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“Because,” he replies dryly with a shrug of his enormous shoulders. He’s wearing a white Henley and dark blue jeans that fit him really well.
“Reed, seriously, come on…becauseisn’t a grown-up answer to a very simple question. I want you to tell me where you’re taking me right now or I’ll jump out of this moving vehicle.”
He grins over at me. “We’re going to my mom’s for dinner.”
I think I wheeze. Before spinning fully in the seat to glare at the side of his fat head. “Your mother’s house? What the hell, Reed? I can’t just go with you to your mother’s house. I don’t really even knowyou.”
“Well, let’s change that.”
“No, I don’t –”
“Cut it out, Tink. I want you to come with me.” He scratches his fingers over his scruffy chin, smoothly changing lanes in the early evening traffic, and then he looks over at me when I don’t make a sound.“Please?”
Oh god.
How can a grown man look so perfectly pathetic and vulnerable with just one word passing through his lips? He’s got me all in a twist and I don’t even know how it happened. It wasn’t supposed to be like this.
When I woke up this morning, I certainly didn’t think I’d be leaving my apartment, headed to New Jersey to meet a millionaire rock star’s mother.
Ten seconds of deafening silence follows, but eventually I hold my hands up in surrender, knowing full well that I’ll most likely regret it later.
But what the hell do I have to lose?
“Fine. But we have to stop somewhere on the way and get cheesecake. I won’t step a foot inside your mother’s house unless I have cheesecake to offer her. Deal breaker. Take it or leave it.”
“Jesus,”he grumbles.
“I can’t just show up with nothing.”
“Yeah, you can,” he assures me, slowing down, and then crawling to a stop at a set of traffic lights. “My mom cooks enough to feed a small army. You’ll love her, I promise. And she’s probably already got dessert sorted.”
“I’m sure she’s lovely. But we’re getting cheesecake!”
“Okay, okay,” he says, shaking his head slightly, and then adds, “Calm your tits, Tink. If it makes you happy, we’ll get fucking cheesecake.”
“Thank you.”
He reaches across and holds my hand, sliding his thumb back and forth across my knuckles. He doesn’t let go of my hand, and for some strange reason, I don’t let go either. We just continue driving in comfortable silence, holding hands, listening to some song I don’t know the name of, searching for someplace that sells cheesecake along the way.
And I really like how it feels.
Reed
My mom lives in a single-story home on a picturesque, tree-lined street in New Jersey. For a Sunday evening, the traffic was light, so it didn’t take us long to get here.
After stopping at three different bakeries, none of which had the‘right kind’of cheesecake because apparently that’s a thing, we eventually stopped at a grocery store, and Brinley seemed satisfied enough with a caramel/chocolate concoction with shavings on top and dollops of whipped cream all around the edge, and we hit the road again.
“Hang on, I’ll help you out.”
“I can get out myself,” she grumbles, jumping down from the Jeep just as I reach her side. She regards me for a moment and then rolls her eyes. “I don’t need your help, old man.”
“I beg to differ,” I say, leaning on the doorframe. “And that was a weak ass comeback, Tink. I’ve come to expect more from you. I think you might be losing your touch.”
She smiles sweetly at me. “I appreciate your faith in me, Mr. Devlin. But give me time to come up with something better. I promise I won’t let you down.” She laughs and I open the front gate, leading her toward my mom’s front door.
Flower beds line the narrow pathway and there are various garden ornaments adorning the front steps. I look around the yard as I knock on the door. It looks neat and tidy, and I’m glad the gardener is doing a good job of keeping the place well-tended for her.
I pay him enough.
