Page 87 of Getting Over You

This isn’t a date. We aren’t in a relationship. What did you say we were? Fuck buddies?

She’s got me. I swallow hard, tuck my phone back into my pocket, and then my jaw starts to pulse.

“How long have you and Gigi been together?” Tweed Jacket asks. He pushes his glasses up his nose. Something about this guy just makes me want to punch him in the face.

“Only a month,” I lie. “Meeting Mom tonight. It’s a big deal.”

He guffaws. “Hell yeah, dude. It serious?”

“Not yet. What about you?”

“Brother.”

“I had to ask,” I mutter, smirking at him.

“I’m not in my meet the parents era yet,” he says. “And man, I’m so fucking glad, dude. It’s so… Fuck. It’s stressful, right? I’m stressedlookingat you.”

I shrug. “Nothing I can’t handle.”

Tweed guffaws again. “Well, it’s a good thing you—”

“I had to go with this,” Gigi says as she floats down the stairs. She has her hair in a tight bun, wearing a light blue sundress that looks like it was made for her, if I had to wager a guess. She’s barefoot. She looks beautiful, but she also looks like she stopped getting ready when she was three-fourths of the way there. I can picture her getting frustrated, rolling her eyes, coming downstairs looking however she looked.

“You left this poor guy down here with me while you were up there beautifying yourself,” Marcus tells Gigi. “I’ve talked his ear off. And on the night your boyfriend meets Mom for the first time? Come on, Geeg.”

Hardly.Hardly did this idiot talk my ear off.

Gigi makes a face, one-thousand percent because this—Well, because her mother’sfuck buddycalled herGeeg.“Um,” she says, looking Marcus up and down, “have we met? I’m Gigi. Belinda’sdaughter.”Gigi turns to me. “Sorry I took so long,” she mumbles. She reaches up to—I think—kiss my cheek, but goes for my ear instead. “This is the Marcus. Ex-boyfriend Marcus.”

I pull away from her slightly, hook her chin with my finger, and stare down at her. If Belinda wants to play a game with Gigi tonight, I can play a game with Marcus here. “Hi, pumpkin. You look amazing, by the way.” I kiss her forehead, and she glowers at me. “I was telling Marcus we’ve only been dating a month,” I tell Gigi as she relaxes. “How I’m meeting Mom for the first time today.”

Her eyes flash as she catches on. “You have nothing to be nervous about,babe,” Gigi tells me as she caresses my cheek. Her palm is warm, soft against my skin, and I miss her the minute she drops her hand. “My mother will love you. As much as she loves me. Probably more.”

“Definitely more,” I snicker.

Gigi rolls her eyes.

“Cade,” Belinda croons later, as she cuts into her chicken like she’s murdering it, even though it’s already long gone. “Gigi tells me that you want to get a tattoo shop started here. Is that right?”

I am in no mood to deal with Belinda and her attempts at socializing. And it’s not just because I can’t stop imagining leaping over this table and choking Marcus out. “Yeah, that’s right.”

“Why don’t you tell us about it?” Marcus says through a mouthful of salad. “I’ve seen the shows about running a place like that, but don’t know the first thing.”

This fucking guy.

“Yeah, it’s, uh—” I fidget. I hate talking about myself. Almost as much as I hate the attention being on me. “Well—”

“Oh, Cade,” Gigi’s mother cuts in. “Don’t be shy.”

Bile rises in my throat. I run my sweaty palms against my jeans, and then dainty fingers wrap around mine. She squeezes my hand.

“Tell them, babe,” she encourages. “I can, if you want. It’s really cool. I think I remember it all, but fill in the blanks if I miss anything?”

I nod at her. “Sure thing,sweetie.”

Then cute, sweet Gigi goes in on an explanation of my career on my behalf. Like she’s telling her own life story, knows every little detail like the back of her hand.

And I’d be lying if I said I’m not more than thankful for this woman at this very moment.

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