"I'm not a stylist. I just clean up."
He nods and looks away, like he doesn't know what to say. I get that reaction a lot and it always makes me feel like I'm not good enough.
"Albert, why don't you go get us a table?" Kathy says to him. She seems nervous. She keeps messing with her purse strap and her eyes keep darting around. "I'll be there in a minute."
"Nice meeting you both," he says before walking back to the hostess stand.
"So..." Kathy takes a breath.
"You can relax, Aunt Kathy," Brad says. "I won't tell Nate. I assume he doesn't know?"
"No." She breathes out a sigh of relief. "Thank you for understanding. I know I should tell him, but—"
"Wait," I say, interrupting. "This is a date? You're dating Albert?"
"It's only been a few months," she says.
"Months? You've been dating a guy for months?" I'm beyond shocked. I didn't know Kathy was even interested in dating. She's never talked about it.
"Please don't tell Nate," she says. "I'm not ready for him to know."
"I won't. I'm just surprised. I didn't know you dated. Not that you can't," I rush to say. "I mean, I think it's great. I just didn't know you did that. Dated."
I hear Brad chuckling from beside me. "She's not that old, Riley."
"Oh, no, that's not what I meant," I say to Kathy, shaking my head. "I'm sorry. I'm just surprised. But I think it's great you're dating. Albert seems really nice."
"He is," she says, glancing back at him. "We used to work together, but he recently left for a different firm." She turns back to me. "Don't tell Nate this, but I've been dating for years. As soon as he left for college, I decided it was time to get out there again. I didn't want to tell Nate until I actually found someone I might have a future with."
"Is Albert that someone?" Brad asks.
"I'm not sure yet. We need more time together. I don't see him as much I'd like. His daughter moved back home recently with her child, so he's been adjusting to that. This is the first we've been out in weeks."
"We should get going," I say, glancing at Brad. "Let you get back to your date."
She remains there, her eyes going between Brad and me. "Nate didn't tell me you two were dating."
"We're not," I rush to say. "We just went to a movie and had dinner. Nate knows. We told him all about it."
"Riley, you don't have to pretend," she says. "I saw Brad holding your hand when I walked in. And I've seen how you two look at each other when you're over at the house. I suspected something was going on."
I look at Brad to respond. I don't know what to say.
Is Kathy mad at me? Is she going to tell Nate? I feel like I'm going to be sick. This wasn't supposed to happen. I never in a million years thought I'd run into Nate's mom. On a date with some guy named Albert!
"We decided it'd be best to keep this from Nate," Brad says. "After what happened the other night, we didn't think he'd react too well."
"Yes, I'd have to agree." She purses her lips as her eyes go to me. "I must say I'm surprised you would do this, Riley. You and Nate have been friends for so long. Out of all the boys you could've dated, you had to choose Brad?"
"She didn't plan on this," Brad says. "And neither did I. We're not trying to hurt Nate, and honestly, I'm a little surprised you're taking his side in this. Riley can date whoever she wants."
"Yes, but this is different. Nate's always admired you, Brad. He's always wanted to be like you. He's even a little jealous of you."
"Jealous? Why?"
"Your grades are better. You're more popular. You have money, your parents' connections. I'm not saying it's right, but Nate has always felt like he's had to struggle while you've had it easy."
"I have NOT had it easy," Brad says, getting angry. "You and Nate don't have any idea. All you see is what my mom lets you see. But now, with my dad, you're finally seeing it's not the perfect picture you thought it was."
She puts her hand on his arm. "I know, and I'm sorry about that. And you're right that Sheryl doesn't tell me everything, but even so, you have to at least see where Nate is coming from. You've always excelled, whether it be sports, academics, jobs. And now you're dating Riley, the girl he's always wanted."
"Always?" I say. "He said he just started feeling this way."
Kathy turns to me. "I don't know how long it's been. All I know is he'd rather have you be with anyone but Brad."
"Okay, that's enough. We're going." Brad takes my hand. "Sorry Aunt Kathy, but you don't get a say in who I date. And you need to stop protecting Nate. He's always trying to get everyone to feel sorry for him when things don't work out. He's been doing that forever and you keep letting him. I love him like a brother, but he needs to grow up and realize things aren't always going to go his way." He tugs on my hand. "Let's go."
We leave, and when I look back, I see Kathy watching us as she makes her way over to Albert.
"She's going to tell Nate," I say when we're driving away.
"She won't. She doesn't want her little boy getting hurt."
"He's already hurting. She'll want to tell him now and get it over with. Or maybe she'll tell him because she thinks it'll make us break up."
"She won't tell him. I'll talk with her when I get home."
"She's not going to listen to you."
"Then Nate's going to find out his mom is dating."
"You're going to blackmail your aunt?"
"It's not blackmail. She's no better than us if she's keeping a secret from Nate. I don't even want to keep this a secret. I'm doing it for you. I'd rather just tell him so we don't have to sneak around."
"Or so that he'd be jealous," I mutter.
"What?" Brad slows down the car.
"Nothing. Just go." I motion for him to keep driving.
"Did you just say I'm dating you to make him jealous?"
"It's just that when his mom said that I—"
"You seriously think that I'd do that?"
"I..." I look out the side window. "I don't know. Maybe."
He huffs. "Great. Here I thought you were the first girl to really understand me. To actually give a shit about who I really am. But it turns out you have no idea. You just think I'm some spoiled rich asshole who takes what he wants just to make people jealous. To make NATE jealous, who I didn't even know was jealous of me until ten minutes ago."
"Brad, I didn't mean to accuse you of that. I didn't even think about that until she said it."
"And that was all it took for you to believe her." He blows out a breath. "I'll just take you home."
I turn to him. "You're not staying?"