“Tire?” I question.
Bear says without looking up, “Told you.”
“Mom. Like — tires on a car?” I raise a brow. She can’t be serious.
She throws her head back and laughs. It’s a real laugh. Her hair is straightened and falls behind her shoulders. She has makeup on. She’s wearing a white tank top and the kind of linen pants the entire internet has been wearing for two years. She looks good. She looks healthy. I can’t remember the last time I thought either of those things about my mother, and I just saw her last week.
“Tyr,” she calls. “Come out here.”
A man comes out of the bedroom. He’s tall, broad, and his blonde hair falls forward. He’s in jeans and a white shirt. He’s not as old as my mom. He extends a hand and then thinks better of it and runs it through his hair instead.
“Hi. Sorry about the bathroom. I would have locked it if I’d known you were here.”
“You’re Tire?” I ask.
He laughs — loud and surprised. “T-Y-R. It’s on my birth certificate if you want to check it out.”
I blink.
“I told you she’d make fun of your name,” my mom says, walking past me into the kitchen. “Let’s see what my maid service brought us this week.”
Tyr puts his hands up. “Teenagers are scary.”
I scoff. “I’m in my twenties.”
“Watch out, world,” my mom mocks, laughing.
What the hell has he done to my mom? I can’t even find my Camdenth as I follow them into the kitchen. I watch the two of them and tilt my head.
“So, uh, how did you two meet?” I’m dying to know why it was a secret, but I’ll get to that question later.
They look at each other and laugh. Her eyes gleam in a way I have never seen. “She’s going to love this one.”
“My god,” I mutter. “Don’t tell me you found him at a gas station.”
Tyr laughs, pointing at me. “She’s funny.”
My mom widens her eyes at me like that’s supposed to be a secret. The last guy she dated, she met him at a gas station with me in the car. He thought I was her sister.
“No, Lucy. We met on a dating app.”
I stare at her. “You’re back on those things?”
“Not anymore. I found the one.”
I gape.
Tyr pulls her under his arm, catches my eye, and lets her go. “Lucy. I love your mom.”
She blushes.
I say, “But you guys just met.”
He shrugs. “When you know, you know.”
My mom leans into his side. “Don’t mind her. She’s a math genius, knows nothing about chemistry.”
I think I gag. “Mom.”
