Brody had just disappeared around the SUV with his golf bag when I heard the inevitable. “Callum, darling! What a surprise. I didn’t know you were coming here today.”
Damn it. Did she absolutely have to be here today?I shut my eyes for a moment and prayed for a lightning strike.No such luck.
When I opened them, Mom was already swanning across the pavement, one manicured hand lifting in a royal wave. I groaned.How the hell did Inotsee this coming?
Maisie glanced at me with her eyebrows slightly raised.Perfect. Obviously, this is exactly the kind of composed, confident impression I wanted to make on her.
“Mother,” I greeted as Mom closed in, because if I didn’t get the formality out of the way fast, she’d start critiquing my posture—or worse, offering to show my date baby pictures of me. “This is Maisie. Masie, this is my mom, CC.”
Maisie gave my mom a polite smile.“Mrs. Westwood, it’s so nice to finally meet you.”
Mom’s face split into a radiant smile and she clasped Maisie’s hand like she’d been waiting all of eternity to meet her. “Well,aren’t you lovely? Beautiful and so sweet, too. Callum, have you been keeping her a secret?”
I nearly choked. Technically, Ihadbeen keeping her a secret. Just not in the way Mom was assuming. “I, uh, I haven’t been. We’re friends, Mom. You haven’t met all my friends.”
Maisie took a tiny step closer and glanced up at me. “I should get going, but thank you for today. It was a blast.”
I noticed she’d avoided sayingweor mentioning Brody’s name before she murmured a polite goodbye to my mother. “If you’ll excuse me, Mrs. Westwood, it truly was a pleasure to meet you, but I really do need to get on the road. It’s quite a drive home.”
She gave us both one last, tight smile, and then took off toward her car where Brody would be waiting. Mom’s eyes widened the second Maisie was out of earshot. “She’s stunning, darling. Really. What’s her last name again?”
“Morgan,” I said.
Her eyes lit like a kid’s on Christmas morning. “Morgan? As intheMorgans?J.P.Morgan?”
“Possibly.” I shrugged. “There’s at least two Morgans just at my gym, though. It’s a common last name, which makes it a toss-up, really.”
She gave me one of her classic maternal sighs, one that sounded like she couldn’t decide between disappointment, judgment, and fondness. “You never take these things seriously enough. She’s got the poise to be one oftheMorgans, though.”
It could also be because she was a diver, but okay.“Poise. Got it. Such a tell-tale sign.”
She smiled. “Family dinner tonight. Six sharp. I won’t be accepting any excuses. If you don’t show your face, I’ll be forced to assume you’ve run off to Vegas to elope and you don’t want to know how mean I’ll get if another of my boys denies me the opportunity to plan his wedding.”
“Great. Now you’ve made it tempting,” I muttered, but she was already gliding away, rejoining her friends with the kind of effortless grace that would make a military parade look sloppy.
Shaking my head, I took off after Maisie and caught them just as Brody had finished shoving his clubs into the back seat. She was already behind the steering wheel of her surprisingly nice SUV, but she opened the window when she saw me coming.
“Hey,” I said, leaning down so Brody could see me after he’d hopped into the back seat. “You did good out there today. Next time, I’ll show you how to put some spin on your short game.”
Brody grinned like I’d just offered him a brand-new Ferrari. “Cool. Can we come back next weekend?”
I flicked a glance at Maisie, but when she just arched an eyebrow at me, I looked back at Brody. “We’ll see. I’ll call you guys, okay?”
She smiled up at me, small and hesitant, but softer than anything I’d ever seen from her. In that one smile, it was like I could see her appreciation for deferring the decision to her and for understanding that she wasn’t ready to make it right in that moment.
I wasn’t usually the most sensitive guy and she had every reason to have thought that I would just take control and run with whatever I felt like, but this was her kid. Not even I would push that boundary.
It hit me right in the chest though, that smile. For a guy who could go up against the best of them in hockey, golf, business, or whatever else without flinching, I suddenly felt like a teenager again, awkward and overheated for no reason.
“Are you coming to practice again this week?” Brody asked as he buckled up. “My new teammates are better than the old ones.”
“Brody,” Maisie said, her voice sharp as she twisted in her seat. “Your old teammates are still your friends.”
The kid shrugged, then shot me a smirk that said I was about to be pulled into a minefield between a mother and her son. “Friends are fine. Good teammates are better, right, Callum?”
I chuckled and shook my head. “I’m not getting involved in whatever this is. I’m glad you’re settling into the new team so well, though. Teammates can become like brothers if you let them.”
Brody nodded like I’d just doled out sage advice. “So, are you going to be there?”
