I was midway through deciding whether I should send a follow-up clarification when my phone buzzed. It was Seth, already calling, and I answered immediately.
“Hey,” I said.
“Are you okay?” Seth asked at the exact same time. The concern in his voice hit me straight in the chest.
“Yeah,” I said quickly. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
There was a pause.
“Okay,” Seth said slowly. “Because you texted me emergency and I wondered if something bad really happened.”
I snorted despite myself.
“Sorry, but no. I’m perfecting fine,” I assured him.
“Good. That would’ve complicated things.”
His voice sounded warm and relaxed.
It occured to me that just hearing it loosened something in my chest I hadn’t realized was tight. I leaned back onto the bed, staring at the ceiling.
“So,” Seth said after a second. “What’s the emergency?”
I rubbed a hand over my face. “My mother.”
Seth laughed immediately. “That bad?”
“You have no idea.”
“Oh no,” Seth said, amusement already creeping into his voice. “What happened?”
I sighed dramatically. “She wants you to come to family dinner tomorrow.”
There was momentary silence. I could almost picture his shocked expression.
“…What?”
“Exactly my reaction,” I muttered.
I heard rustling on Seth’s end, like he’d sat up straighter wherever he was.
“Wait,” he said slowly. “Like… dinner, dinner?”
“Affirmative,” I told him.
“With your whole family?” Seth asked.
“Yes, I know it’s a lot to ask, and you can say no,” I informed him.
Seth made a strangled noise somewhere between laughter and panic.
Despite everything tangled in my head tonight, despite the confusion and the uncertainty and the lingering question of whether Seth was still hung up on his ex…well.
Hearing him laugh still felt like relief.
By the time I pulled into the café parking lot, I’d already come up with at least six different ways Seth could reasonably get out of dinner tonight.
I could tell mom he was too tired from work, had a headache or some kind of family emergency. Honestly, I was willing to help him fake most of them.
