Page 80 of Sunsets & Slow Dances

“Mrs. Knight—” I started to stand up.

“Don’t get up, dolly. And how many times do I have to tell you, it’s Nora.” She walked up the steps to the deck and gave me a hug, I hugged her back.

“Now, was it my imagination or did I just see a good-lookin’ fella, around six-foot-four, with dimples, pass me on the road?”

“Oh, um.” I smiled. “Yeah, you uh, you just missed him.”

I hadn’t freshened up since Callum left. I just threw my hoodie on and came out on the deck to finish off the bottle of wine. I wondered if I had sex hair. Did I have a glow? Would she be able to tell that I’d just had sex with that good lookin’, six-foot-four fella with dimples? It shouldn’t matter. We were adults. But somehow, it did matter to me.

“It’s lookin’ real nice back here.” She looked up at the string lights and at the deck.

“That’s all thanks to the six-foot-four fella with dimples.”

“He does good work. He’s really good with his hands. He always has been.”

“Yep.” I felt my cheeks flush. I knew that she was talking about the deck, but that is not where my dirty mind went, especially after what had just happened on the kitchen table. I was so glad we weren’t sitting inside. “Sorry, do you want a drink?” I lifted up my glass.

“Oh, no, I don’t want to impose on your night.”

“You’re not,” I rushed to assure her. “I’d love the company.”

It would save me from driving myself crazy dissecting every single word of every conversation I’d had with Callum since he’d been home.

“Are yousure?” she questioned.

“Yes. All of my friends have gone off and fallen in love, so it’s just me, Peanut, Butter, and Jelly.”

“Well, I would love one.”

Mrs. Knight bent down to give Peanut some love while I went inside the house to grab another glass. I wondered why she was here. She’d never dropped by to chat before. Did this have something to do with Felicity? Was she here to tell me to back off of Callum because he had a family? If that was the case, I couldn’t blame her, especially after what she’d been through with Mr. Knight and Danielle.

When I came back out, I poured her Merlot, sat on the chair beside her that her son had assembled, and braced myself for the lecture or warning I was about to receive.

“So, what about you?” she asked after she took a sip.

“Me?” I wasn’t sure what she was referring to.

“When areyougoing to settle down?”

This felt like a strange conversation to have with Callum’s mom. There was a big part of me that wanted to tell her everything. To pour my heart out to her. She’s always been a second mom to me. She was so many things my mom wasn’t; caring, nurturing, and affectionate.

I remember the first time I went to the Knight’s house for dinner, and she gave me a hug when I left; I got tears in my eyes. It was the first time that I felt what it was like to be hugged by a maternal figure. My mom wasn’t a hugger. It was also the first time I’d had a homecooked meal. My mom didn’t have a domestic bone in her body. Her idea of “homecooked” was a Swanson TV dinner.

But I didn’t feel like I could open up to her because she must be on Felicity’s side. She was the mother of her grandchild. Of course, she’d want her son to be with his child’s mother.

I shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“I’m going to be honest; I always thought you and Callum would end up back together.”

Join the club.I noticed that she saidthoughtin the past tense.

“Did you?”

“Didn’t you?” The knowing look in her eye told me she already knew the answer.

My left shoulder lifted in a shrug. “It’s complicated.”

“Is it?” she questioned.

---