Page 95 of The Perfect Love

“Mom!”

“Seriously, we might not want to know the answer to that,” Hyla says.

“Well, this has been fun, but Chelsea and I have a date to get to. I’ll see you both in a couple of weeks.”

“Are you bringing Chelsea with you?” Mom asks.

Chelsea’s eyes widen and she looks at me questioningly.

“We haven’t talked about that yet, so thanks for throwing me under the bus.”

“Anytime!” Mom says cheerily.

“Yeah. It’s our job. Ourright.”

“And it’s my right to hang up the phone now. Love you, bye.”

“Bye, honey. Nice talking to you, Chelsea.”

“You too.”

There’s another round of happy birthdays and goodbyes, then I finally hang up the phone.

Chelsea is staring at me, amusement dancing in her eyes. “Well, that was fun.”

“Maybe for you.”

She pokes my cheek. “Aw, you’re so cute when you do the grumpy thing. Don’t act like you don’t love your mom and sister.”

I sigh because she’s right. They’re the most important people in my life. Only now Chelsea is on that list too.

“I love them, but they give me headaches.”

She buckles her seatbelt, then looks over at me, eyes dancing. “So, what were they talking about you bringing me to in a couple of weeks?”

“You know about Rae and Aaron’s bachelorette and bachelor party shenanigans?”

“Amanda and Sarah have mentioned some things.”

“I’ll be home for the night beforehand, and that’s what Mom was talking about. I’d love for you to come meet her, but I don’t know exactly where we are on things like that. But if you want to, you can come for a couple of hours or stay the night, or whatever—”

“Trev. Breathe.”

“Sorry.”

“I’d love to meet your mom and Hyla. And I’m getting kind of used to snuggling in bed with you, so I wouldn’t mind staying overnight.”

I lean in and kiss her. “Good answer.”

She brushes her thumb over my cheek and smiles at me. “Happy birthday.”

“Thanks, baby.”

“Ready for your super special birthday date?”

“I can’t wait to see what mischief you have up your sleeve. Just tell me where we’re going.”

She doesn’t. She leads me on a wild goose chase of random side streets until we end up on campus and she has me park in some side lot that’s away from most buildings.

---