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“Let me get you something to drink Elsa and then I will give you two some privacy!” she says, then shoves her nose inside the fridge.
Mom returns to me with a tall glass of milk, from which I take a big gulp to calm my nerves.
She gives me a hug and whispers in my ear, “Don’t ruin this, Elsa!” before waving bye to Harvey and heading outside to the backyard.
Harvey pulls up a chair next to me and steals one of my eggs.
His aftershave and the overall musky smell of him is distracting me and my stomach is so tied in knots I can’t possibly eat. I slide the plate over to him.
But he ignores it and looks me in the eye with sad eyes.
“I’m sorry, Elsa. I didn’t handle that conversation with your brother very well. I’m sorry to show up like this, but I couldn’t reach you on your phone and didn’t know what else to do.”
I sigh, “No you didn’t. But I guess I should apologize too. I didn’t mean to tell my brother about what… happened between us. It’s just that he flat out asked out of the blue and I was so shocked I couldn’t deny it. And yes, I blocked you—”
His eyes bulge and his face turns so red it almost makes me laugh. I hurriedly continue, “I blocked you because I didn’t want to say something I’d regret and wanted to give myself time to cool off.”
Harvey takes a deep breath, nods, then pulls me in close. “I’m sorry I put you in this fake relationship situation, but I’d be lying if I said I’m sorry I ever met you.”
He pulls away and looks me straight in the eye again.
“Because I’m not sorry about that. And even though we may have got to know each other because of a lie, I promise I’ll show you that you can trust me.”
My eyes start to tear up, and I start eating the eggs just to give me something to do. When I look up at him, he says with a grin, “You know I don’t care if you talk with your mouth full. Go ahead.”
I snort, narrowing avoiding eggs up my nose. After I drink some milk, I say, “I’ve been thinking about our last conversation and I have no idea how it would work, but I think we should try…”
His eyes sparkling, he jumps out of his seat as if his favorite sports team just won a game.
“Are you saying we can date for real?”
I wipe my eyes and shake my head, “I’m not saying that yet, but I want to try and figure it out. We still have some things to sort through, especially with your family—”
Before I can continue, he lifts me out of the chair and into a kiss.
We both hear a squeal and turn to see my mom, hands over her mouth, staring at us through the backyard glass door.
We both start laughing and wave her inside.
“Elsa and I kissed and made up!” Harvey says with a grin.
“I’m so happy to hear that! Isn’t he a charmer?” Mom claps her hand once. “Before you woke up, he was saying he’d like to take us sailing, Elsa!”
“And you said yes…?” I ask her, surprised.
“Of course not. You know I hate boats!” she says, waving my idea away. “But you can go with Harvey and your father, can’t you?”
“Sure,” I look at Harvey, and my heart jumps in my chest at the thought that he could be my boyfriend soon.
“Well, I’m going to tell John that you are here. He still doesn’t know. Give me just a second!” Mom pats Harvey on the hand, and then leaves in the direction of the garage.
Harvey and I look at each other and laugh.
“My parents can’t stop talking about you,” he admits out of nowhere.
I smile but feel a pang of guilt as well. “We need to talk about how to handle that situation the best way, especially if want to try dating for real.”
The garage door opens, and mom walks back into the kitchen.
