“After her family, no one gets to claim Maya without our approval. Not anymore,” Amy warns.
I stare into the camera even as I squeeze her close. Reassuringly, “Understood.” That’s when I casually drop a gossip bomb into the conversation as payback for pulling me in without warning. “After all, I’m certain that’s why my mother invited me and Maya over for dinner this evening. Just for a chance to get to know her better.”
There’s complete silence. Maya’s body, previously pliant, has stiffened to the consistency of a board.
That’s when all hell breaks loose. The call detonates—voices, movement, faces flashing on top of one another—and still stiff as a board in my arms, Maya is frozen like a cartoon ice queen. Then her head whips in my direction and she snaps, “Do you think it might be nice to letmeknow that first?”
Amid a multitude of retributional suggestions by her girls, I realize something. I can take on anything if Maya’s by my side.
Including dinner with my family.
“Are you sure she wanted me there?” Maya asks for the fifth time as we ride over to my parent’s home on the property—one place I haven’t taken her to.
“Worse. She mandated your being here.”
“Oh, God. This can’t be happening.”
“It’s just dinner with my parents.”
“Repeat what you just said.”
“It’s just dinner with…right. Got it.” I lift my hand from the gearshift and rest it on her thigh, drawing circles on her inner thigh with my fingers.
She bats at my fingers with a warning, “If you get me worked up before we walk into your parent’s front door, I swear you will not get sex until the night before I leave.”
I immediately flip my hand over and offer her support another way.
Maya laughs before threading her fingers with mine. Her anxiety shows when she asks, “I take it she didn’t hate me that morning then?”
“Let me put it this way—and I say this not intending to pile on any additional worry, but…”
“Say it.”
“Not a single other woman I’ve dated has been invited to dinner with my family.”
“Ever?” Her voice holds epic disbelief.
“Not at the family home. Dinner in restaurants, sure. But here? Not a single one.”
She chews her lip then. “Is this because they’re busy?”
I pull off to the side of the road and pull the parking brake. “No, it’s because she suspects I think you hung the moon.”
We sit in the twilight, quiet except for the echo of the words I just shared. Then, before I can stop my runaway mouth, the thought flies out of my mouth. “You know, someday I wouldn’t mind getting to meet your parents.”
Her eyes snap in my direction, wider than saucers. “What?”
“I mean, not now. Not…tomorrow? Just…one day. When you’re ready. I’d like to get to meet the people who raised someone who can embrace life. To kickstart it…”
“When others would still be writhing on the ground?” She says wryly.
“No! I mean, yes. I mean, you kicked the rot to the curb. You took back yourself, Maya. That takes a certain strength.” I shrug, a flush climbing up my neck. “I just wonder how you did it.”
She stares at me for one beat, two, before leaning in and kissing me on the cheek. “Troy, we’ve only been ‘together’ for a few weeks.”
“I know,” I jump in quickly. “I’m not trying to rush anything.”Liar,my subconscious mocks me. “I just want to get to know the you I never thought I’d have the chance to.”
She relaxes back against her seat. “How about we get through one parental summons before we worry about a second?”
