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“Hailey!” a far too excited person exclaims with their arms already outstretched and ready for a hug as soon as we step through the front door of her dad’s house.
Back in the woods, I told Hailey the deal, and I plan to make good on our agreement. I scratch at my temple after doing a double take.Planbeing the operative word.
“What’re you doing here?” Hailey asks, the words a gargled mess to the cotton shirt she had her face currently buried into. Probably for the best, or her mom would’ve definitely heard the higher, nervous fluctuation in her voice.
I can say with certainty I don’t think either of us was expecting to walk in here and find her mom inside the house sheusedto share with her dad.
Were all the hotels booked up?
That would make everything a whole lot less awkward for us all, considering her daughter was coming around my dick less than thirty minutes ago.
To say her mom noticed as Hailey too aggressively dropped our interlaced hands like they were a hot iron as soon as she saw her would be an understatement.
The way she continues to watch me over her daughter’s shoulder is more telling than it should be.
I gulp, keeping my own disappointment at bay, but it’s like swallowing a handful of cotton balls. Hailey didn’t have to let go…
Hailey’s mom is the first to pull back, but she doesn’t free her completely. Her arms are stretched straight, continuing to hold her shoulders, examining her. “My my,” she clucks, reaching for a long, wet strand of Hailey’s dark hair. “Seems you two found the rain…or did the rain find you?”
She sounds so certain, so…positive.
I hate it.
That’s not the whole truth. I mostly despise the glance she shoots at me again. Brief, nothing more than a peep in my direction and I almost spiral, coming undone.
I have no idea why I’m reacting this strongly to her mother. I’d always gotten along with both of her parents. But, I don’t know, something about this meeting is different.
I blame it on the unexpectedness and nothing else…not her mother being a cockblock and certainly not this lingering feeling that tells me she knows what really happened with us outside.
“Where’s Dad?” Hailey says, looking over her arm.
Thank fuck! Yes. Where is dear old Dad?Finally, something to get this woman’s shifty gaze off me and onto something more obviously pressing.
“What, no ‘how are you’ or ‘how was the flight’ first?” she jeers back. She’s not mad, I can tell the difference, and the fact that she’s not making this all the more weird.
Seems I’m not the only one who notices this time…
The shock of her mother’s unexpected visit wearing off the longer the underlining reality of everything else settles back into place.
Hailey’s neck cranes and she arches a concerned brow. “What? Of course, how rude of me,” she appeases. “How was the flight?”
“Rory wanted it to be a surprise for the wedding!” Her mother beams, her excitement getting the better of her. Shrieking, she jumps, clapping her hands in place. The action is so similar to how her daughter would react in an identical situation that it’s almost alarming.
My teeth grit. “This was Rory’s idea?”
Has my life turned into a joke?
Hailey’s mother ignores both my comment and the way my lips gnash together, glancing back at her daughter. Hailey hasn’t taken her eyes off her since she arrived. Not once has she given me the time of day…
Her mother swings their interlocked hands between them with a faux pout. “Besides, I missed my daughter and…” Theandhanging on for dear life at the end.And Aidenis what she was going to say.
She doesn’t know I know.
I crack a wisdom tooth. Ironic, seeing as I have none.
Hailey’s throat bobs. The smile that follows is filled with so much uncertainty her mother sees right through it, too, even if she says nothing.
“I’m so happy you’re here, Mom.”
