Page 70 of Inside the Penalty Box

“Absolutely. If only I could get my girl here to be that dedicated,” he said, winking at me.

“I’m dedicated,” I said, sticking my tongue out at him, then laughing. Once the new season started, I’d promised I’d get better.

“You better be.” Dylan leaned over and placed a kiss on my lips. That was when I heard the gasp. I glanced up to see Lorelai standing there, glaring at me.

“What’s wrong?” I questioned, still smiling.

“What is he doing here?” Lorelai said, glancing toward Knox, not hiding her displeasure at all.

“Hey, Lorelai, love your face,” Knox said, winking at her.

Trying to divert a disaster in the making, I got up and grabbed hold of Lorelai’s hand and pulled her through the restaurant and out to the entrance.

“Just for tonight, give this man a break,” I said, crossing my arms in front of me. “He’s done a lot for us in the last couple of weeks. Tomorrow, you can go back to your hatred for him. Just don’t ruin tonight,” I pleaded.

“He’s done a lot for you. For me, he only made move-in day that much harder when he’d had all my bedroom furniture delivered to the wrong bedroom.”

“Whose fault would that be?”

Lorelai let out a huff. “Fine, if I must endure this man tonight, then bring on the wine.”

“You better get over whatever it is he’s done, because in about two weeks you may need to treat him for an injury, and then what will happen?”

Lorelai straightened and then turned and looked at me. “If that were to happen, I guess I’d have to be professional. Until then, it is what it is.” She turned and walked back toward the table, holding her head high.

* * *

After dinner, Dylan, Walker, and Knox excused themselves and headed outside to the parking lot, leaving Lorelai, my mom, and me at the table. Knox had brought a couple signed jerseys for my brother for his birthday, and they wanted to give them to him before Knox had to leave for the night.

I sipped on my wine and sat back in my chair. “Mom, are you sure you’re going to be happy in this new place you’ve found?” I questioned.

I’d really wanted to see her try to work things out with Joe before grabbing her own place, but she’d been insistent.

“Oh, it’s perfect for me. To be honest, I was looking for someplace a bit smaller.” She smiled.

“Mom, why didn’t you try and work things out with Joe?”

My mom sat back in her seat and thought for a moment. Then she looked at me. “Aurora, I hope you’ll never be in a position to understand this. When I found out Joe was against your relationship with Dylan, it bothered me. The fact that he wouldn’t want to see his own son be happy really upset me. No matter what I told him, he didn’t seem to care. He was so against it, he told me he’d disown his own son before he’d accept your relationship, and he told me I was foolish if I wouldn’t do the same.”

I looked over at Lorelai, who sat there with the same shocked expression on her face as I did. I wasn’t sure what to make of it. I wasn’t even sure if Dylan knew his father had said those things, because I knew neither of us cared enough to talk about it. We were who we were, and I knew without a doubt in my mind that he was who I wanted to be with, no matter what.

“To be honest with you, I have been trying to search within myself to find a way to make up for all those years of being a terrible mother.”

“You weren’t a terrible mother,” I answered.

“Oh, honey, no, I was bad. You had very little guidance, and I’m grateful you turned out to be as good as you are. So, this was how I could do it, how I felt I could make up all those years of not being there to you. I let him go. I don’t want to be with a man who would spit in the face of love that way. If he does that to others, what will he do to us in five or ten years. Plus, and I’m being honest here, he was a little too controlling for my liking. You know me, I’m a free spirit.”

My vision became a little blurry. I wasn’t sure why. My mother had never made me cry before.

“I just, I thought you were finally happy,” I said, wiping at my eyes.

“I was for a while. However, your happiness means so much more to me than my own does.”

I wiped at my eyes again and took a sip of my wine to help clear the tightness in my throat. I never thought my mother cared that much about me to give up something she wanted.

“Plus, if I’m being honest with myself, I’m a dreamer, Aurora, and you and Dylan have the fairy tale. I wanted that for myself, but he certainly wasn’t my prince charming. So if you two are lucky to have that, I want to make sure it stays that way. I see the way he looks at you, and you at him. You two are so in sync with one another, it’s frightening to me. I can’t even remember what that feels like anymore.

“You mean you had that once before?” I asked.

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