All Grown Up: The Story of Jacob and Renesmee Part III

37

Amy 

The original plan was for us to have Anthony's family over for dinner, but we ended up going to their house instead. I talked to his mom on the phone for a few minutes, she seemed really sweet, I could see where A.J. gets it from. She said I shouldn't have to do all that hard work. She was used to it, so her cooking for us would be much easier than me cooking for all of them. I agreed. I already had the idea in my head of them coming here, so it was making me a little anxious to change things. I didn't want to seem rude during my first interaction with her, and it was so nice of her to have us over. Anthony reminded me that even though I'd never been there, I had already met almost everybody. That made me feel a little better. I hoped Daisy would do well since she'd met almost everybody too.

 I had agonized over what to wear. All of my clothes were crap, and I didn't want to wear anything old of Nessie's to her house. That would be kind of strange. Anthony convinced me it would be fine if I spent a little of the money I had earned on new outfits for myself, and my little flower. 

After she'd gone to bed a few nights before the dinner, Anthony and I sat on the couch and cruised the Internet. Daisy's clothes were easy. She looked precious in everything, so I found a dress for her in no time. Finding something for me proved a lot harder. My body has changed quite a bit since I left Randy. But Anthony has changed my life in more ways than one. I was finally was able to put effort into making sure Daisy and I maintained a better diet. Randy refused to eat anything green and anytime I suggested that we attempt to be health-conscious, he would start ranting at me about my "vegan bullshit".

 It still amazes me how different Anthony is. When I told him about my plan to eat better he didn't just support it, he began to cook balanced meals for us nearly every night. He went out of his way to make sure there were fruit and veggies in the house at all times and even found crafty ways to get Daisy to eat her vegetables.  I felt so much more comfortable in my own skin now that I had finally shed the baby weight but it was still super overwhelming having to pick out clothes for myself. I may have had my figure back but it did nothing for my decimated confidence. Despite all of Anthony's reassurance, his compliments, his sweet touches, Randy still managed to affect me. 

"Help," I whined, and let Anthony take over the laptop. 

 Soon I was poking him in the ribs, and joking that everything he suggested showed too much boob. I don't think he had even realized he was doing that. His face immediately turned red. I hadn't meant to make him feel bad. 

"I just don't want your mom to think I'm easy or something. You know, it's the first time I'm meeting her I do like it.."

 He nodded, avoiding my eyes. 

"I think I'll get it," I said, looking at the cute mint backless skater dress. "It would be pretty for the beach."

 I reached over and put my hand on his knee. What I really wanted to do was straddle him, dramatically rip my shirt off and tell him it was okay to look, that it was okay to touch. I wanted him to. In my fantasies, of course, I was super hot. In real life, I didn't think I'd be doing something like that anytime soon. I still needed him to know that I wasn't upset with him. I leaned over and touched my lips to his. I wasn't afraid to kiss him, because he'd sure made it clear he liked kissing me. It was a fine way to pass an evening before bed, an afternoon while Daisy was at school, or a morning, just letting the dishes in the sink wait. 

The thing that made me nervous about the dinner was that the one new person I'd be meeting was a really important one. It was obvious how important Nessie was to Anthony. With the way he talked about her, I had already decided there was no way I could live up to the high standards she'd set when it came to women in Anthony's life. She was obviously a fabulous mother she'd raised five great kids. She sounded like she was a five-star chef. Anthony said my homemade mac and cheese topped hers though, and that was really saying something. My secret was using smoked cheddar.