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*
“Aye, Mimi,” said Mama Maria. “You’ve lost it. Loco.”
Mia and her mom sat at
a table at their favorite coffee shop, but neither had touched their lattes. Maria wore a cute blue sundress that complimented her tan skin. Mia took a moment to marvel at her mother’s youthfulness and pray it was genetic.
“Mom,” Mia said. “Please just hear me out.”
“Where will you sleep? Where will he sleep? Who will pay for all this?” She tsk-tsk’ed. “You know what a man will be expecting…if you go live with him on a boat for a month. No. Your father won’t allow it.”
“You have to convince him!”
“I don’t allow it either! We don’t know this man. He could be a kidnapper. Or a drug dealer.”
Mia knew her mother had a flare for the dramatic, but that was taking it a bit far. “We know he’s not a drug dealer. He’s Blaine Daniels. Software mogul. You were the one who figured out who he was in the first place, with all your snooping around and your man-hungry friends.”
“Perhaps we should go to Mass. Consult with the pastor afterward.”
“That’s absurd! We already know what he would say.”
“Exactamente. And he’d be right.” Maria finally took a sip of her coffee, as if the priest at their local church was the final word on daughters, morality and parenting in general.
Mia kept a hold on her temper. That would get her nowhere. She needed to make Maria feel like she came to her own conclusion. Mia quickly came up with a way to do just that. “Will you at least meet him? He’s been asking to meet you.” Not exactly true, but Mia was banking on Blaine’s desire for her to come with him to St. John. Maybe it was early to meet the family, but it was also early to go on a month long vacation.
“Hmmm,” Maria said. “I don’t see how it can hurt.”
“Great. We can have a glass of wine on his boat.”
“Is it a yacht?” Maria’s eyes widened, and Mia felt she was getting somewhere already.
“No, but it’s as valuable as a yacht.” She proudly rattled off the information that Blaine had given her about his charter fishing boat. “It’s a Grady White. Thirty-four feet. You don’t get much nicer than that.”
Maria sniffed, and Mia imagined her mother’s plan to hang with Beyoncé and Jay-Z had been snuffed out. Queen B and Jay didn’t hang out on fishing boats. Still, Maria was game.
“Yes, we can do that. I will size him up.” She wagged a finger at Mia. “Just because he is rich, he won’t impress me.”
“I know,” Mia said. “Don’t you always tell me I need to find a real man? That guys like Jeff are too childish, and not going anywhere?”
“Aye, you’re right.”
“I tell you, Mom, Blaine Daniels is someone who can take you places.”
*
To Mia’s surprise, Blaine seemed thrilled at the idea of entertaining her mother. She’d arrived at his apartment with a speech planned, as if she were running for some sort of election. Blaine, however, seemed to think it made total sense.
“I put myself in her shoes,” he said. “You’re an adult, of course, so you can do what you want. But if my daughter was going away for a month with some guy, I’d want to at least meet him.”
Mia hugged him from behind as he chopped vegetables for the soup he was making. “Thank you. That makes me happy. You’re right. I mean, I’m coming regardless. But it will be nice to have her blessing.”
“What about your dad?”
Mia shrugged. “My mom rules the roost. Daddy pretty much goes along with whatever she says.”
Blaine set down the knife and turned around. He rubbed Mia’s back and her bottom through her jeans. “He just does what she says, huh?”
Mia nodded and pressed her breasts against his chest. “I know that voice. Something I said got your blood pumping.” She slid her hand to the crotch of his jeans. She felt him, hard through the denim.
