He was dressed well for a date, too, wearing a dark gray sports coat, over a dark pair of blue jeans. Overall his look was smart, serious, and yet welcoming at the same time. Stephen found himself willing to give the guy a chance.

"Stephen, Grace, this is my new friend, Jim Reid. Jim, I'd like you to meet my son, Stephen, and his girlfriend, Grace," Theresa introduced for all of them.

Jim let out a wide grin, before hopping off the couch to shake his hand firmly, "It's a pleasure, Stephen! Your mother talks about you constantly, and I kind of feel like I already know you," he joked, before turning to Grace. "A pleasure to meet you as well, Grace!"

"It's good to meet you, too Jim, but I'm afraid this is the first time I'm hearing of you," he replied a bit too honestly.

The smile dropped from Theresa's face slightly. "That's partially my fault. I began talking with Jim the week before my father pa.s.sed away. It wasn't until after the funeral that we decided to making things a little more serious. I wanted to be careful about dating someone new, and not exposing my children to a new man until I was sure there was potential with a relations.h.i.+p." Theresa scooted closer to Jim, and interlinked her arm with his. "I'm sure about Jim now, and that's why I wanted you both to know first."

"So, the twins don't know yet?" Stephen asked.

Theresa shook her head, "I think that might be a harder battle to fight. I figured you being the oldest, that you'd also be the easiest!"

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"I guess I can understand that," he replied, before looking back at Jim. "Well, welcome Jim. If my mother thinks you're a good guy, then that's good enough for me."

Jim grinned and then gently patted Stephen's back, "Thank you, Stephen. That means a lot to me. After how much she's told me about you, I knew the first thing I wanted to do was try to earn your trust."

"Are you from around here, Jim?" Grace asked.

"Yes, born and raised. Not too far from Topeka actually. I really couldn't imagine leaving," he chuckled, before looking at Theresa, who simply smiled.

Both Grace and Stephen started to pepper him with questions. Nothing too serious, but just their way of getting to know the man that was now dating the matriarch of the family. Stephen found that Jim had an easy laugh, was very personable, and seemed to possess an easy charisma that seemed practically magnetic. It was hard to dislike Jim, even if you wanted to.