As soon as Linda returned to shelving books, I knew what I needed to do. Yanking my phone out of my pocket, I opened a new text message to my parents.
Hello, Mother and Father. I wonder if you’re free one evening next week? It’s time to introduce you to my new romantic interest. Perhaps you could come over to my apartment for a glass of wine and some dessert?
It might have been rushing things a little, but I couldn’t wait any longer. I was discovering a new side to myself, and I was done hiding it.
* * *
That night, I was busy tidying up the apartment and preparing myself to call Gunner. I had a lot of things to say to him, but more than anything else, I just wanted to tell him that I was sorry.
Luckily, Gunner wasn’t the kind of guy to make me wait. As I started to dust the windowsills in my living room, I saw his truck pull up outside. Gunner stood around for a minute, pacing a circle and talking to himself, and then grabbed a bouquet of flowers from the passenger side and headed toward the building.
“Gunner!” I declared, opening the door wide as soon as he was walking down the hallway.
“Damn, give a guy a chance to surprise you,” he joked. He had on the same leather jacket and tight jeans he always wore, but with a white button-up shirt underneath.
Handsome. Very, very handsome.
“Trust me,” I said, throwing my arms around his shoulders and greeting him with a kiss. “You always surprise me.”
“That means you’re not mad?” he asked, coming inside.
“Why would I be mad?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. Because I’m not respectable enough for you? Because I fucked up and stole the money?” He shoved the flowers out, offering them to me awkwardly. “You haven’t texted me in a few days.”
“Neither have you,” I pointed out, leading him to the sitting area in my living room. My parents had gifted me a couple of mid-century modern couches and some other antique furniture, and I took a seat on the couch. “Anyway, I’m the one that needs to apologize.”
He looked startled. “Really?”
“It was really kind of you to offer to come to my parents’ house with me, and I shouldn’t have acted cagey. I needed some time to get used to the idea, but the way I dismissed you was inappropriate. Of course I want you to meet them, and if they have a problem, that’s on their end.”
Gunner bit down on his lip, nodding. “Okay,” he said hesitantly. “So you’re bringing me to dinner at their place?”
“If you’re still up for it, I’ll have them over here. It will give us a little more control over the situation.”
His eyes lit up, and my stomach flipped. If introducing him to my parents made him this happy, clearly, I had made the right call.
“I’m up for it,” he answered. “Are you sure they are?”
“I’m not,” I said honestly. “They could react any number of ways. But I am sure that I’m ready for it and ready to move things ahead with you.” I took his hand and scooted a little closer to him on the couch. “I think I was acting really selfish, Gunner.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “Oh yeah?”
“You don’t have your mother around any longer or your father,” I said. “I know you loved your mom a lot, and even if your father is an asshole, you must be sad to lose him, too. Those connections are special, and they can never be replaced. My parents may not be the best people in the world, but they’re still a part of my life. I need to stop taking that for granted and start building a real relationship with them.”
Gunner stared at me for a second, his hands fidgeting by his side. I worried I had made a mistake by bringing up his parents, but after only a moment, he smiled.
“Thanks,” he said. “For taking a chance on me.”
And then we kissed, just like two guys who cared about each other.
When our lips parted, Gunner startled, his posture going straight and his muscles tightening. “Fuck,” he said. “What am I going to talk about, though? What did you tell them about me? Do I need to quit smoking or something?”
I laughed and leaned into his arms, snuggling up to him close. “They don’t really know anything about you yet, outside of a few half-truths I told them to cover my tracks. But you don’t need to worry. That’s all for me to figure out.”
He wrapped his arm around me, pulling me a little closer. “Are you going to tell them about Maddox?”
“I’m still not sure what to do about that,” I said. “I want to, but I’m not even sure Maddox is interested in seeing us again. At least, not in the way we have been seeing each other.”
