Page 176 of Made Better Together

“They may not care,” she argues. “It’s the impression you leave, though.”

“That’s not true. Delivering on performance is what counts.”

Her voice escalates. “It may, but so does looking your best. Plus, you’re constantly fidgeting when you’re wearing them.”

I don’t answer her. There’s not really a point.

After another couple of minutes of silence, I pivot to a new topic.

“Grace and Johnson went all out on the party. It’s going to be great.”

“Wonderful. What type of cuisine will it be?”

We finally find a safe topic with the event planning. I share what I know, describe each guest I know, killing a bunch of time.

“This sounds lovely.” She sits up straighter. We’ve almost made it to Grace and Johnson’s house without more drama.

When I park the car, she breaks the spell, though, before opening her passenger door. “We are going to talk about your future during this trip, Connor.”

Oh wonderful. I don’t say anything back, only escort her into the house with her luggage. Not that she’s staying here—no, Grace made sure to get her a hotel nearby.

“Hi, Mom,” Landon says as he catches sight of her. Luckily, he seems game to engage with her, and Rori comes over to join them.

“I’ll help too,” Grace whispers in my ear. Other than me, she’s the best one with her.

“Thanks. Is everything else coming together?”

She shows me where the caterers dropped things off, but I’m not exactly useful in that arena. I go to Johnson’s mom, Pam, who asks me to figure out the speaker system to pump in the Christmas tunes.

“You know what,” Pam whispers to me conspiratorially, “I’m going to see if your mom wants an Uber to her hotel to clean up. I’ll schedule one for the return trip to the house in a couple hours too.”

The party doesn’t start for almost three hours so that would be a nice break from her presence. “Brilliant idea.”

She scoots off to handle that, and in the meantime, the speaker setup doesn’t take me longer than five minutes. I end up sitting with Rawley and Avery in Grace and Johnson’s absurdly large basement, playing video games, wanting to escape any potential drama upstairs.

“How was the drive from the airport?” He looks at me sympathetically.

An eye roll is my answer.

“Went that well, huh?”

“Yeah.” I sigh. “The usual.”

“So is Rori’s friend coming?” Avery says suggestively.

“I already asked,” Rawley responds. “Apparently, she decided to stay back in Tampa.”

“Oh, too bad for Connor.”

Actually, very good for Connor. It would’ve been painful to navigate that without coming clean about Eden, and there are a few more days before we plan to do that.

Three hours later, we’ve managed to set up everything as planned, decorate, and get ourselves looking presentable. Without starting a civil war among the family, since Mom only returns from her hotel once the other guests have started arriving. Winning.

Circulating through the other people I know, the first hour of the party goes fast. I’m largely hanging with Rawley, Avery, and the younger Waves players.

The food is buffet style, so other than a couple of people from the catering company refilling the trays, it’s casual.

They hadn’t hired a bartender either—not a big deal since most of the guests are watching what they drink with the playoffs coming. A table is filled with a bunch of options, and it’s self-serve.