They’re used to babies for sure, and Tanner must sense their ease because he hasn’t fussed once.Holly sits back and eyes us again, her smile growing the longer she watches.
“Go ahead, Mom.”Easton motions with his hand for her to get on with it.
Their comfort with one another is envious.
She shrugs.“You guys make a cute couple.”
“And?”
I want to tell Easton let’s not push question time, because whatever he’s sensing from his mom, I’m not sure we want to address it.
“I just have a few questions.”
“Holly…” Austin continues feeding Tanner, glancing at his wife.“Let them be.”
“I just wondered how you two met.”She looks between us.
I turn to Easton, and we stare at one another, both of us smiling.
“She climbed into my Uber,” Easton says.“I asked her out.”
All true, but it just happened two years ago, and he didn’t ask me out.He asked me back to his place.Semantics.
“So you’ve been seeing one another in secret?”She takes a sip of her white wine, and her body language isn’t like my mom’s.She seems genuinely curious, not waiting to pounce.
“Yeah, pretty much.”I watch Easton’s hand fist under the table on his thigh.I know it has to be hard to lie to his parents.
“We’ve known one another a while.It wasn’t anything—and then it was.We were always friends,” I chime in, trying to take over the lying for him.
“Listen.”Holly sets down her wineglass.“East, you know how your dad and I met, so I’m not saying you two should’ve been dating for years before proposing.I mean, we had a one-night stand in his Jeep behind a bar.”She playfully rolls her eyes at me.
I hold back a laugh, not so much from the story itself but from trying to picture my own mother ever saying something like this.
“FYI, they still have the Jeep,” Easton says.His mom gives him a look, shaking her head, but still smiling.“They tried to give it to me when I turned sixteen.I told them that’s their kink show, and I wanted nothing to do with it.”
Austin rolls his eyes, and Tanner pats his wrist to keep the snacks coming.“Oh, excuse me, are we not giving you enough attention?”He bends down and kisses Tanner’s temple.
“Anyway, I don’t really care how long you knew each other.You seem like you love one another.At least from the pictures online and what I see here.”Holly sips her wine again.“Can I ask you one question—and I’m not doing this for any reason but that I’m curious.”She looks right at me.
I straighten in my seat, feeling as if I’m on the stand for some criminal case and I’m the only eyewitness.
“Why did you want to marry Easton?”
“Mom.”Easton sounds exasperated.
“I agree.Holly, we aren’t those parents,” Austin says.
“It’s not that I don’t think you’re good enough for my little boy.Quite the opposite.I love him, he’s mine, but he’s had a hard time slowing his life down, if you know what I mean.”
Easton looks at Austin, eyes wide, but I’m not worried.I can answer this question easily.
“I think I’m a little like Easton.Commitment hasn’t exactly been my strongest skill either.”I shrug.“I like to travel, and much to my family’s disappointment, I’ve never stayed anywhere long enough to call it home.”I glance at Easton.“But with him, it doesn’t feel like I have to give anything up to stay.”My hand settles on his knee, and I stare at him.“He makes life fun… and most of all, he sees me.”
We smile at one another before facing his parents again.
“Oh, Mom.”
Holly is wiping tears from her face.“I can’t believe you won her over.We were worried.His sister most of all.Who would he bring home one day?But I should’ve known he’d find someone who really saw him and loved him for who he was too.It makes my mom heart proud.”
