Page 66 of Date With Skates

Since he moved, he hasn’t been around as much, but he comes whenever he can. He’d asked me to go with him one other time, but I chickened out. I don’t know why, but meeting parents feels very serious. Something I’ve never done before, and though I have serious feelings about Connor, and I’m ready to settle down, it’s just a step I wasn’t prepared for. But now I am.

“You sure you’re okay with this?” he asks as we stop outside of door 223.

“I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t,” I say.

He smiles and takes my hand, then knocks on the door. A woman calls out for us to come in, so he opens the door and we step inside.

“Connor!” his mother says from the chair she’s sitting in by the window.

She’s a beautiful woman with white hair and kind blue eyes.

“Mom,” he says, blowing out a sigh of relief.

He walks over to her and hugs her tightly. She then looks at me.

“Who is this handsome young man?”

“This is my boyfriend, Étienne.”

“It’s so nice to meet you,” she says with a bright smile.

“You too,” I say, going in for a hug because her arms are outstretched.

Like I said, I don’t know anything about Alzheimer’s, but Connor has explained to me that hers came on so quickly that it felt like it came out of nowhere. It’s still progressing, but it has slowed. Which doctors say is strange, but sometimes it happens.

“Mom, Étienne actually has something for you.”

“Oh, right,” I say. “I forgot.”

She watches as I open my Saint Laurent—no relation—bag that Connor bought me for my birthday. I pull out the envelope and hand it to her.

Her brow furrows, but she takes it and opens it up.

Her eyes widen and she gasps when she sees what’s inside.

“How did you get this?” she asks me but then looks at Connor.

“Do you remember when I told you I went to the Olympics?” Connor says.

She makes a motion like it flew out of her head.

“It’s okay,” Connor says. “Anyway, I met him while I was there, and Étienne is actually his cousin.”

“Oh my,” she says, looking at me. “You’re related to Nico Laurent?” She lets out a disbelieving laugh. “I can’t believe it! What are the odds? Oh, my goodness, Connor, you are so lucky!”

She looks down at the signed picture of Nico and Connor with a smile that warms my heart.

“Did you win the gold?” she asks.

He’s had this conversation with her multiple times already, and she never remembers.

“No, but we got silver.”

“That’s a big deal, Connor. I’m so proud of you.”

She reaches out for him, wanting another hug.

We sit with her for about ten minutes before her mood starts to shift and she gets more confused. We say we are going to get going and we will visit again when we can. By the time we’re walking out the door, she’s muttering to herself about the hotel always getting new staff.