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“Mom?” Romeo asked, causing the woman to turn around.
She had the same smile as Romeo, although she seemed to offer it easier than he did. “Did you forget about our brunch date?”
“Oh, fuck. Is that what day it is?”
“Yup, and here you are, just coming downstairs with your two men in tow.” She offered her hand to me. Her pink manicured nails caught the light as I glanced down. “Pepper Emerson, it’s nice to finally meet you, Tristan.”
“You know who I am?” I took her hand in mine and shook gently.
“Of course, I do. Romeo might not have me over much, but we talk often. Plus, I saw you in the news when you went on yourdate.” She winked. Her eyes were blue, but not nearly as light as Romeo’s. She was also shorter than us.
She offered her hand to Dash next, and they shook. “It’s nice to meet you, Dash.”
“You too, ma’am.”
She threw her head back and laughed. “I’m not that old. Don’t ma’am me. You can call me Pep. Pepper’s weird and a name my parents gave me on a whim when they couldn’t think of anything else to call me.” She rolled her eyes. “Anyway, you’re both staying for brunch, I hope. I brought over the good stuff. My son keeps nothing in his home.” She pinched Romeo’s cheek. I figured he’d swat her away. However, he simply sighed, accepting what she did.
“My mom is a whirlwind,” he told us. “I was hoping to ease you into her, but you get the full experience this morning.”
“He likes to joke about my energy level. It’s not my fault I get an early start. I’ve already baked a dozen double chocolate chip muffins and been to my yoga class. I don’t have the genes to look this good on my own.” She smacked her thigh and turned with a laugh. “Romeo’s lucky he got his father’s good looks. My son works out, but not nearly enough to look that handsome.”
“Your flattery means everything to me,” he deadpanned.
“Can we help?” I asked as she bustled into the kitchen.
She moved around like she lived here. “No help needed. You three have a seat on the other side of the counter and keep me company. I want all the dirt.” She pointed at Dash. “I know you have the good gossip with what you do for a living. I bet the tabloids have nothing on you.”
Dash laughed. “We’re going to get along great. And I do have dirt.”
“Hit me with it. I don’t spread rumors, by the way. Ask Romeo. I kept who his father was a secret from the rest of our family. Since Malik wanted nothing to do with publicly raisinghim, which, in all honesty, I appreciated. He didn’t live the life I wanted Romeo to be a part of. Plus, he was an asshole.” She shrugged. “Our family thinks I had a one-night stand with a guy I met in a bar. There’s some truth to it. I met him in a bar, though I left off the part where I watched him put a guy on his knees for threatening Jordan while he aimed a gun at him. I shouldn’t have been in that hallway. Malik had a way to keep me quiet, which I liked at the time and entailed… Well, you don’t need to know and I don’t need to relive it. While Malik was a big fucking mistake, Romeo wasn’t. I love my son more than life.”
Romeo turned to us. “As you can tell, my mom isn’t shy. If you’re going to be with me, you’ve got to get used to her.”
“Used to me?” she scoffed. “I’m a joy to be around.” She put a plate of muffins on the counter as we sat on the stools. “Eat those. Romeo said you have no food allergies when I asked about your first date, but I didn’t know if either of you ate plant-based or not. I went with gluten-free flour, no nuts, vegan chocolate, and other ingredients.”
I’d never met a woman quite like Pepper. She was so energetic and didn’t filter her words. Her authenticity was worth admiring. And these muffins… I moaned on the first bite. The way she described them, I didn’t think they’d be tasty, but these were amazing.
“Pep, this is fucking fantastic,” Dash said with a mouthful of chocolate. “And bring on the meat.”
“Honey, that’s just the start. Wait until you taste my quiche. That’s why I brought the muffins to hold you over. I’m going to go all out and add lots of flavor.”
Dash faced Romeo and me. “How did you end up not cooking for yourself when your mom bakes like this?”
“I’m a terrible cook,” Romeo said. “If I try to make anything she does, I ruin it. Seriously, it wouldn’t be edible.”
“He’s right,” she shot over her shoulder while she had the oven preheating and she stirred the eggs. “He can’t cook for shit. I’ve tried to teach him many times, but he never got the hang of it. We have a standing brunch date every couple of weeks. He kept pushing me off in favor of you two. I didn’t mind. It’s been a long time since he’s been this happy. But I gave him a firm date and said I was coming over today, whether he was ready or not. Tristan, I knew you lived here, but wasn’t sure I’d get to meet Dash as well.”
Romeo broke off part of the top of the muffin. He’d already eaten the bottom and saved the top for last. “I completely forgot.”
“That’s because you’ve been busy doing… other things.”
Dash laughed. “This is great. I could never talk to my parents like this.”
“It was just the two of us while I raised Romeo,” Pepper said. “I had to be everything he needed and didn’t want him to miss out. Honesty is important, especially in the world we live in now.”
“She means having Jordan in my life,” he added.
“Not only that, but Romeo didn’t hide his sexuality. I knew how cruel the world could be and wanted to be the one he came to, no matter what was going on.”
