Then he kissed me, and I didn’t even have that fear echo. His kiss was so intimate and perfect; it was just love and excited giddiness and promises of so much more to come.
“Wait,” I said, pulling back. “I want you to meet my mom.”
He smiled wryly. “I already met your mom.”
“No, as my boyfriend. If it’s okay to call you that.”
“Yes.” He grinned. “And I’d love to meet her again.”
“How about tomorrow?”
“It’s a date.”
We were interrupted by a nurse, who came in and said, “You can’t be in here.” Her expression shifted and she said, “Oh. You’re Noah Douglas.”
“I’m sorry for being in here. We just needed a minute,” he said in that confident way that smoothed over everything.
“No, it’s okay. Take as long as you need.”
“My girlfriend and I were on our way out.”
Girlfriend. Why was that the best word in the whole world?
Noah loved me. Noah Douglas loved me. I’d already figured out that I was in love with him, but it seriously hadn’t entered into my head that he would love me back. As we walked out of the hospital room hand in hand, I knew that I should tell him. But I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t say the thing that would make him walk away from me and never talk to me again.
But for some reason, I couldn’t tell him I loved him, either. I didn’t know why or what was holding me back.
And I didn’t know how to resolve it.
The next morning I got my phone out to call my mom and saw that I had a text from Gladys.
But she didn’t respond. I decided I’d go by tomorrow regardless. She wasn’t the kind of person to ask for help, but she was going to get it. I knew how much Sunshine loved his teddy bear.
Then I called my mother to inform her that Noah, my boyfriend, and I would be coming by for dinner.
She let out a tormented sigh and said, “I thought you were just friends. Do you think an actor is the best person to be in a relationship with?”
Annoyance exploded behind my eyes. I couldn’t keep quiet. “You’re trying to be an actor. You cannot keep doing stuff like this. Mom, I love you, but do you know how many weird hang-ups I have because you hated Dad?”
“What do you mean?”
“You always think no guy is good enough for me.”
“No guy is good enough for you,” she agreed.
“Mom!”
“You’re my baby. I want to protect you. I never want you to get hurt the way that I did. And that Noah seems like he could be a real heartbreaker.”
I decided to ignore her last sentence. “I know you want to protect me. But you can’t protect me from life. You need to let me fly and make my own mistakes.”
“I know.” She sighed again. “I just love you so much that I want to put you in bubble wrap and keep you in your old bedroom.”
“That’s not at all creepy.”
“Speaking of your room, I’ve started packing your stuff up. It’s been your shrine for long enough. I’m thinking about turning it into an exercise or sewing room. You’ll have to take the boxes back to your apartment.”
“I will,” I promised. “But I want you to meet Noah and really talk to him and I want you to be nice to him and I want you to love him, because I already do.” Whoa, I felt that deep in my gut. I’d never said the words out loud before, and it seemed monumental.
“Do you see a future with this boy?”
“Maybe. We’ll see.” I figured saying, Yes, absolutely, would probably freak her out more than was necessary in this moment.
“Okay, then. You bring him over, and I’ll do my best to love him, too.”
“That’s all I can ask for! But don’t tell him about the love part. I technically haven’t told him yet,” I said. The last thing I needed was for him to find out that I loved him because my mom didn’t know how to keep a secret.
I told her I’d see her at seven and followed up with a text to Noah, making sure he could show up at that time.
I actually pressed my phone to my chest, squealed, and spun around. I never thought this would happen to me, and not even in my wildest daydreams did I ever imagine that it would be with Noah Douglas.
The rest of the day passed by in a blur. I didn’t have any dog-grooming appointments, but I always made sure to spend at least an hour of my day trying new ways of marketing. Today it was to contact current and previous clients to let them know that I was now doing dog sitting in addition to grooming and that I would offer them fifty percent off their next dog grooming if they referred me to a friend.
Then I got ready and drove over to my mom’s. I let myself in the front door and found her in the kitchen, where she was stirring up her famous bolognese sauce.
“It smells good!” I told her, kissing her cheek hello.
“Here, taste. You need to eat more,” she said, offering me some of the sauce on a wooden spoon. I blew on it and then tasted it.
“Amazing as always,” I said. “What can I do to help?”
She asked me to go set up the dining room table. I got out a tablecloth and the nice china that we almost never used except for holidays. It was strangely thrilling to be setting it for three people instead of two.
Once that was done, my mother had me making the salad while she told me about her favorite class and how she thought her professor might be flirting with her. Even though he was too young for her.
I hoped he was flirting. My mom was still a hottie and deserved the ego boost. Good for her. I took the salad and the bread out to the table.
At exactly two minutes before seven o’clock, the doorbell rang. I wondered who it could be because I’d fully expected Noah to be late and had already prepared my mother for this fact.
But to my surprise, it was him. All cleaned up and wearing a blue button-down shirt and khaki pants. He’d even put product in his hair and pushed it back from his face. He had a mixed floral bouquet with him.
“You look like you just walked out of an Old Navy commercial,” I told him as he kissed me hello.
“Hush. I’m dressed like this solely to impress your mother. And before you get any big ideas, these flowers are not for you.”
He was nervous. I could see it, and this tickled me. Because he was doing this for me. He wanted to make me happy and knew that this would. He was trying so hard, and it was completely adorable. “I’m glad you’re taking this seriously. Because so far she disapproves.”
“Does that ruin my chances with you?” he asked, slipping an arm around my waist.
“Actually, it makes it much more likely that I’ll keep hanging around you. It would only make you more appealing.”
“Good. Because usually mothers hate me. They think I’m the worst.”
“Noah!” I laughed. “That’s probably the opposite of true. I bet you charm them all.”
He grinned. “Okay, yes, mothers love me.”
My mom came in the room carrying her sauce and the noodles, setting them down on the table. “Mom, you remember Noah?”
“I do! How are you?”
“I’m good, Ms. Barber. How are you?”