Edwina extended her free hand, but Reese ignored it and instead dipped his head and kissed her cheek. “I’m Reese Matthews, and I’m honored to meet you.”
Edwina lowered her eyes, the demure gesture mimicking Cherie’s. “I’m the one who’s honored to meet you. And I want to thank you for making my daughter so very happy.”
Cherie knew her mother had embarrassed Reese when he averted his gaze. “I didn’t expect to see you here until Leah mentioned that you were bringing over a bar table.”
“It’s a bar cart, and it’s in the pickup. I’m waiting for Parker to bring over a drill bit so I can attach one of the wheels. It fell off when I picked it up, and then I discovered I’d misplaced the bit.”
“Is Derrick aware that you have it in the truck?”
“He cussed for a while when I called to tell him I was bringing it over, then he calmed down and asked if I wanted to watch the game with him and Graeme.”
“And, of course, you said yes,” she teased.
“Football is over, so now we’re into college and professional basketball.”
“And don’t forget hockey and baseball.”
He smiled. “We still have several weeks before spring training begins for baseball.”
“Yo, Reese. When’s your cousin going to get here because everyone’s ready to eat,” Derrick called from the kitchen.
“Don’t wait for Parker.”
“If that’s the case, then everyone grab a plate and dig in.”
Reese extended his arm to Edwina. “Mrs. Thompson.”
Edwina rested her hand on his forearm over a long-sleeved sweater. “None of that Mrs. Thompson business. Either it’s Edwina or Mom.”
Cherie shrugged her shoulders when Reese stared at her. What did he expect her to say? If he’d hoped to have any kind of a relationship with her mother, it was up to him establish the ground rules.
“Mom it is,” he said after a noticeable pause.
Edwina gave him a warm smile. “I was hoping you would say that.”
Cherie followed them into the kitchen, not wanting to believe that her mother was flirting with her boyfriend. She’d admitted to Kayana that men were drawn to her mother not only because of her looks and petite body, but also because of the intelligence she refused to downplay for anyone; there were times when Cherie wondered how far Edwina could’ve gone if she hadn’t dropped out of high school at fifteen to become a mother. The year she’d celebrated her eighteenth birthday, she’d earned a GED several weeks before delivering her second child. Edwina had placed her goal to become a nurse on hold for thirty years, but now that all her children were living their own lives, she could look forward to fulfilling her dream.
Cherie smiled when she saw Reese dip his head to listen to what Edwina was saying. He picked up a plate and filled it with whatever she pointed to. There was no doubt her mother had assumed the role as the fragile, vulnerable, virginal heroine Cherie had read about in her grandmother’s romance novels, and it was obvious Reese had been taken in by Edwina’s flawless performance.
Dial it back a little, Mama, Cherie thought as she approached the table to pick up a plate.
Leah sidled close to her. “I wonder if Reese is asking your mother’s permission to marry you,” she whispered in Cherie’s ear.
“Why are y’all rushing me to the altar,” she whispered back, “when Reese and I haven’t talked about marriage?”
“Once you do, I hope you won’t have a long, drawn-out engagement.”
Cherie rolled her eyes at Leah. She knew her book club friends wanted to see her married, although she didn’t feel the need to rush into it. “All I have is time.”
“You claim you’re over this Wills dude, Cherie, but that’s a bald-faced lie. You won’t be completely rid of that duplicitous bastard, who still has a home in your head, until you carry another’s man name and his baby.”
An icy shiver eddied down Cherie’s back as she replayed Leah’s impassioned statement. She knew she was right. There were times when she did think about Weylin, and now that he’d announced his candidacy for the office of vice president of the United States, he would no longer be a distant memory. But what she feared most was seeing footage of her son and not being able to keep her composure.
“What were you and Leah whispering about?”
Her head popped up when she saw Reese looming above her. Dressed entirely in black, he appeared slimmer, yet more imposing. “We were talking about you and my mother,” she said as she moved along the table to fill her plate with grilled chicken, vegetable and shrimp kabobs, and peaches.
Reese reached for a plate and selected two skewers of vegetables and grilled salmon. “What about me and your mother, bae?”
