Grannie,” I started but paused to
swallow and clear the sudden lump in my throat. “You don’t have to do this.”
    I squeezed her hand and then tore
open the card. It was your typical graduation card…best wishes…and all that
stuff. But the check for twenty-five grand written out to my name was anything
but typical. My jaw dropped at the sight of such a substantial amount of money.
It was an incredibly sweet gesture.
    I lifted my head to meet her eyes
dead on. “You know I can’t accept this Grannie.”
    “I know no such thing,” she said in a
stern, don’t-even-think-about-arguing-with-me sort of tone. I sighed. This was
going to be a fight and I didn’t want to argue with Grannie. But there was no
help for it.
    “This money should go to Mrs.
Billette or Jared or Jordan in the future.”
    “What? You think because they’re my
blood relatives, I should give this money to them and not you? Are you saying
you’re not like my family?”
    I scratched my head thinking of the
best way to approach this without hurting her feelings. Of course she was like
my family. But damn it all…this wasn’t my birthright.
    “Yes, you’re like family, but—”
    “Did I change your diapers when you
were a baby?”
    “Probably. But—”
    “Have I been to all your birthday
parties and football games?”
    “Yes. But—”
    “Have you called me Grannie your whole
life and kissed me hello and goodbye every time you’ve seen me?”
    “Yes, Grannie, I have.” I sighed in
frustration. Why did I have the sinking feeling I wasn’t going to win this
argument? “But that’s not the point. You’ve already given Derek a car with prepaid
insurance. This is twenty-five thousand dollars. I would feel terrible
accepting this money when in my heart I know it belongs to Jordan. And Jared.”
    “Well you don’t have the right to
tell me what to do with my money,” she said tartly. She must have seen the
determination in my eyes because she added, “But would it help if I promise you
that I’m quite wealthy and you’ve no need to worry about the sum I plan to
leave behind to my other family members? I had