“Your brothers made a run to get some drinks and food. Your sister is in the living room with your dad.”
“Oh, cool.” Not cool at all. It means they’ll block in my car and I won’t have an escape plan should I need it.
“And who is this?” Mom’s eyes focus on my companion for this hellish experience.
“Mom, this is Tristan. Tristan, this is my mom, Abigail.”
Moving to the side, I let them exchange pleasantries. I study mom to see what she’s going to do. She’s naturally a hugger unless she doesn’t like you. Then she’ll slide her hand out in front of her and shakes hands as quickly as possible. Most people don’t even notice the snub.
She swoops in for a hug. “I didn’t realize you were bringing someone with you.”
Tristan’s head whips toward me, eyes wide, as he pulls out of the embrace. He didn’t want to be a surprise guest, and he wasn’t.
“Mom, I messaged you last week about him coming with me.”
“Oh.” She waves my words away. “I didn’t think you were serious. We don’t have an extra bed for him.”
Unbelievable. It takes everything in me not to throw my hands in the air in frustration. Mostly because I don’t want to be scolded like a child.
“That’s fine.” It’s my turn to push her concern aside. “Seeing as he’s my boyfriend we only need the one.”
A part of me expects her freak out. She’s never really been old fashioned when it comes to us sleeping in the same room as the person we’re dating. I mean, at this point, we’re all adults. But she likes to show her disappointment in me at every turn, and this is one of those moments she can do that.
“Oh, okay then.” She steps to the side of the door. “Come inside. It’s cold out there.”
Both of us take a step at the same time. Our motions completely in sync, and it’s honestly a little weird. I don’t even have that sort of timing with my siblings.
“Where are your bags?” Mom’s attention is on our empty hands.
“I’ll get them in a bit. We weren’t sure anyone was here and didn’t want to lug them back and forth.” Tristan’s smile is endearing, but I know the real reason he didn’t get them out. It was a chance to bail out should the need arise. He wants to take stock of the situation in case we need to bail.
“Okay.” Mom takes his answer at face value. “Let’sget these introductions out of the way, though you’ll have another round once the boys get back.”
“Why did Piper stay home?” I ask as we walk from the entryway by the kitchen to the living room. This house has a pretty open floor plan, and is similar to other houses we’ve stayed in down here. I guess the house we normally rent wasn’t available.
“Honestly, I think she’s tired of your brothers’ shenanigans.” She shakes her head and grins. “They’ve been playing pranks on each other since they got here this morning.”
“You can’t just tell half the story, Mom.” My sister calls back. “They all ganged up on me and tried to throw me in the ocean.”
“We are in fact at the beach, Little Sister.”
“In thewinter.” She growls. “They’ve lost their damn minds.”
Picturing our brothers swoop in and carry down the beach is comical, but I’m sure she fought like hell. They probably have bruises to show for it.
Piper turns around and her eyes go round. “Who is this?”
Tristan lifts his hand in the air and gives a little wave. “I’m Paula’s boyfriend, Tristan.”
“How did I not know you had a boyfriend?” She screeches and climbs over the sofa to get to us. She wraps him in a hug and sways back and forth. “This is so exciting.”
“It’s news to all of us.” Mom cuts her eyes toward me and I know we’ll have a discussion about this later.
Finally, my sister lets go of him. “Welcome to the circus. I hope you’re prepared.”
Great. With that stunning endorsement he’ll ditch me and haul ass back to Asheville. Not that I’d blame him. If I could, I’d join right along with him.
“If it’s anything like my theatre group in high school, I’m sure I’ll be just fine.”
