“If I told you—” I wiggled my eyebrows. “—you’d have to testify.”
Her hand went to her chest as she made an audible gasp. She wobbled to the porch railing. Step. Thump. Step. Thump. Leaning over, her eyes narrowed as she looked down at me. “You look like him, but that’s impossible. Charles, a joke? Who are you?”
I shook my head as I lifted the garage door. The fantasy of last night vanished as I confronted the workbench. The levity with Mum whooshed out of the space, replaced with a gnawing sensation that didn’t leave room for joy. In the woods, I could believe he watched down over me. But here, reality only reminded me of his absence.
Step. Thump. Step. Thump.
The door between the house and garage opened. She had a hand against the frame as she caught her breath. For a woman with a sprained ankle, she hustled like I did when somebody offered cake.
“I dropped him off at Valhalla.”
She hovered as I dropped the bag on Pop’s workbench. If she thought that by not asking, she respected my privacy, she had never seen herself biting back a burning question. Mum gnawed on her top lip as if it were an appetizer and she had skipped lunch. Every so often, she’d lick her lips in such a deliberate way?—
“Just ask!”
“What?” Coy is not a trait anybody in this house wielded with accuracy. “Oh, that.” Subtle as a brick to the head. “I didn’t recognize your new friend.”
She might as well have thrown up air quotes. I had no doubt she had already called around trying to discover his identity.With the way Lacie threw herself into the town, I’m sure somebody had given her all the details. At best, they knew him as her friend, at worst, and more likely, they had his life story, and they dished it over a pot of coffee.
“He’s a tourist I met the other day at the market.”
“You took atouristyou just met on a camping trip?” When I explained to Mum how ride-shares worked, she’d be the first to say, “In my day, you didn’t get in a stranger's car.” If only she knew how friendly gay men could be. I’m pretty sure it’d shatter her worldview.
“He’s not exactly a stranger.”
“You don’t say.” Dammit. I had walked right into her trap. From the corner of my eye, I spotted the canary-eating grin. I was about to shut her down, to close ranks and suit up in my armor. For her, I would skip the scathing muttering under my breath, but I’d mastered the art of the redirect.
Not this time.
“He’s visiting with his friend. They’re here to…” I paused, scrunching my brow as I tried to recall the exact reason. “Honestly, other than a curse and an ex-boyfriend, I don’t know why they’re here.”
“Anex-boyfriend, you say?”
“Subtle, Mum.”
“I’m your mother, subtle isn’t a requirement.” It was her turn to wiggle her eyebrows. “Though, to be honest, I expected to see you sweet on somebody with a few— Does he have any tattoos?”
“Nope.”
“Hmm.”
Had I just confessed to my mother that I had been in a situation where I could say Nick didn’t have tattoos? With anybody else, I would have clammed up and stormed off. They might poke and prod, but nobody knew me well enough to readbetween the lines. That is, anybody but my mother. She had perfected the art, and she spoke fluent Charlie.
“Get your mind out of the gutter. He’s only here for a few days, and then he’s on his way.”
To be fair, I didn’t know that for a fact. I dropped the rucksack on the floor, ready to tear through it and dry out my sleeping bag. As I pulled at the straps, I realized, for all the time we spent together, we had barely scratched the surface. Where was the line between being genuinely curious and prying? Firefly had put me on the defensive, and perhaps I had taken it to an extreme?
“When are you seeing him again?”
She wouldn’t let up until she had a wedding invitation.
“I don’t know.” Though now that she brought it up… I wouldn’t mind another night with him as he traced my tattoos. “I’m sure I’ll bump into him.”
“Or you could call.”
“I don’t have his?—”
I glanced up to see her holding a folded sheet of paper. This. This right here is why I walked away from Firefly. I had spent a night with a handsome cub, and already, Firefly, Mum included, came storming in. They’d push boundaries until they were the third in our relationship.
