“You two do know each other, don’t you?” Kellen asked, looking confused.
Riley and the woman eyed each other. “No,” they said together.
But just as the word left her mouth, Riley was smacked in the face with a cotton candy vision of the woman, younger and softer, bouncing a drooling, dimpled baby on her lap.“Who is mama’s little flirt? Is Nicky mama’s little flirt?”
Well, hell.
“Mrs. Santiago?” Riley choked on the name.
“Dr.Santiago,” she said, extending a hand for a perfunctory hand shake. Her grip was firm and her palm cool against Riley’s shaky, sweaty one.
“Marie, you haven’t met Riley yet?” Kellen asked, looking like the cat that ate an entire branch of canaries.
Marie’s eyes widened in horror. “Why would I have?”
Oh, boy.
“Riley is Nick’s girlfriend. They live together. Didn’t he tell you?” Kellen asked smugly.
Dr. Santiago’s gaze flew back to Riley.
“This must be a joke.”
“It’s not,” Riley said.
“I beg your pardon?”
“It’s not a joke. Nick and I are…dating.”
“I never implied I thought it was a joke,” Marie insisted.
Great. Now she was reading the mind of her boyfriend’s mother, who had no idea she existed. “Of course not. I’m sorry for presuming,” Riley said. “It’s so nice to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you from Nick.” That was a big, fat lie. He’d mentioned his parents in vague terms, as in he acknowledged that he had some. She had a brief recollection of him saying something about them being on a cruise. But clearly, they’d gotten off the boat.
Dr. Santiago picked up her very nice purse and slung it over her shoulder. “Well, it seems I’ll be paying my son a visit. I assume he’s working or at least pretending to today?”
Riley didn’t know how to answer, so she just nodded.
“Do you have the address of his new office?” Weber asked with a smug grin.
Nick’s mother pursed her lips. “Apparently not.”
“I’ll write it down for you,” Riley offered. She patted her pockets and realized she had nothing but her car keys and phone on her.
“No need. It’s the big three-story Victorian on Front Street,” Kellen volunteered. “Watch out for the roommates.”
“Yes. Well. It was good to see you again, Kellen.” Marie turned to look at Riley again. “It was…interesting meeting you, Miley.”
“Riley,” she corrected.
“Yes. Well.”
They watched Marie leave, shoulders back, sunglasses on. She strode out to a glossy BMW parked across the street.
“Nicky’s in trouble,” Kellen sang under his breath.
“That wasnothow I planned to meet his parents,” Riley groaned, flopping into the chair Dr. Santiago had vacated.
“You’re not going to ruin my fun and give him a heads up, are you?” he asked.
