Before she climbed in, she caught my sleeve. “Dean.”
“What?”
She glanced toward Luka. “He seems lovely.”
I rubbed a hand across the back of my neck. “Mom...”
“What? You looked worried.”
“I was.”
She smiled. “I know.” For a second she studied me before nodding toward Luka. “Stop waiting for the bad part.”
I blinked. Before I could ask what that meant, she kissed my cheek and climbed into the taxi.
Dad leaned across the back seat. “Nice to finally meet you, Luka.”
Luka blinked. “You too.”
Dad nodded. “We’ll see you again before you leave.”
It wasn’t phrased as a question.
Mom was looking pleased again.
The taxi pulled away, and I stood there for a moment watching it merge into traffic.
We started toward the Metro station.
Luka shoved his hands into his coat pockets. “What did she say?”
“She likes you.”
Luka looked ahead. “She has only met me once.”
I laughed. “Mom doesn’t care about details like that. And you’ll survive.”
“I survived four hugs.”
“You counted?”
“Of course I counted.” After a few more steps, he spoke quietly. “I expected difficult questions.” He smiled. “Instead, they simply assigned me homework.”
I laughed.
“And I seem to have gained a second mother.”
“Yeah, that can happen.”
The station entrance came into view ahead of us.
Luka glanced at me. “What exactly are your plans for the rest of the night?”
I grinned. “I was thinking I’d help you recover from the trauma.”
“Ah.”
“Professionally, of course.”
