“We’ll make drinks tonight at home,” I tell her. “We’ll swing by your place and grab your things first, and then it’s movies and margaritas.”
“Can I come?” Oliver asks.
“No,” I tell him, wanting a night alone with my sister. “People with big mouths don’t get to enjoy movies and margaritas with us.”
Oliver grunts as he slides his arm around the back of my chair, touching my shoulder. “Baby,” he whispers in my ear, causing my skin to pebble at the deepness. “You sure liked my big mouth this morning when it was?—”
“Okay,” I say, shooting up out of my chair and trying to keep my face from flushing any more than it already is. “We better grab our plates.”
Zoey giggles as she pushes herself up from thetable. “I love you two together. You can totally come to movie and margarita night, Oli.”
Oliver smiles over at my sister as I mouth, “Traitor.”
“What are we watching?” he asks her.
“Pretty Woman,” she answers.
“Fuck,” he says.
The regret on his face is instant. Serves him right.
16
OLIVER
“When doI get to meet her?” Mom asks as she pours herself a fresh cup of coffee in the middle of the afternoon.
“Whenever you want, Mom.”
“Randall said she’s lovely.”
“Were those his words?” I raise an eyebrow.
In my entire life, I’ve never heard Randall call anyone lovely. He isn’t a mean guy, but his vernacular isn’t that proper.
“He said she was pretty and kind. He said he liked her for you.”
“That’s different from lovely, but all of it is true. Although, I think she’s too good for me.”
Mom waves me off. “No one is too good for my boy,” she says, reaching across the table to pinch my cheeks like she’s done since I was a little boy.
“Ma,” I say, rubbing the skin she just assaulted as soon as she lets go. “Stop that shit.”
She laughs as her hands move to her coffee mug, which is far safer for my face. “Is she the one, baby?”
I stare at my mother, turning over how I want to answer the question. The simple answer is yes. In a short amount of time, Lulu Gallo has stolen my heart. It’s never happened for me before. Not like this. Not this fast. Everything with her has come easy, including the feelings. But I know my mom. If I answer yes, she’ll start planning the wedding before I even have a chance to ask Lulu the big question.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” she says before I mutter a reply. “I need to meet her as soon as possible if she’s going to be my daughter-in-law.”
“No.”
“No?” Ma’s eyebrows rise. “Why?”
“Because Lulu doesn’t know she’s going to be your daughter-in-law yet, and I don’t want you to scare her off.”
“Baby,” she says with a sweet smile, “would I do that?”
“Yes.”
