Once their plane landed Isabella and Patrick collected their stuff and brought it to a rental car. Isabella got into the passenger side and kicked her shoes off since they had about an hour's drive. Once they started to drive through the familiar places a wave of nostalgia hit her. Patrick the hand he was holding to his lips and kissed the back of her hand. "You ok?" He asked. "Yeah," She answered shortly. "You know, it's not too late to pull out of visiting your parents," Patrick gently said. He knew how much stress this was causing her and wanted to fix it. "I know but I need to... well, feel like I need to. My mom might be crazy but she did her best. And I don't know, a part of me has hope my dad has changed." She explained. Patrick just kisses her hand again. Isabella checks her phone and sees she has a few messages from her Manager.
Manager Alex. *link* Let me know how you want to handle this... my suggestion is to ignore it.
Isabella clicked on the link and it was a picture of Isabella and Patrick from college. There wasn't anything too scandalous about the photo. It was just Patrick with his arm around her while they were both smiling for the picture. But on the post, people had mixed feelings. Some people thought it was a normal picture of two friends and others thought differently.
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"Pictures are coming out from our college days," Isabella tells Patrick and shows him the picture. "What do you want to do about it? Alex thinks we should ignore it and I agree." Isabella says. "Maybe we should go public," Patrick suggests. Isabella looks at him with surprise. "Really? Are you sure that's a good idea?" She asked wary of the idea. "I don't care what people think. I love you and want to show you off." He explains and gives her a quick glance because he is still driving. Isabella blushes at his comment.
If this was a discussion when they first started dating again she would tell him that he's crazy and that it was a bad idea. but now Isabella doesn't hate the idea. She would love to be able to post him freely, to write love songs about him and everyone knows who it's for, or be able to congratulate him on the field after he has won a game. But simultaneously, she loved having him and their relationship all to themselves.
"What if we don't say anything but we start posting each other and if they figured it out, they figure it out." She suggested. "I like that idea." He said with a smile.
<>
They pulled up to Patrick's family's house then walked to the door and knocked. The door opened and it was his mom. "Patrick! I'm so glad you came home." She said and hugged him. "Isabella, it's so good to see you," Randi said and hugged her too. "Thanks for having me," Isabelle replied. "Of course, you're always welcome. Come in." Patrick grabs their luggage and carries it inside. "Mia! Patrick and Isabella are here!" Randi yells they all laugh as they hear footsteps coming at them at full speed. "Isabella!" Mia runs and jumps in her arms. "Mia! I love the pj's" She complimented as Mia was wearing Christmas pajamas. "Thanks, Mom let me wear them early since you guys were coming." She explains. "Um, excuse me missy. But you haven't hugged me yet." Patrick teases and Mia laughs and then hugs him. "Come on, your father and brother are outside." She tells them and they go to the backyard. "How are you, son?" His dad brings Patrick into a hug once he sees him. "Doing great dad, how have you been?" Patrick asks then dabs up his brother. "Hey Isabella, how's it going?" Patrick's dad asks and hugs her. "Going good, happy to be here." She said then hugged Jackson. "Hey Jackson," She smiles which he returns. "Hey, Merry Christmas." He replied. "Can we open presents today?" Mia asked her mom. "Not today sweetie, tomorrow." Randi reminded her. Isabella and Patrick were only there for 2 nights so they decided to do gifts the full day that they would be there right after they visit Isabella's parents. "Aw," Mia said in disappointment. "Come help me make dinner," Randi said and grabbed Mia's hand. "Would you like some help?" Isabella asks. "On no sweetie, you're my guest. Just sit and relax." Randi told her. "I don't mind, I love to cook," Isabella said. Randi smiled. "Ok. You and Mia can wash and cut the vegetables." She said and they all walked into the kitchen.
"Can you teach me how to sing?" Mia asked while washing the potatoes. They had come up with a system where Mia would wash and dry the vegetables and Isabella would cut them. "I bet you already sing beautifully," Isabella said while cutting the carrots. "But not as good as you. Jackson showed me you singing." Mia said then handed her a potato "Oh. Is that so?" Isabella questions. "Yeah, he said that they were Patrick breaking your heart And other topics but he wouldn't tell me about them because I'm too young," Mia explained and Isabella was a little surprised. "Mia, that's enough. How about you go hang out with Patrick since you don't see him often?" Randi told her and gave her a look of no argument. Mia nodded in disappointment and then left to find Patrick.
"I'm sorry about her, She's at the stage of not knowing social cues. But don't worry she only listened to a few of them and Jackson made sure to only let her listen to the chorus." Randi explained. "Oh ok, that's good. I don't want to be the one to explain relationship issues to her through my music." Isabella said. "Yeah, I'm not looking forward to her growing up and having to watch her go through those things," Randi said honestly. "But on the topic of your music, I just want to say how proud of you I am. I remember watching you sing the national anthem for Texas Tech. You have an amazing voice and I'm glad it's being heard." She complimented and Isabella blushed. "Thank you, that means a lot," Isabella replied. She was worried about Patrick's family's opinion about her album since the majority of it was about him. "How did your mom like the album?" Randi asks. "I don't know, I haven't spoken to her about it... and honestly I'm quite nervous to find out since one of the songs was about our family," Isabella admits. "Well, I can tell you how she will feel about it but just know we are proud of you," Randi said. "Thank you, Randi," She replied with a smile.
Isabella and Randi finish preparing dinner, then set the dinner table. They had made steaks with potatoes, carrots, and mashed potatoes. "This looks delicious mama, Thank you," Patrick said while taking a seat next to Isabella. Kissing her on the cheek. "Don't just thank me, Isabella is a wonderful cook. You got lucky Pat." His mom said. "I sure did," Patrick says and grabs Isabella's hand under the table while giving her a smile.
They spent the rest of the evening decorating the Christmas tree, making Christmas cookies, and watching Christmas Classics. As they were watching The Grinch Mia fell asleep in Isabella's arms. And Isabella fell asleep holding Mia. Patrick took Mia from Isabella and brought her to bed. Then went back for Isabella and brought her to bed too.
