Even though she was on the list of the last people I wanted to see.
Right alongside Beckham Jennings.
CHAPTER 5
I’d never been on a date before. My options had been fairly slim pickings over the years. Miraculously, Jamie and Beck had been the only boys at Alderton-Du Ponte when we were growing up, and the guys at school were not nearly impressive enough to waste my time with.
No, if I were going to introduce anyone in my life, I needed someone mature, someone who was going places, and who would cause people to do a double take upon glancing over.
And that was why Carter Pembleton was perfect, even more so after I found out about him being Mr. ASMR.
I sat at the dining room table with a calmthud-thudin my chest, tracing the grain in the wood with my fingertip. The whole day had felt like it’d gone by impossibly slow. School had dragged as we prepped for finals, and Daisy had apologized for not being able to come help me get ready for my date—she had to watch her siblings until hermom got home from work—but she made me promise to call her first thing when I got home instead.
Jamie was sitting in the living room, curled on the couch with his book, pretending he didn’t know what I was waiting for. Pretending he wasn’t waiting for it, too.
I glanced at the clock on the wall, watching the second hand tick. Four minutes.
“Oh, you look beautiful, Nellie!” Mom swept into the dining room with her briefcase in hand and purse strap over her shoulder, coming in through the garage door. “I’m glad you went with that one. That dress looks so pretty on you.”
Mom had laid out the maroon midi-length dress with little flowers on it this morning before work, and I paired it with a crocheted cream-colored bolero. My dark hair mostly hung straight down my shoulders, and I’d twisted a few pieces back, with my bang pieces still framing my face. “Thanks, Mom.”
“I don’t know how you and Jamie grew up so fast,” Mom said as she came around the back of my chair, running her fingers through my hair. “It feels like just yesterday your dad was still popping Jamie’s popcorn for him and I was tucking you into bed.”
I held still under her attention, warmth blooming inside my chest. “And now here I am, going on my first date. And Jamie is… reading. Still.”
The word still tasted odd on my tongue.Date. I wanted to see Carter, butdatefelt far more loaded than what I felt.
“I thought you’d be more nervous than you are.” Momgave me a quick kiss on the top of my head before setting her things down on the table. “You’re sitting here, cool as a cucumber. I was a nervous wreck before all of my first dates.”
“Even with Dad?”
“Even with your dad. He made meextranervous. That’s how I knew he was the one.”
“They say that’s how you know someone’snotthe one. Nowadays, they say that butterflies are really your body’s way of warning you away, and we just confuse them for something positive.”
Mom tilted her head. “Huh. I never thought about it that way.” Then she shrugged. “But it worked out for us. I suppose no nerves in your case, then, is a good thing, hmm?”
I had to agree. I didn’t feel nervous at all; in fact, as I sat there literally counting down the minutes, I almost feltbored.
“If your father asks,” she went on, lowering her voice, “let’s just tell him this was a friendship thing, mm?”
That surprised me. “You think he’d be upset about me dating?”
“I think he’s got a lot bothering him. I don’t think we need to add any more to his plate.”
For a moment, I hesitated. Maybe telling him about my first date would be just what he needed to wake from his zombie state. “All right.”
Then the doorbell rang, a light sound that echoed through the dining room. Mom was the one who let out a little shriek. “He’s here!”
“He’d better be,” Jamie grumbled from the living room. “Because he only had a minute left.”
Mom went before me to open the door, and I took one last mental once-over of myself. My hair was tangle-free. My lips were glossy. I would put my shoes on at the door, and then I’d be perfect to go.
Mom had ushered Carter into the foyer by the time I got there, where his eyes had caught on the family photos hanging from the wall. He was currently looking at one from when Jamie and I were nine, with Destelle beside Dad, and Mom’s arm around my shoulders. It’d been the last family photo we’d all taken together, because Destelle never came home for the other ones.
“Perfectly on time,” I told Carter, drawing his attention away from the picture and to me.
“I wouldn’t risk ruining my chances.” The confident line was dulled a bit by the sheepish smile on his lips. Carter looked exactly how I’d imagined. His chinos were perfectly pressed, and his dress shirt was tucked into the waistband. His warm brown hair was styled again, exposing his forehead and crinkled eyes. His eyes found Mom’s. “I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to introduce myself at Senior Night, Mrs. Brighton.”
