Page 56 of Noah

Mom smiled at me. "You'll look so handsome."

I wanted to tell her the rest. To run it past her. I finished slicing the mushrooms before I spoke again. Mom knew when to give me time to think.

"He told his mom that I'm his fiancé."

Mom stopped stirring the chili. "Are you?"

"Mom. No." I started in on the red peppers, not wanting to look at her. I didn't want to see a lingering face of possible betrayal on her. "He told his mom that, so she'd get off his back."

"Off his back about what?"

"She wants him to be married. To have a family with children."

"Does he want that?"

Noah and I had only touched on it a couple of times. The consensus seemed to be—

"Yes. With the right person."

"Oh." Mom went back to stirring. "Do you want to be that person?"

I stopped chopping. It was too soon to even be thinking that way. We were still getting to know each other. There were so many topics we had yet to cover.

"I like Noah a lot, but we're not there. We're nowhere near there."

Mom sighed. "I don't like that you're both lying to his family."

I gritted my teeth. She had no legs to stand on when it came to lying. The poor red peppers didn't stand a chance. I went at them hard. Mangled slivers of pepper on the salad it was.

Before I had a chance to respond, the front door swung open, and the quiet atmosphere of the kitchen was invaded by the arrival of my brother and his family.

"Hey, Mom … we're here!"

I mumbled, "Yup, we figured that out," beneath my breath.

Mom smacked my arm, playfully. "Be nice."

I waited for the onslaught. Whereas I was reserved, my older brother, Charlie, was gregarious. And his wife, Julie, was just as demonstrative. Their two sons, six and nine—little demons.

The family of chaos made their way upstairs and into the living room. Charlie and I weren't close. I'd been his weird little brother. The butt of his friend's jokes when they came over. Once. My brother hadn't put up with their abuse. His circle of friends was constantly changing. He was forever getting into fights while defending me. I had appreciated him more than he knew.

"Brody." Charlie nudged my shoulder. "Mom says you have a boyfriend."

"He's not my boyfriend." I must have sounded curt because Charlie put both hands up.

"Okay. Okay. Not your boyfriend. But you've been seeing someone?"

"His name is Noah."

"And is this Noah treating you good? Cuz if not, I'm going to kick his ass. I don't want another repeat of that Ricky asshole. Dude is lucky I haven't run into him."

"Noah is not an asshole. Promise."

Charlie tapped my chest over my heart with his finger. "He makes you happy in here?"

"Very."

"Then, I guess that'll have to be good enough for me."

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