MassaHJ
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Chapter 192: New Song
🕑 Added 2025-08-20 12:01:37 +0000 UTC"And I don't go after girls who are taken. So, forget it." I finished
Just then, Judith walked up with two dessert plates in hand, looking slightly amused.
"Should I even ask what’s going on here?" she asked, handing me one of the plates.
"Your son is too charming. Now even the mother is pushing her own daughter," I said.
Mom kept a stone-faced expression and turned to Claire. "Was the boy who came to your house really that bad?"
That made Mitchell and Claire laugh lightly.
"That reminds me of the first girl you ever brought home." Mom gave me a nostalgic smile.
As she said it, Haley, Alex, and Manny were passing by on their way to grab dessert.
"Wow, this one I want to hear," Haley teased with a smirk.
"There’s nothing much to say," I replied. "It was Laura, by the way," I added.
"Loved that girl. Not that I don’t like the others," Judith said, "but Laura was a good girl."
Well, Laura was the one I was with the longest, which naturally made her the one Mom grew most attached to.
"So no embarrassed moments?" Haley asked, then turned to glance pointedly at her mom.
"Embarrassing this shameless son of mine?" Judith said deadpan. "Probably only his dad knew how to do that..."
I raised an eyebrow. Yeah... kinda true.
"Wait, was Laura one of the girls who was with you when I saw you for the first time?" Manny asked, curious.
Jay, who had wandered closer with a glass of whiskey in hand, joined in the conversation. "We saw Jake having lunch with three other girls. At the time, I didn’t recognize him as Evelyn’s grandson."
He added with an exasperated sigh, "Manny was about to confess to one of them."
Haley looked weirdly at Manny. "Really?"
Manny straightened his shoulders. "I was ten. I believed in love at first sight."
"You believed in humiliation," Alex muttered, not even looking up from her plate.
"And what do you mean you believed, Manny?" Jay pressed. "You confessed to a girl at the mall this morning."
"It wasn’t love at first sight," Manny defended. "I’ve seen Amanda Guzman more than once."
He let out a frustrated sigh. "I gave her my heart. She gave me this photo booth picture of me as an old-time sheriff..."
Haley and Alex burst out laughing as they saw the photo — Manny with a fake mustache and overly serious expression.
"Wait a minute," I said, thoughtfully. "Amanda Guzman and photo booth... Is she brunette, very pretty, and has kind of Spanish features?" I asked.
"Yeah, that sounds about right," Jay replied, since he had seen the girl at the mall earlier.
"Oh, you declared to Mandy," I remarked. "So she’s still working at the photo booth in the mall," I murmured.
Everyone turned to look at me.
"What?" I asked.
Haley narrowed her eyes, her tone confident, "You hooked up with her."
"It was just one weekend in October," I shrugged. "Oh, we made out in the photo booth," I laughed remembering one of our dates.
Mom gave me a light smack on the back of my head.
"What?" I looked at her. "I respected her job. I paid for a lot of photo booths pictures! More than you'd expect for just one day of work..."
"You are impossible, son," she said exasperated and amused
Manny was staring at me, mouth opening and closing like he couldn’t find the words.
"Speaking of Laura," I said, rubbing the back of my neck, "I missed today’s episode of Smallville."
Alex gave me a weird look. "What does she have to do with anything?"
"She’s the one who plays Chloe Sullivan," I explained.
"Well, not the first actress we’ve seen around Jake..." Mitchell commented, half-joking.
"You should make a song for your goddaughter, Jake," Cam chimed in, entering the room with Lily in his arms, clearly trying to coax me into singing.
"Goddaughter?" Claire echoed in surprise.
"Jake was the one who helped us with the adoption," Cam explained. "You know, adoption is never easy—especially in our case..."
Now, everyone was looking at me with a bit more respect and admiration.
"Besides," Mitchell added with a grin, "he's the richest person we know. Our daughter would be in very good hands.”
"A song... I got the perfect one."
For some weird reason, I almost let out a "Gurararara" laugh and felt a twinge of mama issues stirring.
I turned toward the hallway and called out to one of my security guys standing discreetly by the door. "Hey, can you bring me my guitar from the car, please?"
As he nodded and stepped out, I smirked inwardly. Yeah, a guitar and an AR‑15 gun — there’s always one (or more than one) in my security team’s cars. Always ready.
A few moments later, the guard returned with the guitar case. I took it, gave him a nod, then flipped the latches open and gently pulled the guitar out.
I moved to the center of the room and sat on the armrest of the couch. Slowly, lightly, I began to strum. The soft, warm chords filled the space, and one by one, everyone started to drift closer.
Photograph (Ed Sheeran)
♪Loving can hurt
Loving can hurt sometimes
But it's the only thing that I know
When it gets hard
You know, it can get hard sometimes
It is the only thing that makes us feel alive♪
♪We keep this love in a photograph
We made these memories for ourselves
Where our eyes are never closing
Our hearts were never broken
And time's forever frozen still♪
Phil pulled Luke and Alex into a hug — they were the ones closest to him, while Haley remained seated on the couch.
♪So, you can keep me
Inside the pocket of your ripped jeans
Holding me close until our eyes meet
And you won't ever be alone
Wait for me to come home♪
♪Loving can heal
Loving can mend your soul
And it's the only thing that I know, know
I swear it will get easier
Remember that with every piece of ya
And is the only thing we take with us when we die♪
Each of the adults was already leaning on someone. Claire walked over and sat next to Haley, pulling her into a warm hug.
♪We keep this love in this photograph
We made these memories for ourselves
Where our eyes are never closing
Our hearts were never broken
Time's forever frozen still♪
♪So, you can keep me
Inside the pocket of your ripped jeans
Holding me close until our eyes meet
And you won't ever be alone♪
"Really... how is he the same guy who was singing 'Gasolina' at the wedding party?" Alex murmured, incredulous.
As the final chords faded into silence, the room erupted into applause. Even the more stoic faces cracked into smiles.
Cam was the most emotional of all (figures)— he wiped at his eyes, then threw his arms up theatrically. "It was so beautiful!" he cried out, clearly overwhelmed. "I can't—I just—so beautiful!"
Just as the laughter and clapping settled, my phone buzzed with a message. I glanced down and read it.
"We got the okay from him for the second song you'll perform next week at the Super Bowl."
I blinked and raised an eyebrow, “finally that MF accepted” I murmured. Well... that just made this night better.
