Jake pressed a kiss against my shoulder. “Morning,” he mumbled and nuzzled his head back against my neck.

I stroked his back with one hand and ran my fingers through his hair with the other. This was my favorite time with Jake. Don’t get me wrong—the sex was awesome and the closer we grew again, the better it got—but these moments, holding him with my whole body while he lay replete and happy, was the best feeling in the world.

We’d done a lot of talking in Europe during spring break. Okay, yes, there was a lot of sex as well, but mostly we let it all out—our apologies, our hurts, our resentments, our hopes for the future. We had a lot to work out and it hadn’t been easy. We’d argued at lot in those first few weeks. However, I felt like we were finally where we wanted to be.

I’d been apprehensive about admitting to Jake we’d both be at U of C as grad students but I shouldn’t have been. He was relieved that we wouldn’t have to contend with long distance on top of everything else. School had started, and we worked our butts off during the week so we could spend the weekends together. Jake was still living with the guys but since they could live anywhere, they’d opted for an apartment on the South Side so Jake could be close to school and me, and Beck could be close to Claudia. Claudia and I had gotten an apartment together, only a block away.

Reluctant to get up, I sighed and patted Jake’s delicious ass. “We’ve got to go.”

He groaned and pushed back so he was leaning over me again. His lids sat low over his beautiful dark eyes. “I want to stay inside you.”

I smiled and reached up to caress his cheek. “I want you to stay inside me too, but it’s that time again.”

Gently pulling out of me, Jake’s eyes burned into mine as he stroked my hip. “We could just f**k each other’s brains out all day.”

My breath stuttered at the suggestion but I somehow managed a semi-nonchalant response. “Another time maybe.”

He flashed me a grin, not buying it. “You know you want to.”

I smirked at him as he rolled off me and onto his back. “Sometimes we can’t always get what we want.”

“But to endure torture? Every month? It doesn’t seem right.”

I slid out of bed and strode across the room to my bathroom. “You’re going to endure this torture until my family is comfortable with us.” I switched on the shower and waited for it to heat up before stepping inside. Since getting back together with Jake, I’d made it my life mission to create some kind of peace between him and my family. I wasn’t giving either of them up. There was only so much compromising I could do, and definitely only so much sacrificing.

I knew what it felt like to give up Jake for someone else, and it not only made me miss him, it had made me miss me. I wasn’t the girl who gave up on someone just because someone else told her to. It took me a while to remember that, but once I had Jake back in my life, I knew there was no way I was letting go without a fight.

That’s when I invented “Reconciliation Saturday.” Once a month Jake and I drove to Lanton and spent Saturday and the better part of Sunday with my family. Getting Jake to Lanton the first time was hard, and there were still the odd few idiots who watched him with suspicion whenever we went into town, but he was willing to put himself through it for me.

A few seconds later, Jake joined me in the shower. He brushed my wet hair off my face as he crowded me against the cold tiles. “Baby, your dad is never going to be comfortable with us.”

I wasn’t sure that was true at all. “Andie came around. And Mom has too. Dad will get there.”

“You again,” Dad grunted at Jake.

Dad released me from his hug, kissed my forehead, and strolled toward the living room without another word to Jake.

My boyfriend stood on my parents’ doorstep with a resigned look on his face. “Your dad will get there, huh?”

“In time.” I gave him a look of apology and grabbed his arm to pull him inside.

“I thought I heard voices!”

We spun around to watch my mom descend the staircase with a huge smile on her face. As soon as she reached us, she pulled me into a tight hug. When she released me, she turned to Jake and cupped his cheek in her hand. “It’s good to see you.”

He smiled, a little of the tension leaving him. “You too, Delia.”

“I made my macaroni pie in exchange for dishes duty.”

“It’s a deal,” he agreed. Jake loved my mom’s macaroni pie.

The front door flew open and Andie stepped inside, talking to the hulking figure of her husband-to-be over her shoulder. “Fruitcake? Really?”

“Yes, fruitcake,” Rick said in an insistent voice as he gently nudged her inside.

Andie huffed and turned to us. “I thought the benefit of marrying an orphan was that I didn’t have to put up with crappy opinions from the groom’s side of the family.”

“Andie,” Mom admonished.

I, however, chuckled at Rick. “Good thing you’ve got a thick skin.”

“You need it to marry a Redford sister. Right, Jake?” Rick clapped a hand on Jake’s shoulder in greeting.

“Truer words have never been spoken,” Jake said. “How you doing?”

“My head’s bursting from discussing wedding plans but on the plus side, I’ve been working overtime to get a break from it.”

“Liar,” Andie snorted, finally coming forward to embrace Mom in hello. “He’s fussier than anyone about this stuff.” She pulled back on a pout. “Mom, please tell him we can’t have fruitcake for our wedding cake.”

I wrinkled my nose. “No fruitcake. Vanilla sponge with buttercream frosting.”

“Yes, exactly!” Andie threw her arms around me like I’d just saved her from drowning.

“Why don’t you have both?” Jake shrugged.

Andie and Rick stared at him a moment before looking back at each other. “He’s a genius,” Rick stated.

“Agreed.” She grinned cheekily at me. “I’m so glad I got you two back together.”

“Oh yeah, because you totally should take all the credit for that,” I said.

Before we could get into an argument, Rick turned to Mom. “If baking two cakes is too much, Delia, we’ll buy one.”

“Don’t be silly.” Mom waved him off. “I can bake two. Claudia will help me.”