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But his grin was exactly the same.
And an older couple. Maybe fifties or sixties, well-dressed, and smiling. She was pretty, with blonde hair tied up in a twist, wearing a pantsuit. And he was a tall, solid man, with silver hair but very familiar brown eyes, and that grin...
Oh.
Oh boy.
“Mum,” Tully said. “Dad. I wasn’t expecting you...” Then his voice dropped. “Ellis. You scheming, festy ball sac.”
Ellis laughed and leaped onto Tully in a tackle and they wrestled like teenagers. Tully’s father laughed, and his mother sighed loudly. She ignored them and aimed right for me.
“Hello, dear,” she said, walking toward me. “Please ignore the heathens. I tried to raise them right.” She held out her hand. “I’m Brielle, Tully’s mother.”
Oh my god.
So this was happening.
I remembered my manners and shook her hand. “Hello. It’s very nice to meet you, if somewhat unexpected. Please excuse my clothes. I’ve been travelling all day. If I’d have known I’d be meeting you—”
Tully was back beside me, his arm firmly around my waist again. “Mum, this is Doctor Jeremiah Overton. Jeremiah, this is my mum.”
She blinked in surprise at my title. “How lovely to meet you.”
Then Tully turned me to face his father. “This is my dad, Ken.” And his brother, whose shirt now looked decidedly dishevelled. Had Tully ripped the collar? “And the walking, talking nut sac, Ellis.”
His dad shook my hand. “Ignore them. It’s nice to meet you.”
Ellis gave Tully another shove and shook my hand too. “So you do exist. I thought for sure he’d made you up.”
Oh, goodness.
“I do exist, yes.”
“And you spent time out in the cell block with him?”
“The cell block...”
“He means the bunker,” Tully explained.
“Oh, right. Yes. I loved it. I’d actually like to spend more time there.”
“Oh, so you’re as batshit crazy as he is,” Ellis said, trying to touch Tully’s face. Tully wrestled with him again until their mother spoke.
“Boys!”
They stopped immediately, but Mrs Larson took my arm. “Come inside out of this dreadful heat,” she said, ushering me in toward the door.
I turned back to see Tully’s father give them both a clip behind the ears. It didn’t help that he was smiling when he did it.
“Holy shit, he’s got the bluest eyes I’ve ever seen,” Ellis said. I think it may have been an attempt to whisper but we all heard it.
“Shut the fuck up,” Tully said, putting him in another headlock.
“Forgive those two,” his mother said as we entered the building. “They get like that when they haven’t seen each other for a while.”
It was an easy twenty degrees cooler inside, and I almost sagged with relief.
“We’ll go through to the cafeteria,” she said. “Can I offer you a drink? Did you say you’d been travelling?”
