“Okay.” When he grinned, she felt the knot of anxiety loosen a little. It was dinner. It wasn’tthatbig a deal. “So a little before five?”
“Sounds good. You remember how to get there?”
She nodded, turning her head as the ATVs grew louder. “They’re almost here. You should run if you’re going to get out of here before they see you.”
When Ben winked and then took off at a jog toward his SUV, Laney sighed. First the kiss, and now dinner with his parents. She wasnotgood at braking.
* * *
When Ben heard Laney’s Camaro pull into the driveway, he restrained himself from jumping up off the couch and running to the door, but only because his dad was watching him. He was trying to keep everything as casual as possible, so Laney wouldn’t feel uncomfortable.
As casual as it could be when a man told his mom he was bringing a woman home for dinner, anyway.
He didn’t regret inviting her, and he was damn glad she’d come, but it hadn’t seemed like that big a deal when he was standing outside of her camper, with the taste of her mouth still on his lips. But now with his parents eager to meet her, and Jimmy and his wife and kids there, it seemed like a much bigger deal. He didn’t mind, but he was worried about what Laney would think.
He met her out in the driveway, and he couldn’t help but notice she’d showered and changed before coming over. Her hair was hanging loose around her shoulders, and she was wearing capris with a summery blouse and sandals. She looked beautiful, and he was touched that she’d seen dinner with his parents as a reason to get dressed up.
“Thank you for coming,” he said, giving her a quick kiss hello. “You’re gorgeous.”
She blushed. “Thank you. I figured dinner at a friend’s house was a good excuse to get out of my shorts and T-shirts for a little while.”
Dinner at a friend’s house. Ouch.“Come on in and meet everybody.”
His mom had come out of the kitchen when she heard the car, so they were all in the living room when Ben led Laney inside. “Laney, those are my parents, Alan and May. My brother Jimmy. His wife, Chelsea, and their two boys. The one in the Batman T-shirt is J.J. and the little one is Zach. Everybody, this is Laney.”
She was gracious and friendly, and Ben relaxed as he watched his family warm up to her. They all moved into the dining room when his mom told them, too, and he pulled her chair out for her. When he sat down next to her, he realized it had been a very long time since he’d had somebody with him at his mother’s table. It was always his parents, Jimmy and Chelsea and their boys, and him.
There was the usual small talk as they started eating, until Laney leaned close to whisper in his ear. “These are the best Swedish meatballs I’ve ever had.”
He nodded, but he also caught the speculative glance his mom sent their way. Ben knew he and Laney had a strong enough chemistry so most of the Kowalskis had pegged them for a couple even before they were one, so they certainly weren’t going to slip anything by his mother.
“Have you been home to visit this summer, Laney?” his mom asked when there was a break in the conversation. “Rhode Island, isn’t it?”
“Yes, home is Rhode Island, but I haven’t gone back. They’re keeping me pretty busy at the Northern Star.”
Ben knew there was a lot more to it than being busy, but he also knew she wouldn’t want to talk about her former marriage or her relationship with her family while eating dinner with his parents for the first time. She’d talked to him enough about them to know it was a painful subject, since they’d sided with their former son-in-law in the divorce. Maybe not publicly, but emotionally, and it was them Laney had needed a break from, not her ex.
“What will you do when the summer’s over?” his mom asked. “You can’t stay in a camper during snowmobile season, can you?”
Laney laughed. “I don’t know aboutcan, but I definitely don’t intend to. I’ll be gone before the snowmobilers start showing up.”
“Gone? You’re going back to Rhode Island?”
“Probably. Working at the Northern Star is just a temporary job for me.”
“Oh.” Ben watched his mom frown at her plate, stabbing a piece of meatball with her fork. He willed her to let it go. He wasn’t sure if she was disappointed the first woman Ben had been interested in for a while was leaving, or if she was afraid he’d run off to Rhode Island with Laney, but he could practically hear the wheels turning in her mind. “You should stay until the leaves turn at least. The fall foliage is beautiful around Whitford.”
“We don’t really have a hard end date, so it’s possible. It depends on how busy it stays after Labor Day, I guess.”
“That’s a nice car you’ve got,” Jimmy said, and Ben could have jumped across the table and kissed him for changing the subject. “Six or eight cylinders?”
Laney snorted. “Eight. I’m not sacrificing power in a muscle car to save a little gas.”
Jimmy swallowed the bite he’d popped in his mouth and pointed his fork at Laney, though he spoke to Ben. “I like her.”
They all laughed and talked cars for a while, until the meal was over. Chelsea took the boys back to the living room since they were getting fidgety, and everybody else helped clean up.
Ben tried not to dwell too much on how it felt to watch Laney moving around the kitchen with his mom. They talked easily—something about Nola promising to teach Laney how to knit—while they worked, and it felt right to him. It was too easy to imagine their kids playing with Jimmy’s kids in the other room, or all sitting around Grandpa and Grandma’s Christmas tree, waiting to open presents.
