Imperfectly Beautiful (Jordan Knight Fanfic, Liadan #3)

Girlfriends and Garages

-LIA-

I could hardly contain my excitement as I stepped back from the hug and scanned Nathan up and down. He was dressed comfortably in a Boston Celtics hoodie and sweatpants with a matching baseball cap covering most of his dark hair except for a few tufts that peeked out on the sides. His unshaven face made him look a bit older than he had the last time I'd seen him several months ago, but he was practically a carbon copy of his father in his early twenties with the same big smile and kind, brown eyes.

The stress lines across his forehead indicated that he was worn from the road and the loose fit of his sweatshirt suggested that he hadn't been eating properly, but I knew a bit of motherly love and care would have him rested and full in no time.

"It's so good to see you, honey! I didn't know you were flying in, I would've picked you up from the airport or sent your Dad."

"Oh, no, I wouldn't have wanted you to do all that," he shook his head. "I wanted to surprise you. Besides we bought tickets last minute so I didn't know until we got to the airport what time we'd even get here."

"We?" I repeated curiously before my eyes slowly moved behind him to land on a young woman who had her hand rested on his shoulder. Her long blonde hair hung to her shoulders from underneath a Los Angeles Lakers baseball cap. She also wore a gray cropped Lakers sweat top that revealed her midriff and a diamond navel piercing above a pair of low-hanging Lakers sweatpants. I couldn't help wondering how she hadn't frozen to death in the cold weather outside.

"Ma, you remember Paige Reynolds? Her dad, Ethan, does public relations and media for the New Kids. She ran my fan club for years."

I tried to scroll through my brain, but for some reason she wasn't quite clicking from a memory. Nathan had always had a huge team of people that Jordan was far more involved with maintaining than I was. The legal aspects of things was my area of expertise.

Still, I pasted on a smile, "I don't, but it's nice to meet her now. Hello Paige," I said as I darted my eyes between her and Nathan. "Are you two...dating?"

The last girl that Nathan had brought home had been his high school sweetheart, Michelle Baker. She was a kind, down-to-earth girl and I'd thought they made for an adorable young couple. However, as she'd approached graduation and he'd gotten his career in music going, they'd gone their separate ways. Nathan wasn't all that vocal about his feelings towards the breakup, but as his mother I knew it had resulted in a bad heartbreak on his behalf and he'd been relatively secretive about his dating life ever since.

Whenever I asked if he was seeing anyone, he always told me that he wasn't, but I had a hard time believing that he'd stayed single for the past four, going on five, years with all the women he constantly had hanging around. He had the exact same charm as his father and there was no doubt they'd been clamoring after him.

I'd silently hoped that maybe he would come across another nice girl like Michelle—or like me—but I figured if he'd brought Paige home she obviously meant something to him. Thus, midriff showing in the middle of winter or not, I didn't want to turn into Mama Bear and send him packing before I could get a grasp on things.

Nate glanced at Paige quickly before turning back to me, "Yeah, she's my girlfriend."

I gave a little nod.

"It's nice to finally meet you, Mrs. Knight," Paige smiled. "You have a very beautiful home. Nate told me you make it like Winter Wonderland and I kind of thought he was exaggerating, but this is really nice."

"Thank you," I smiled. "I love Christmas. It's my favorite time of the year."

Paige smiled and moved her hand back and forth across Nate's back, "I'm not usually a holiday person, but this definitely gets me in the spirit."