“Oh good, you’re here!” My mother’s smile falters as she dashes to my side and slides her arm around me. “Oliver, this is my oldest daughter, Lindsey. Lindsey, this is Oliver.”
Lucy steps in warily behind me as Oliver crosses the tile floor to greet me. Ben leans against the counter, his eyes wide and his hand covering his mouth.
“Yes,” Oliver says, his eyes sparkling like a moonlit lake. “We’ve already met. In fact, we were just on the same call at Mr. Greene’s farm.”
“Well, isn’t that something,” Aunt Rose says from where she sits in the rolling office chair we’d put her in to help her get around. She pokes a cookie in her mouth, holding the jar in front of her like a shield.
“Um…hi.” My cheeks are on fire, I am on fire, andthe entire room is on fire. “It’s good to see you again but, um, what…what are you doing here?”
Oliver opens his mouth to answer, but my mom jumps in.
“You two know each other?” Her voice has turned to molasses, which is one of the tells my mother is lying. “What a small world. Isn’t it, Rose?”
“It sure is,” Aunt Rose mumbles, reaching her hand inside the Tiffany blue porcelain container.
My mom places her hands firmly on my shoulders, as if she’s Vanna White and I’m the prize she’s presenting.
“You see,” she says, “when I called the fire department the other night to help Rose, it was Oliver here who saved the day. He mentioned he was new in town, and I suggested he come over for dinner, both as a thank-you and to meet some young folks his age.”
I smile at Oliver. “That’s my mom. She’s big on southern hospitality.”And absolutely, certifiably insane.
My brother clears his throat. “Listen, Oliver, would you mind coming and talking to the kids for a second? Noah is obsessed with firefighters. You’re like a rock star to him. He’s going through this phase where he doesn’t want to eat his vegetables. I know this is probably a weird request, but maybe it would help if?—”
“If he knows firefighters get big and strong by eating their broccoli?” Oliver asks, completing the thought with a chuckle.
“Exactly,” Ben says as he leads Oliver out of the room, but not before he throws one last wide-eyed glance at me over his shoulder.
Lucy gestures after them. “I’m just gonna…” She trails off before scampering from the room.
“Are you feeling okay? You look flushed,” Mom asks. “Rose, doesn’t she look flushed? Is your fibromyalgia acting up, sweetheart?”
I swat her arm. “No, it’s not. What is the matter with you?”
“What?” My mom presses her palm to her chest.
“I expected better than this from you.”
Aunt Rose snickers as she pulls a glass off the counter and fills it with chardonnay. “Well,thatwas your first mistake.”
“I know how this looks, Lindsey,” my mom says with a casualness that tells me she, in fact, doesnotknow how this looks. “But maybe this can be an opportunity for you and Oliver to get to know each other better.”
“Did it ever occur to you that I would prefer to do that on my own terms?” I whisper loudly. “You are off your rocker!”
Aunt Rose shrugs. “I tried to tell her.”
“Oh, don’t act like this wasn’t at least partially your idea,” I hiss before turning back to my mom. “This is wildly inappropriate.”
She squeezes me around the shoulders. “Honey, I was only trying to help. Iknowyou, okay? And if left to your own devices, I was afraid you’d never give this Oliver fellow a fair shot. I just want you to be happy.”
I push my fingers through my hair and blow out a breath. “I realize the boundaries in this family get a little fuzzy sometimes, but you havegotto stay out of my personal life.”
“I’ll ask him to leave if that’s what you want,” Mom says.
I squeeze my eyes shut. It’s not what I want, but I don’t want to give her the satisfaction of telling her so.
“No,” I finally say. “But only because you’d look like a lunatic, which would, in turn, make me look like one.”
“The apple never does fall far from the tree.” Aunt Rose raises one perfectly painted-on brow.
