__________

Later that day, when Jace was feeling better, I drove him back to the gas station to pick up his car.

"Here are your keys dumbass," I teased and threw them at him.

"Thanks babe," he said and gave me one of his famous Jace Johnson smirks.

We both drove back to the Johnson's house and parked the cars in the driveway.

"Cal get dressed, you have practice soon," I called up the stairs as I walked through the front door with Jace.

"Ok," Cal yelled back.

Next I went to Hallie's room, "Hal, I forgot to remind you, but you have your friends birthday party today, and I'll take you after we get Cal to practice, so can you get dressed?"

"Yeah!" Hallie exclaimed cheerfully, "I made her a necklace as her present!"

"I'm sure she'll love it," I smiled and closed her door so she could get dressed.

...

15 minutes later, everyone was in the car and ready to go. Jace insisted on driving, so he dropped of Cal first and then drove Hallie to some bowling place for her friends party.

I walked her in and Jace parked the car and would wait for me to come out. After we walked into the building Hallie saw her friends and ran over to them. I was about to walk away when a lady approached me. "Are you Hallie's nanny ?"

"Yeah, I'm Alexis nice to meet you," I smiled.

"I'm Debby," she said returning my smile, and shook my hand, "Would you like me to give Hallie a ride home? We live right down the street from the Johnson's,"

"That would be great, thanks," I said, "can I get your number please?"

"Of course," she said as I handed her my phone to type in her number and then gave me hers to put in mine.

"It was nice to meet you Debby," I said before going to tell Hal about the change of plans.

After I was done I walked outside and over to Jace's car.

"Everything ok?" Jace asked.

"Yeah one of the moms offered to take home Hal, her name was Debby."

"Oh yeah my mom is really good friends with her, that was nice of her to offer Hal a ride," Jace said.

"Yeah," I smiled and Jace started driving.

" It's just you and me for the next two hours, can I treat you to lunch?"

"Jace, its 3 o'clock, it's a little late for lunch," I giggled.

"So? We can get ice cream then," he shrugged.

"Ok" I smiled.

Jace drove us to an ice cream parlor. When we walked in he told me to go get us a table and that he would order for us.

"Ok..." I said hesitantly.

"You don't trust me to pick out your ice cream?" He asked with fake shock and pretended to act hurt.

"It's not that I don't trust you."

"Lets make a deal, if I screw up your order you can dump my ass," Jace said with a smirk.

"Confident aren't we?" I asked equally amused.

"Go sit down and get ready to be amazed."

"Fine," I said and walked over to a booth in the back corner.

5 minutes later, Jace walked over with 2 milkshakes. "A chocolate milk shake with extra whipped cream and no cherry," he proclaimed.

"Perfect," I said with a smile.

"Hey, I know what my girl likes," he said with a cute grin.

I laughed and took the milkshake from him.

For the next half hour we drank our milkshakes and talked.

...

With the remaining hour before we had to get Cal, we decided to go to the grocery store.

We picked out food for the next week and although Jace objected, I grabbed some brownies for after dinner.

We made our way to the checkout and the lines were all long but eventually it was our turn.

"That'll be 89.45," said the older lady from behind the cash register. I handed her the money and then Jace gave me a celebratory high five. It's very hard to get enough food to last 4 people all week, and still stay under budget.

We took the groceries to the car and then made our way to the school to pick up Cal.

"Hey bud," Jace said as Cal got in the car.

"Hey," said a sweaty Cal from the backseat.

"How was practice ?" I asked.

"It was pretty good, our main defensive player twisted his ankle the other day so I had to work extra hard with playoffs coming up," he explained.

"Good, it's nice to see you step up," Jace said in a monotone voice.

What's that supposed to mean?

I thought Jace was past the whole 'cold scary big brother' thing.

"I can't wait to see your game, when is it?" I asked enthusiastically trying to cut the tension between the two brothers.

"Its next Wednesday, and its home," Cal said with a small smile.

"Well, you can count on all of us being there," I assured.

We finally got back to the house and Jace and cal helped me unloaded all the groceries.

"Thanks for the help now go take a shower, you smell," I teased Cal.

"Gladly," Cal said blushing a little.

As he walked upstairs I turned to Jace. "What was that in the car? You and Cal seemed a little on edge."

"Nah," Jace said, "we're fine."

"Ok..." i said and walked over to the couch where Chopped was playing on the tv. Jace followed me and we both sat down and cuddled up with a blanket. After only a few minutes I felt my eyelids get heavy and I allowed myself to fall asleep.