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A moment later, she heard his surprised voice say, “Mom? Hey! What are you doing here? Come in.”
Taryn quickly sat up and gave her hair a finger comb, realizing that the only way out of this apartment was through the front door so there was no avoiding this awkward moment.
She stood up and gave herself a quick check in the mirror that hung in his bedroom, then waited for her pulse to stop racing. Once she was able to breath normally again, she wandered into the living room.
Evan looked up at her and said, “Taryn, meet my mom, Jane Connolly. Mom, this is Taryn Michaels.”
His mother turned around, startled, and said, “Oh, gosh. I didn’t realize you had company, hon.”
Taryn circled the love seat, intending to shake her hand but ended up wrapped in a hug before she knew what hit her.
His mother was a little bit shorter than she was, with a moon-shaped face. She had the familiar dark hair and dark eyes. She was wearing a knitted sweater vest. She looked motherly.
“Nice to meet you, honey. Call me Jane.”
Taryn, unsure how to react, returned the hug and said, “Nice to meet you, too.”
When she pulled back, Taryn watched as his mother subtly moved to the chair, making room for her to sit with Evan.
She said, “Actually, I was just on my way out. I’ll let you two visit.”
Jane’s eyebrow rose as if to say, “Yeah, right,” and then said, “No you weren’t. Sit down with us.”
Taryn fidgeted under her steady gaze. She wanted nothing more than to get the hell out of there and Jane knew it. Totally busted, she thought.
Unable to stop herself, Taryn gave a quick, involuntary laugh. The look on her face was so familiar in that moment that she couldn’t help herself.
She settled down on the love seat next to Evan. Turning to him, she said, “Now I see where you get that look from.”
“Pardon my mother,” Evan said, an indulgent and somewhat embarrassed grin on his face. “She doesn’t really do tactful.”
Jane, clearly amused by the exchange, laughed and then said, “May as well say what’s on my mind, right?”
“So Mom,” Evan said, “what brings you by on a random Thursday?”
“Dinner at Christina’s house. Figured I’d better stop by. Even though I haven’t gotten an invite yet,” she said, giving him a look that had him wincing.
Taryn had never seen him look even remotely intimidated by anyone, so it was kind of amazing to see him squirm under his mother’s scrutiny.
Her amusement was rather short-lived because Jane turned to her and said, “So, tell me about yourself.”
Twenty minutes later she had given Jane her abbreviated history. She’d talked about work, school, Cora, her friends. She had skipped over the shit and given her the sunny version. She could tell that Jane had more questions, but thankfully she hadn’t voiced any of them.
Switching back to Evan, she proceeded to ask him questions about the store and how he was liking it back in LA. The topics remained rather innocuous, but she still had a way of prying information out of people that bordered on hilarious.
“So,” she asked as she glanced between the two of them, “how long has this been going on?”
Evan smirked and said, “A week or so. I figured it was a little too early to invite her to your house for Sunday dinner, Ma.”
Jane merely raised her eyebrow and said, “Maybe so. Oh! And, speaking of that, Thanksgiving’s coming up. You’re coming home for that, right, Ev?”
He blinked at her and said, “Yeah. Of course I am.”
Jane’s mouth twitched and she said, “At least there’s that, then. By the way, Taryn, you’re invited for Thanksgiving, too, unless you already have plans?”
Taryn blinked, a little surprised by the invitation. Answering honestly, because she knew otherwise Jane would be likely to call her on it, she said, “I’m not sure what my plans are right now, but thank you for the invite. Once I know, I’ll be sure to have Evan let you know.”
This seemed to satisfy her for the time being.
