The grin that came over his face was so euphoric it put me into a daze. I found myself wondering why I hadn’t voiced that sooner. It didn’t always occur to me to say things out loud. But if it made Keaton look like that…
Maybe I should try it more often.
His smile faltered a little, and his breath hitched. “Now I just have to figure out things with my family,” he said.
“Relax,” I told him. “We’ll meet your Mom and sister. Everything will be fine.”
He moved next to me and leaned his head against my shoulder. I could only hope I was telling the truth.
“I’m so nervous,” Keaton said. Why did I feel like I was hearing that a lot, lately?
“You’ll be fine,” I told him. I reached out to tuck a strand of his hair behind the arm of his glasses.
“I just haven’t seen them in so long,” he said, fussing and moving his hair around again.
I looked out of the window of the diner. I couldn’t see anyone else pulling up in the parking lot. I hadn’t met Clara and Keaton’s Mom yet, but I had seen pictures. I knew who to look out for. Besides, we were early. Way too early for a Saturday morning, but Keaton had insisted.
“Why are you wearing your glasses, anyway?” I asked. He was starting to wear them more and more often. I had noticed that. I was worried about his headaches.
“I didn’t want to cry and irritate my eyes with the contact lenses in,” Keaton admitted.
He thought he was going to cry? That was troubling. I hadn’t seen him cry yet. I didn’t know what it might do to me.
I could imagine how I might react. It wouldn’t be pretty.
I would tear to shreds anyone who hurt him.
“Oh, god,” Keaton said, sitting upright. I glanced towards the door. In the distraction, I had missed it.
They were here.
Clara was a little taller than I had thought from her picture. She was pretty, like Keaton but a girl. She wore her hair longer, in a messy bob of curls. She ran over to our table, throwing her arms around Keaton so enthusiastically that he almost fell out of the booth.
“Hey, Clar,” he said, and I could hear the overwhelming emotion in his voice.
“Hey, big bro,” she said, her voice just as choked as his.
I watched Keaton’s Mom walk over, slower. She looked like him, too, but a lot older. Her hair had some of the same curls but she wore it much longer. She looked old – like maybe she had aged a lot in the last year or so. Tired. She also looked wary to know if her son was even going to accept her being there.
Clara slid into the booth opposite me as her Mom joined us, giving me a wicked grin.
“Hello,” their Mom said, biting her lip a little as she looked at me and Keaton.
“Hi, Mom,” Keaton said. His smile was tight. They didn’t embrace, but it was early days. They had time to get comfortable with each other again. “Oh – um, this is Olly. He’s my…”
Keaton trailed off. I looked at him. I stuck my hand out toward his Mom. “I’m his boyfriend,” I said. Keaton made a choked noise. I looked at him again as his Mom shook my hand. “Is that okay?”
Keaton nodded vigorously. “That’s very much okay,” he said.
I turned to Clara as I took my hand back. “Clara. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“None of it good, I hope,” she said, with mischief dancing in her eyes. I didn’t need to ask whether she had heard a lot about me. The look on her face and the blush on Keaton’s cheeks confirmed it.
“Well,” Keaton’s Mom said. She sat down. “I suppose we should get some food.”
“That’s a good idea,” Keaton nodded. I grabbed the menus from my side of the table and handed them out.
I watched them quietly. I didn’t need the menu, really. I’d already decided I was having pancakes with syrup and fresh fruit. We were in a diner. It was kind of a no-brainer.
