AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You know what I mean, Carol. When was the last time you came down here?”
It can’t be very long since I visited Florida, can it? But then the realization hits me.
Since the breakup. And my sister’s announcement.
I force a smile as I tear away from her arms and plant a kiss on each cheek. “I’m here now.”
Perhaps this whole thing has affected me more than I care to admit. The hand landing on my waist reminds me of it. I’d never have agreed to this crazy plan otherwise.
My mother’s steel blue eyes dart from me to Brian and her mouth falls open then slowly moves to form an O. Not a sound comes out but when her eyes meet mine again, I see confusion and a very clear,what the hell did you do? Not that she’d ever say that aloud.
I glance up at Brian who, to his credit, looks deeply ashamed. More than when he had to face me for the first time.
The story, Carol, I remind myself. I haven’t come this far to blow it now.
But Brian has taken his promise seriously and does not wait for me to make the introductions. Not that there is a need. My mom has seen pictures of us together, some of which might still be somewhere around my old room at my parents’ house.
“Mrs. Martin, I think this meeting is long overdue. I’m Brian, Carol’s boyfriend.” Brian extends his hand and to my surprise, my mom purses her lips, puts on her standard polite smile, and shakes it.
Still holding his hand, she looks at me, “Nice to finally meet you. Call me Kristen.”
Her expression is hard to read, the mask of politeness already on, but I know her too well. She’s not the kind of person to gloss over things, especially when her daughter was the one who got hurt.
I grin at Brian, and he grins back, madly in love. Soon, she’ll be convinced too.
Mom releases him and places one hand on my arm. “Care to explain, Darling?”
Yep, there it is.
“We met a couple of weeks ago,” I start but my voice is shaky. Telling her that we met while on dates with other people won’t help my cause much. “I was helping Rose and Dennis with something, and Brian happened to be there for work.”
Brian’s hand returns to my waist, his body almost glued next to mine.
“Don’t try to soften it, Love.” His lips press softly on my forehead, and I can’t help but look up at him. Brian’s eyes stay fixed on mine as he continues, “Carol had a lot to say. I had a lot to apologize for. But—” He takes a deep breath and turns to my mother. “She allowed me to explain over dinner, and that turned into a date, and more dates followed, and she forgave me.”
That’s not the right order, I want to point out, but it doesn’t matter. His fingers hook around the belt loop on my jeans.
“We wanted to keep this—not a secret as such, just—we wanted to make sure first,” he concludes, sounding too convincing.
“I didn’t want to tell you before, I wasn’t even sure it was a good idea for us to be here together in public,” I manage to say. “But I didn’t want to keep this hidden either.”
Mom’s prying eyes travel from my face to Brian’s. I cannot tell if she believes us or not, but what we told her is the only plausible explanation for his presence. I mean, me hiring him for my date is too absurd to believe, even if I told her.
“That’s very sweet, Brian.” She pats his arm like a child for a job well done and asks to talk to me alone. Before either of us responds, she’s leading me to the other side of the garden. I glance back at Brian who gives me a reassuring look and heads inside with our luggage.
“What is this madness, Carol? Him? Out of all the people you could have chosen for a partner, you chose him?” It’s the first time I’ve seen her like this—pale, eyes wide and worried, not caring about keeping up appearances. “Why would you even want to hear what he had to say? What is going on in that head of yours?” As if to emphasize a point, she taps on my head. “Have those long hours at work finally—”
“Mom, take a breath, please. And hear me out, okay?” I can’t believe this is turning out worse than me coming alone.
She knew I was hurt when he left, but that was just the tip of the iceberg. Mom didn’t have to witness my weeks of depression and she never found out about the rumors. “When I saw him that day, I realized I needed answers. And closure. And the more we talked, the more I started to feel something for him.”
A sprinkling of truth, to hide the lie, and yet the more I say it, the more I’m convinced that this is what happened.
“And I decided to give it a try, you know.” I look at the sky for support. It’s slightly past noon and it is as clear and blue as the ocean around us.
Mom raises an eyebrow, a bit calmer than before, and definitely curious now. “I take it that his explanation was satisfactory then?”
I nod. “We are… I think this is exactly what I need.” I choose my words carefully, dreading the moment I’ll have to take them back. But at least when I tell her we broke up again, it’ll be on me—that I’d decided before I said yes to him.
