Page 57 of Her Age Gap Match

“There she is,” Mom said, setting her camera on the table in front of her and then going back to her work—crocheting something, looked like. “You look flushed. Are you running a fever?”

“I’m fine,” I laughed, even though it made me even more flushed. I was, in fact, very pink. Just…not for reasons I could tell my mother.

“Maybe you’ve been out in the cold?” Her eyes darted into the corner, her brow furrowing. “You—you’re not at work.”

“I’m not.”

“So where are you?”

I bit my lip. “...Michigan?”

Her brows shot up. “You’re on a trip? Mid-week? My little workaholic taking time off.”

“Not exactly.” I paused. “A lot has happened.”

The concern showed right away, her face falling. “Oh, Poppy…did you lose your job?”

“Not exactly.”

“I’m getting a lot of half-answers here.”

Footsteps sounded on the stairs, then John came around the corner in a Redwings t-shirt. I swallowed hard, and my mom leaned in.

“You’re with someone,” she said. “Poppy Hayes, tell me everything⁠—”

John did the work for me, leaning into the frame behind me. “Hello, Mrs. Hayes.”

My mother’s jaw dropped.

I should have known.

I’d gotten my hopeless romanticism and my appreciation for good-looking men from her, after all.

“You—” She stopped. “Hi.”

“I’m John,” he said. “John Lawson. Poppy’s boyfriend.”

It felt so absurd to call him my boyfriend that I almost laughed…but I held it in. Because that’s what he was.

My boyfriend.

Which, on second thought, made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

“Mom?” I said.

“I’m processing,” she said.

“Mother.”

“Give me a second, Poppy, I’m looking at a very attractive man who claims to be my daughter’s boyfriend when she told me she wasn’t even seeing anyone last week.” She set down her crocheting entirely. “Now—it’s nice to meet you, John. You can call me Viv. Everyone else does.” She looked over her shoulder, then, and my stomach dropped. “Ed! Poppy has a boyfriend! He’s on the phone!”

“Mom, now is not the time⁠—”

“Is John your full name?” my mother asked. “Only asking because my husband is going to find you on the internet and we may as well remove stumbling blocks. Plus…what’s your address?”

“Good lord, mother⁠—”

“John Lawson is the name on my birth certificate,” John laughed. “And I’m easy to find—I own Due North Distillery in Fennville, Michigan, corporate office is in Chicago. Originally from Detroit.”