“Oh shit,” he says under his breath, his nose still brushing mine.
“What?” I ask. “What’s happening?”
“Nothing to worry about, darlin’.” He shakes his head and chuckles under his breath. “It’s just my mom.”
His mom?
A car door slams and then a beautiful woman, probably in her mid-fifties with long black hair streaked with silver and the same bright hazel eyes and copper skin as Tanner—no doubt she’s his mother—steps out onto the driveway. She’s gorgeous. We should all be so lucky when we’re fifty.
“Hi, Mama,” Tanner says softly. “What brings you by?” he asks with laughter in his voice and a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.
“Hello, Son,” she laughs back. “Oh, you know, I was in the neighborhood.”
“Sure, you were,” he responds.
“And you called and asked for my recipe for toasted pumpkin seeds, so I figured I would come and stop by and make sure that you had all the seasonings in your kitchen.”
“And Mrs. Jennings called you first thing this morning to tell you that I had a date with me at the hayride last night.” He smiles indulgently at his mother.
“There is that too,” she says, smiling back. “So, are you going to introduce me?” she asks as she bounces on the balls of her feet, apparently eager to meet me.
“Mom, this is Abigail,” he tells her before turning to me. “Abby, this is my mom.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” I tell her.
“It’s lovely to meet you,” she says to me, her voice is soft and gentle and I think she might mean it. “And please call me Edna. That’s a lovely pumpkin, kids.”
Together we all walk inside and head back into the kitchen where Tanner’s mom sees the massive amount of pumpkin seeds we have washed and dried. She starts pulling spice jars out of her purse that is so huge it kind of reminds me of the carpetbag Mary Poppins carried.
“You’ve done a lovely job, sweethearts,” she praises. She reminds me of my own mom when I was young, before things went bad, and she had the chance to be a wonderful mom. “Now, let’s spice these babies up. Tanner, preheat the oven.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he says as he moves to the oven to do just that.
Together we work to prep the pumpkin seeds and then toast them in the oven. Truth be told, it was a lot of fun. Once the task was done, Tanner’s mom, Edna, breezes out the same way she came in.
“It was lovely spending the afternoon with you, sweetheart,” she says to me as she wraps her arms around me in a big hug. “Thank you for letting an old woman have some fun this afternoon and it’s nice to see my boy too.”
“I had fun too,” I tell her.
“Don’t be a stranger.” She winks at me. There’s a twinkle in her eye. She’s up to something and the look of mischief makes her even more gorgeous.
“I won’t,” I say quietly not sure what to do with being welcomed so openly. I’ve never felt wanted before and both this beautiful woman and her handsome son have done just that.
“I love you, my son,” she says as Tanner wraps her up in his strong arms. “Don’t mess this up.”
“I love you too, Mama.”
“I like her,” she whispers, but I can still hear her and have to bite my lip to hold back the smile. “Bring her to dinner this week to meet Dad.”
“Mom,” he says.
“What? We’re family,” she tosses back. “She has to meet us sometime.”
“The second date is not usually that time, Mom,” he laughs.
“So, we do things a little different.” She winks. “This one is different.”
“She is,” he says seriously.
