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“Are you mad?” Sunny asks, cringing.
I can’t quite figure out my feelings.
“He shouldn’t have made you guys feel awkward around me,” I say finally. “Now you all think that I’m rude and unapproachable.”
“That’s not what we think at all,” Sunny says earnestly. “We understand that being around us for the first time can be… a lot. If we can’t offer you peace and quiet, the least we can offer you is space.”
She chews on her bottom lip and watches me with big brown eyes. I can tell that Sunny is truly distressed by the thought that I might be mad at them or mad at Adam.
Climbing to my feet, I offer my hand to her. “I apologize.”
“Nova.”
“I don’t make a habit of coming into people’s homes and making demands of them. Adam shouldn’t have done that either.”
“We’re a family here,” Sunny argues. “If you can’t ask family for what you need, then who can you ask?”
“I’ll speak to Adam,” I continue stiffly. “So he doesn’t do that again.”
“Sweetie, you’re overthinking this. I don’t believe your young man wanted to make you look bad. I think this was his way of protecting you.”
My stomach flutters. I fight Mama Moira’s words anyway. “He overdid it.”
“It’s better to over-do treating someone well than to be lackluster. Remember, relationships aren’t always cut and dry. It’s about understanding each other—”
“Mama, they’re not in a relationship,” Sunny hisses.
“They’re not?” Mama Moira gasps. “He’s doing all that for her and he hasn’t even asked her to be his girlfriend? What on earth?”
I smile at her exasperation.
Mama Moira whips her hand in the air. “Forget what I just said. Rake him through the coals, sweetie. He needs to learn.”
I laugh softly.
She winks at me.
“Mom, something smells like it’s burning,” Sunny points out.
“Oh, my cookies!”
While her mom flounders back to the oven, Sunny loops her arm through mine and steers me toward the deck.
She dips her head close. “We’re good, right?”
“We’re good,” I answer.
But me and Adam?
That’s another story.
* * *
When it’stime to leave, there are tears, hugs, and promises to meet again—all by the children. Rowan has to be torn away from his new friends, who wave at him like he’s going off to war.
I didn’t get to talk to Adam during the dinner and it looks like I won’t get a chance on the car ride home thanks to Rowan’s chattiness.
He’s riding on a high after that visit, which tells me he’s an extrovert. His batteries seem to have been charged after spending time with others, while I’m even more drained than before.
