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“No, you’re right – we should go. But not for long, okay?”
“Yeah, not for long.”
Her mom came out onto the porch steps with a big smile on her face when they pulled up.
“Well, this is a lovely surprise. I wasn’t expecting you.”
Tori smiled as she ran up the steps to greet her with a hug. “We just thought we’d drop in.” She pulled back and looked into her mom’s eyes. “And you know what? I love this – I love that we get to just drop in, and I love that I didn’t feel like I needed to call and ask first, and I don’t feel bad that we surprised you.”
Her mom reached out and touched her arm. “I love it too, sweetheart – all of it.” She turned to Xander, who’d joined them at the top of the steps. “I hope this isn’t too fleeting a visit? You are going to come in?”
“If that’s okay,” he said.
Tori was glad that they’d come when her mom linked one arm through hers and the other through Xander’s, and then they all had to huddle together to squeeze through the front door.
“I deliberately didn’t call you today,” said her mom. “I thought that you’d be making the most of what will no doubt be your last free day for a while.”
“We were … We are,” said Tori. “We’ve been for a drive around the lake. We’re just headed home now.”
“Well, I’m glad you came. Can I get you a drink?”
Xander looked at Tori. He was the one who’d sprung this idea on her – she had no idea how long he wanted to stay.
“Not for me, thanks,” he said.
“Or me,” Tori added.
“Oh, that’ll be Russ now,” said her mom. “I thought that you were him when you arrived. He went to collect dinner from the resort.”
“We don’t want to hold you up,” said Tori. “It really was just a flying visit.”
Her mom gave her a puzzled look. “Is everything all right?”
“Everything’s fine,” Xander spoke before Tori had the chance. “We’ll get out of your hair and let you have dinner.” Her mom gave them both a puzzled look. “Why do I feel like there’s something going on?”
Tori laughed. “Probably because this is really weird.” She shot an inquiring look at Xander. It felt weird, too. She went to her mom and gave her another hug. “But maybe it shouldn’t be weird – hopefully one day soon we’ll both be used to the fact that I can just pop in and hug my mom because I want to.”
Her mom’s eyes shone with tears. “I’d love to get used to that, but I’ll never take it for granted.”
They all turned when the door opened, and Russ came in carrying a takeout bag. “Hey, guys! Sorry, I didn’t know that you were coming.”
Tori laughed. “None of us did. And don’t worry, we’re leaving now.”
Russ laughed. “You don’t need to. Have you eaten?”
“Seriously,” said Xander. “You guys have your dinner. We’re fine. We just stopped in to say hi.”
Tori gave him a puzzled look as they walked back out to the truck. “Are you okay?”
He gave her a rueful smile. “I’m fine. I should just come clean. All I wanted was a quick word with Russ. Do you mind if I just run back in?”
She laughed. “I don’t, but I’m going to wait in the truck for you. And thanks for explaining. I didn’t know what the hell was going on there.”
He opened the passenger door for her, and gave her a quick kiss before she climbed in. “Sorry, sprite. Sometimes, I think I shouldn’t say anything, and it turns out that we’d all be better off if I did.”
She laughed. “It’s fine. Go on; go and talk to Russ, then we can leave them to have dinner and we can go home and have ours.”
~ ~ ~
