Me
That’s fine. What time?
Mom
Six. I’m making pot roast.
I shoved my phone back in my bag and tried not to think about what dinner with Liam and my parents would look like. We’d managed to keep our distance for the first two weeks of summer—mainly because he’d been busy working and spending his free time with his mom, Liz.
Me
You should invite his mom too.
Mom
Already did, but she’s going to the new book club at the library. She promised she’d come visit another time.
I should’ve known my mom would be one step ahead of me. It was a small town and Liam’s mom had been friends with my mom since we were little.
And maybe it was a good thing Liz wasn’t able to come.It was going to be hard enough sitting across from him at the same dinner table as my parents and pretending he hadn’t made me come more times than any other boyfriend I’d had.
It felt a lot like playing Russian roulette with my self-control.
The drive home took ten minutes, most of it spent on empty back roads flanked by fields. My parents’ house sat at the end of a long gravel drive—a sprawling farmhouse with a wraparound porch and a red barn that had seen better days but still stood proud against the Montana sky.
My dad’s truck was already parked next to my mom’s 4Runner. He was home early. I parked and walked in through the unlocked front door. I didn’t think there’d ever been a time when this door was locked. Everyone always just came and went without worrying about it. But before I could slip upstairs to shower off the grime and sweat from the poorly air conditioned studio, my dad walked around the corner.
“There’s my girl!”
I turned to find him standing in the kitchen doorway, still dusty from work, a glass of lemonade in his hand.
“Hey, Dad.”
“How were the little ones today?”
“Good. Still working on their spotting, but they’re getting there. They’re fun at this age, even if they’re a little unruly.”
He nodded like he expected no less. My dad wasn’t an overly emotional man and he’d become more closed off since the fight with Drew. I knew it was wearing on him. My mom was another story. She was beside herself missing Rory, but she’d always said that marriage was a partnership. She would stand by Dad’s side even if she missed her sonand granddaughter. I only hoped she was trying to convince him to end this feud once and for all.
“Liam’s joining us for dinner,” he said. “I know your mom texted you.”
“Yeah, I saw.”
“Good. That boy works too hard and doesn’t eat enough. His mother would have my head if I sent him home without a decent meal.”
I managed a smile. “You’re a good boss.”
“I try.” He took a sip of his lemonade. “Dinner’s at six. Don’t be late—you know how your mother gets.”
I did know. My mom’s pot roast was sacred, and anyone who let it get cold was committing a felony in her eyes.
I escaped upstairs to shower, standing under the hot spray until my muscles loosened and my mind stopped racing. This was fine. I could do this. Liam and I had been friends for years before anything happened between us. This wasn’t the first dinner we’d been at together. I could sit through one dinner without giving anything away.
Probably.
At five minutes to six, I came downstairs in a sundress that showed off my curves. It wasn’t abnormal for me to wear a sundress, but I’d made sure to pick one that I remembered Liam commenting on before.
It had always stood out to me because he so rarely commented on what I wore, but last summer he’d told me I looked pretty when I wore this one.
