"Yeah."

"I’m honored to be your first," she said and winked, she pulled me into a soft kiss, "if you hurt me, I’ll kill you."

"Baby, that’ll never happen. I’m all in baby, and there’s not just you in this, there’s Jackson and believe me, I’d never hurt that little squirt."

"Good," she said and sighed.

"What about your sister and brothers?"

"Well, we have a lunch date with them tomorrow. They don’t know you’re coming, but we’ll tell them then."

"Nervous?"

"Terrified."

"Don’t worry babe, it’ll be ok," I said putting my arm around her. Her head rested on my shoulder and she sighed.

We landed about four hours later and Jackson was fully awake. He was ready for some of his nana’s cooking and ready to sing songs with his papa. We picked our things up at baggage claim and picked up our rental at the gate.

After we got Jackson all buckled in, Tina drove us to her family’s home. I had never been to Chapel Hill or North Carolina, so I stared out the window the entire drive. She pointed out a lot of things and told me brief stories about them. A couple places she listed she wanted to take me. I was more than happy to go.

We traveled fifteen minutes west of Chapel Hill to Woodland Parks, a very nice and expensive country side to Chapel Hill. There were deer, mansions and nice cars all over the place. She turned up a gravel driveway, finally came up to a red brick, two story home in the middle of a modest twelve acres of land. I was in awe of how big it was and how beautiful Tina’s childhood home was amazing.

"Wow Tina."

"What?"

"Your home is amazingly beautiful."

"Thanks, but this was my childhood home, it hasn’t been home for a while. Our home is my home."

"You know what I mean."

"I know, I just wanted to be clear," she said smiling and smiled back.

"Yaaaaaaaaay," Jackson screamed from the back seat.

"Are you ready to see nana and papa?"

"Yes, yes, yes, YES!"

"Ok love," she said and smiled, "I don’t see my brother’s or sister’s cars. We traveled across the country and we’re still first."

We parked and got out, I got Jackson out of his car seat and he ran for the front door as soon as his feet hit the ground. We laughed as we walked behind him. My heart was beating fast, and my breathing became rapid. She squeezed my hand really quick and let it go just as her parents walked out the front door.