“I’m so sorry.” I stumble back, and my mouth goes even drier. Because I’m standing face-to-face with Maverick’s mother.
She’s a tiny woman, slight and curvy with long, wavy auburn hair. I realize I’ve seen her daughter on campus, Maverick’s younger sister, because she looks almost exactly like her.
“I was wondering if I could have a word.” Her expression is pinched, uncertain.
Saying no is not an option. Not if I want an actual relationship with Maverick, and even though I’m questioning myself today, my heart already knows what it wants.
“Of course.” I glance down the hallway. There are conference rooms to the right. “We can go in here; there’s more privacy.” I use my faculty card to unlock the door and turn on the lights, ushering her inside before I follow and close the door.
She clutches her purse in her hands. It’s ornate, decorated with beads, and looks like a math textbook. Her gaze moves over me. “You don’t look old enough to be a professor. If you came to a liquor store and I was working the cash, I would definitely card you. Even if you were buying a fifty-dollar bottle of wine.”
“Fifty-dollar bottles of wine are a little above my current paygrade.”Oh my God. Did I just lip off to my boyfriend’s mother?
She shakes her head. “I would never work the cash register at a liquor store. It would be super depressing to see the same guy come in every day and buy Colt 45. Mouthwash would be a better option than that shit. It tastes like lighter fluid that’s been marinating in a toilet.”
“I will take your word for it.” I wait, because obviously she didn’t pull me in here to talk about malt liquor.
“What exactly are your intentions with my son?”
“Can you be more specific?”
She blows out a breath. “Are you reliving your twenties because you missed out on them the first time around? That ex-husband of yours seems like a bit of a bomb waiting to go off, and you had to have been young when you met him. Early twenties, maybe? So you took a pass on all the fun stuff because you settled down with a douchecanoe, and then you saw my son and thought he would be a good way to get your rocks off for a while? Or maybe he’s a ticket to a life of leisure?”
“Wow. Okay. Um, my ex-husband is the worst choice I’ve ever made.”
“That’s saying something, since you’re sleeping with one of your students.”
I have to give it to her, she’s a straight shooter and a protective momma bear, which isn’t a surprise given the way Maverick talks about her. Her children are a top priority. I need to put myself in her shoes.
“I realize we don’t know each other, and maybe you have concerns?—”
“Concerns? You’re sleeping with a twenty-one-year-old who happens to be myson.” She crosses her arms. “What could you possibly have in common, other than the fact that he’s in his sexual prime and you’re approaching yours?”
Blaming the man who likes to hold the blame would be a terrible betrayal to him and what we mean to each other. I wait again, unsure if she’s done or if she’s planning to rip into me some more. She has a right. It tells me what I need to know. That he’s important to her. That she cares. Just like I do.
“Well? Are you into hockey? Or just hockey players? Or is it limited to my son?”
The sarcasm is strong with this one. “Do you actually want an answer, or do you just want to attack me?” I ask.
“He’s my baby, and you’re taking advantage of him!” Her eyes are on fire. “He has a bright future, and you are not going to get in the way of that.”
“I don’t want to get in the way of his future. I know he’s on track to be called up by an NHL team. Whether we’ll be able to manage a long-distance relationship remains to be seen, but I would never try to persuade him not to go down that path, if that’s what he wants.”
“If? He’s been training his entire life for this. He’s lived and breathed hockey since he could walk. This is what he’s worked for, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let some woman with relationship issues drag my son down and ruin his future.”
If she could breathe fire, I’m sure she would. I can appreciate her conviction and her love for her son.
“I realize how this must look from where you’re standing, and I don’t think there’s anything I can say that’s going to make you see it differently. I don’t know if Maverick told you this, but he intervened when I was almost attacked by a group of men.”
“What? When?”
“It was the end of October. I was putting out my garbage, and a group of drunk men started heckling me. They surrounded me, and Maverick stopped whatever was or wasn’t going to happen. And then he made sure I was okay and suggested I take the self-defense class he teaches.”
Her brows pull together. “That sounds like him, but it doesn’t explain how you ended up in a relationship.”
“I’m getting to that. I want you to know it didn’t start with any sinister intentions.”
“He told me you hooked up in the summer.”
