Page 44 of Inside the Penalty Box

“Mom, I want to ask you about relationships.”

My mother perked up. “Alright, what would you like to know?”

I thought for a moment. She probably wasn’t the right person to ask, or maybe she was because she’d had tons of relationships, but what I wanted was sound advice, not Penelope’s flighty wisdom.

I continued to sit there, thinking about how to ask what I wanted to know, when she patted my leg and leaned back against the bench seat.

“Does this advice you need have anything to do with Dylan?”

I bit my bottom lip and nodded. “It’s weird to me still, but I don’t know what we are to one another. I don’t know how to tell if this is something serious, or something I shouldn’t invest my time in.”

I’d been in one relationship, or what I would have called a relationship, with Greg. Other than that, I’d had the occasional date, but none of them ever went anywhere. I’d also always invested way more time than the guys had and that ended up leaving me getting hurt. I also felt different with Dylan than I did with Greg. I didn’t know how to break this down to something I could understand.

“Do you like him?”

“Yes.”

“And we already know you’ve had sex with him. Which, I’m sorry to say that I still find hilarious in some ways, Aurora. Honestly, you really shocked me with that piece of information.”

I frowned. “Why?”

“Oh, my dear, you aren’t the spontaneous one, not in the slightest, so to find out you had a one-night stand nearly made me want to pee my pants. However, I think it’s wonderful that you took control and loosened up a little, but we won’t dwell on that.”

I let out a sigh. This was my mother, not the greatest advice giver there was. It was good to know she had a chuckle over my admittance.

“First, it’s not weird.”

“Really?”

My mother nodded. “Really, it’s spontaneous. Some of the best lovers I’ve had were spontaneous.”

She sounded exactly like Willow. Walker and I had heard her and many of her spontaneous lovers many nights through the walls from the confines of our bedroom. The next morning, the both of us shared in the embarrassment to see whatever flavour of the month had left the house.

“What if it's more than that, though?” I questioned.

“More than…spontaneous?”

“Yes.”

“Are you asking me what to do if it’s love?”

I shrugged, not entirely sure what it was I was asking. I thought back to the other night, in his apartment after all hell had broken loose in the club, how the sex that night had been different. It wasn’t commanding like before, and there had been no laughter. Instead it was slow, passionate, and just… different. In the morning, we’d taken our time together, shared coffee and breakfast out on the balcony before we made our way into his shower before I’d left to go pick up Lorelai. Each time felt different, and I didn’t know how to handle it.

“I don’t know?”

“Well, only you can answer that, Aurora. I can’t. You are the one who knows what you are asking.”

I looked out over the water, at the sailors and their boats, my head full of questions that I didn’t know how to answer. I bit my bottom lip as I thought about what it was I really wanted to ask my mother. Did I want to know what to do if it was love? Was I even ready for that? I took a sip of my coffee and cleared my throat.

“Maybe that is what I’m asking? Would you frown upon it if it was?”

“Heavens, Aurora. Why would I frown upon it? I think it’s wonderful, and if you are right and it is love, then I say you should go for it. If being together makes the two of you happy, then nothing in the world should stop you.”

“Not even the fact that you married his father?” I questioned, swallowing hard.

My mother sighed and sat back against the bench. “Aurora, you should know by now that what is here today for me could be gone in the blink of an eye tomorrow. It’s why I never really get upset when it disappears. I take it for what it is, enjoy it while I have it, and if it disappears, then I pick up the pieces, brush them under the proverbial rug, and I move on. I’ve lived my entire life that way—after your father, that is.”

Here she was telling me the exact thing I thought would have ended all my hurt by being spontaneous, and now here I was with a much bigger problem. Living my life and enjoying the moment had started this entire thing, and now here I was with feelings for Dylan, something that was never supposed to happen. However, I also was never supposed to see him again either.

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