“There’s someone here we want you to meet.”
Oh no. No, no. She’d promised—no fix-ups. “Dad’s golf buddy who wants to have an outpatient center named after him?” I asked hopefully.
“Yes, the Stevenses are here, but so is their son. He’s a doctor. A hepatologist, in fact.”
My stomach dropped as I suddenly understood that she really had plowed ahead with the plan. “Mom, you promised.”
My mom patted my back. “It was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. We want you to meet someone nice. Someone solid. Someone…”
“Who can handle me?”
That dropped like a bomb. She stepped back and frowned. “You said that, not me.” She took a breath. “Look, Ani, we want you to be happy. Find a stable relationship. Settle down. You’ve been so sad lately.”
“I can find my own stable relationship, okay?” I couldn’t help being defensive.
“Can you, though?”
Ouch. This was the problem. My mother was always poking my sorest spots. Always trying to fix me. Not believing I could fix myself. For the thousandth time, I asked myself why my parents moved back here from sunny, warm Florida.Specifically to torment medid not sound like a fun enough reason, but for my mother, maybe this was her fun?
I bit back more comments, because what was I supposed to do, refuse to join the party? I didn’t want to fight. And I was really good at holding in my pent-up feelings.
She walked over and held me by the shoulders. “With the right person, one chance meeting is all it takes.”
I could only think about the airplane. How I’d never expected to meet anyone in the terrible state I’d been in. Adam had been so kind to me that day and afterward. He hadn’t let me wallow in sadness. No matter how annoying he was now, he’d saved me at my lowest low.
That made me think about what he’d said this afternoon.I did a lot of things wrong. I was thrown.
But he clearly didn’t want a friendship, let alone anything more. Did he?
“I’ll meet him,” I said, “but I don’t feel ready to meet anyone yet. And I’m still learning the ropes at my job.” At least I’d managed to say something honest.
“You’re an excellent doctor, honey,” my dad, who had just entered the kitchen, said.
“Thanks, Dad.”
We side-hugged as he examined my scallops, which were now on round silver platters. “Hmm. What are these things?”
“An appetizer Mia and Sam helped me make. I brought dipping sauce too.”
“How nice of you, sweetheart. I can’t wait to try one.”
“Just take a teeny little peek,” my mom said in an imploring tone, beckoning me to the kitchen doorway. She wasnotgiving up.
“Oh, my God, he looks like Dad!” came out of my mouth.
My dad gave me a look.
“As far as the hair loss goes,” I said quickly. “I mean, you’re very nice-looking, Dad.”
“Thank you, sweetheart.”
“The gentleman with the hair loss is hisfather,” my mom said. “Look to the right. His name is Ken.”
Through the crack in the door, I could make out a younger man with hair. Actually, quite nice hair. Like, noticeably thick, wavy, well-cut hair—actually, his hair was…amazing. And he was tall and good-looking. But I was too upset to care. I felt ambushed. Against my wishes. Plus, he wasn’t Adam.
I didn’t mean to think that. I just…did.
“Look, it’s only dinner,” my mom said. “It will be fun to have someone your age to talk to. That’s it.” My mom looked desperate and tired. Like she couldn’t rest unless I was happy.
