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“What?”
Matt picks up our glasses and rises. “Redmond is a very small airport. An hour is plenty of time.”
“What about traffic?”
They laugh again.
“You might have a ten second delay at the roundabout.” Rob gets up, too. “But I have to drive back to Portland in the morning, so I’m going to head to bed.”
Gloria wrinkles her nose and picks up her glass. “You young people are such party poopers. It’s the weekend.”
Matt comes back and puts a hand on her shoulder. “Next weekend is SpringFest. You can stay out partying as late as you want.”
She points a finger at Matt. “You don’t have to be anywhere tomorrow. Stay and keep me company, young man.”
He grins and bows a little. “Thanks for the ‘young’ part, but I’m a morning person.” He yawns as if to prove the point. “This is way past my bedtime.”
Gloria jumps to her feet, shaking her head in dismay. With her back to Matt, she winks at me. “We’ll have to work on that. Nothing says ‘old’ like going to bed early. Look at me. I’ve got at least fifteen years on you, and I’m ready to party. Maybe I’ll go back to the wedding reception.” She stumbles a little, and Rob catches her elbow.
“Save the partying for next weekend, Mom.”
Gloria pouts. “In that case, prost.” She tosses back her wine, then detours to place the glass on the counter. She looks steady enough.
“Thank you for having us over,” I tell the Meads. “It was so nice to relax with friends after that…” I gesture vaguely in what I think is the direction of the hotel.
Gloria chuckles. “It was definitely… an experience.”
Matt holds my jacket, and I slide my arms into the sleeves. “Which part? The weird vows? The karaoke at the reception? The Pictionary game?”
“You have to admit, with a guest list that eclectic, having activities to keep everyone occupied was a good idea.” Gloria leads us toward the door. “The hula hoop contest was a bit much, though.”
I close my eyes. I will never get the image of my father swinging his hips out of my mind. I had to egg him on, though, since my brother radiated disapproval the whole time. He’s such a buzzkill. “Anyway, thanks for having us. This was so much nicer than staying there. Or just going home.”
“It was a pleasure getting to know you a little, Nica.” Gloria swoops in and gives me a squeeze. “And you’re always welcome here. Truly.” She pauses by a little side table in the entry and opens a drawer, then swings around and thrusts a card into my hands. “There’s my number. Call me any time.”
Rob and Matt close in to peer over my shoulder at the little rectangle. The gold-edged pink card has her name and phone number printed on one side and a QR code on the other.
Matt taps the graphic. “Where does that go?”
“My website. It has links to my social media.” Gloria grins in response to Rob’s look of confusion and horror. “You didn’t expect that from your old mom, did you?”
Rob shakes his head slowly. “Nothing you do surprises me anymore, Mom. Although I’m curious who made the QR code—and the website.”
“I hired Typhanee to do it for me. Gotta stay with the times.”
“Typhanee? That girl works everywhere.”
I pull out my phone and point it at the card. A website pops up with a stack of buttons linking to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and others. “You have a TikTok account?” I press that button.
A video of Gloria duetting TikTok phenom Dizy Dee pops up. “You’ve got some moves, Gloria. You know this song is wildly inappropriate, though, right?”
Matt starts laughing, while Rob makes a grab for the card.
Gloria grins. “Spicy sells.”
“You are not wrong. It’s hard being the queen of clean rom-coms.” I close the app and slide the phone into my purse. Then I snatch the card from Rob’s fingers. “This is mine. You can get your own.”
Rob stutters for a second, then finally says, “I have no words.”
