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Most of the time, Avery totally forgot that there were cameras around at all. She and Keaton had just been having the best time talking, laughing, dancing, and doing the challenges. They hadn’t had any more secret rendezvous since he’d pulled her into the janitor’s closet. They both decided it would be best if they behaved themselves while they were on the show.
As much as she’d missed being physical with him, it was actually sort of nice that that part of their relationship had been taken off the table. It had allowed them to get to know each other on an even deeper level than they already had.
But, make no mistake, the second they were done filming and had privacy, she was jumping his bones.
“Hey, girlie! You ready to go meet the fam bam?” Iris asked as she poked her head in the doorway.
“Yeah.” Avery nodded nervously.
As she and Iris made their way to the sunroom, where her family day would take place, she could feel her anxiety growing and her palms getting wet.
Iris made small talk on the short walk, but she wasn’t really following along with what she was saying. Questions were playing on a worry loop in her head.
What if his aunt didn’t like her?
What if his cousins didn’t like her?
What if they thought her going on the show so soon after she was supposed to get married was trashy?
What if they thought Keaton was just a rebound?
What if they knew about Keaton’s rule not to date single moms and thought he shouldn’t break it for her?
There were so many reasons that anyone who loved him might think that him being with her was a bad idea. She knew that family was everything to Keaton. She knew that it was all that mattered to him. If they disapproved of her relationship, then it would be over for them.
“Ready?” Iris asked as they stepped in front of the French doors that led out to the sunroom.
Avery didn’t trust herself to speak because she thought her voice might crack from nerves, so she nodded her head.
Iris opened the doors and Avery saw the room was filled with what looked like twenty people who all looked in her direction. She wanted to die. Iris walked in front of her and said, “Everybody, this is Avery. Avery this is everybody.”
“Hi, everybody.” Avery smiled feeling a little, no a lot overwhelmed. She hated attention and this was definitely a TupacAll Eyes on Mesituation.
Also adding to her anxiousness, was that she’d never had a large family and the Savage family was large in numbers and size. Keaton’s cousins were all well over six foot. It was slightly intimidating.
Each person took turns introducing themselves, except Kennedy, who she knew, and Chrissy, and Laura who she sort of knew. They’d all encouraged her to do the show when they overheard her conversation at the Needlepoint Mafia knitting club. And it looked like Keaton’s family was going to be getting even bigger because, unless Avery was mistaken, both Kennedy and Laura were pregnant.
The woman who Avery assumed must be Keaton’s aunt stayed in the background until Avery had met everyone, including Chrissy’s four children and Laura’s twins. Once Avery handed Jackson back to Laura, his aunt made her approach. Her brown hair was cut in a cute bob that accentuated her large green eyes and sweetheart-shaped face. Avery knew that she must be in her sixties since Keaton said she’d worked as a nurse for thirty years before retiring to Florida a couple of years back and her oldest son was in his early forties, but she looked decades younger than that.
“Hi, I’m Elaine, but you can call me Laney.” Her warm smile instantly calmed Avery’s nerves.
“Hi, it’s so nice to meet you. I’ve heard so much about you. About all of you.”
“Let’s go for a walk.” Laney scrunched her nose. “Outside.”
Avery could feel her heart lodging in her throat. She wasn’t sure what Keaton’s aunt had seen on television. She wanted to tell her everything that had happened with Jude, and that even though it might seem like she was just doing the show as a rebound, she wasn’t. But she couldn’t say that while she was being filmed. She just hoped that his aunt would have an open mind once the show was over, even if she did have preconceptions of her situation now.
When they got outside, Laney patted Avery’s arm as they walked away from the crowd into the gardens. “So, you and my boy seem to be getting along.”
“We are, yes.”
“I don’t know how much he’s told you about his childhood, but it wasn’t easy.”
Avery nodded. She didn’t want to say what she did know about his early years because she doubted he’d want it on TV.
“He came to live with me when he was eight. I was a single mom, with three sons who you just met. I love my sons more than life itself, but Keaton, my boy, has always had a special place in my heart.”
Avery smiled. She loved knowing that Keaton’s aunt felt the same bond with him that he felt with her.
