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“Oh. Good, then.”
I gripped the wheel and smiled, trying to sell it, but Rex wasn’t buying.
“You still look worried,” he said.
“That’s… very observant,” I said, pulling into Desmond’s driveway. “But it’s nothing.”
“Are you going to see Carter this weekend?” he wondered.
“Um… why do you ask that?”
“Because we haven’t seen him since that day at the park. And I want to tell him about the spelling bee. Mrs. Tupper is letting me compete with the fourth graders.”
“Well, I’m probably going to see him tonight,” I admitted. “But I’ll let you tell him the big news.”
“Okay.”
Rex got out of the car and we walked to Desmond’s porch.
“Mom, is Carter your boyfriend?” Rex asked, catching me totally off-guard.
“Wow, I don’t… I don’t know what to say to that.”
I wondered if he saw the little kiss Carter and I snuck at the park. I hadn’t anticipated having this conversation until Carter and I were sure that we were official, if we made it that far. But Rex opened his eyes wide and cocked his head to the side, silently demanding an answer.
“Would you be mad if Carter and I were seeing each other?” I asked.
He smiled. “No. I’d be really happy.”
“Okay. That’s good.”
“But I’d be mad if you went toPizza Pizzawithout me.”
“Well, Rex,” I said with a laugh. “I promise we won’t go toPizza Pizzawithout you.”
I pulledinto my own driveway to see someone waiting on my front porch. Carter. And he was holding a bouquet of flowers and a bottle of wine.
“This is really nice,” I told him, opening the door and showing him inside. “I didn’t expect you to be out here waiting for me, though.”
“I know. I didn’t want to weird you out. I was trying to just chill and be cool till you got back, but I was driving myself crazy in my apartment,” he said. His hands shook a little as he put down the wine and flowers. “Are you as nervous as I am?”
“God, yes,” I said. “Maybe even more so.”
“I can’t even tell you the last time I was on a real, actual date.”
“Tell me about it. The last time I was on a date was about a decade ago.”
“Right,” he said. “You win.”
“I wasn’t trying to compete with you. I just… Yeah, I’m nervous.”
“I just really want this to go well. I feel like everything will kind of fall apart if it doesn’t.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m worried I’m going to bore you or I won’t show you a good time and you’ll decide you don’t like me after all.”
“Pretty sure that won’t happen,” I told him.
