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“I really don’t miss this,” he said with a yawn. He took a sip of his coffee. “Still not as bad as Vancouver, but fuck.”
“Yeah. I’m kind of glad that you’re driving now. I’d be a wreck.”
He shot me a grin. “See, we took Milli for a reason.”
After an hour of bad traffic conditions and a few close calls, we made it through the city and to the Airbnb that Chester had reserved for us near the UT campus. It didn’t look like much, but that wasn’t surprising. My parents wouldn’t have wanted to spend much money on…anything.
Julian parked Milli in the driveway. A brand-new Jag had never looked more out of place. But he didn’t say anything, just went to grab our luggage.
“Ready?” he asked.
I nodded. “I think so.”
I wasn’t sure though. It hadn’t occurred to me until now that we’d really be lying to everyone. I was a terrible liar. Even if it was a small deception that would make it easier to endure this weekend, I was starting to feel weird about it.
“Hey, what’s wrong?”
“It’s just…I don’t know how I feel about lying to my parents. Now that I’m here.”
“You never lied to them when you were growing up?”
I shrugged. “Not really. They always found out.”
He dropped my bag and reached for my hand, pulling me a little closer. My eyes widened. “We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to. We can tell them the truth—that I’m your friend and you didn’t want to drive alone. That would be fine, too, Jen.”
My pulse jumped at how sincere he was—and how much I wanted him to lean down and kiss me. “No, it’ll be fine, right? We don’t have to go into details. Just that it’s new.”
“Yes, and I didn’t want you to drive down alone.”
“Right. Yes.”
“We’ll do whatever makes you comfortable,” he assured me. “It’s not like we’re planning to make out in front of your parents.”
I laughed as if the very idea was ridiculous and stepped back. “You’re right. It’s just nerves. It’ll be fine.”
He frowned and opened his mouth to say something else, but whatever he was about to say was lost to the front door opening. My mom stood on the porch in mom jeans that she’d probably had since the ’80s and an Atlanta zoo T-shirt she had gotten on a trip for one of Chester’s chess tournaments. I didn’t think my mom had purchased much clothing since then either.
“Hey, kiddos,” she said with a wide smile. “What do we have here?”
“Hey, Mom.” I strode across the yard, and she pulled me into a hug. “This is Julian.”
“Ma’am,” Julian said, holding his hand out.
“Oh, we’re huggers here, dear.” She squeezed Julian tightly. “I’m Connie.”
“Pleasure to meet you. I’m Julian Wright.”
“Wright,” my mom said with an eyebrow raise in my direction. No one was immune to the name.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Well, all of these ma’ams. Aren’t you precious? Come on inside. Jennifer, you didn’t tell me you were bringing a boy.”
I laughed awkwardly and followed her inside. “Last-minute decision.”
Julian hefted the luggage into the living room. “I didn’t want her to drive all the way to Austin alone.”
“That’s sweet of you.”
Julian’s eyes swept to me. Something passed between us, like a light flickering on. There wasn’t just friendship in that glance. He’d turned something on, and now, I had the full weight of Julian Wright’s gaze. A tenderness in those deep, dark eyes.
“I care about Jen’s well-being,” he said softly.
I cleared my throat and quickly looked away. I wanted that look to be real. How had he faked it so easily?
“Well, I wish you’d told me you were bringing a…date,” she said the word cautiously.
“Boyfriend,” Julian said with ease, slipping his arm around my shoulders.
“A boyfriend.” My mom’s eyes widened. She was going to have this out with me later. I could feel it. “It’s certainly been long enough since I’ve heard that word associated with my daughter.”
I tensed. Seriously? She had gone there.
My smile fractured, and Julian squeezed my shoulder.
“I’m so glad to finally meet you,” Julian said smoothly.
“Finally? How long have you been dating?”
Julian looked down at me. “Gah, how long has it been?”
I squirmed. “Feels like it started yesterday.”
He laughed. “Doesn’t it?”
“Ah, young love,” my mom said with an almost-mocking tone.
“Which room is mine?” I asked, shuffling out of Julian’s grip. God, he was a little too good at this.
“Of course. You two will be right back here.”
You two.
My head spun at that notion. Right. We were dating. We’d be sharing a room. My parents were annoying in a whole host of other topics, but they weren’t prudish. I hadn’t considered that when we agreed for Julian to accompany me. It was only a two-bedroom house. My parents would be in one room. Julian and I would share the other one. But maybe it’d have two queens or bunks or something. BNBs sometimes did that to try to accommodate more people.
