Page 61 of The Soul Never Forgets

Dawsey reaches for my hand. “I’m not going anywhere. This woman is stuck with me forever. And when we’re done in this life, we’ll move on to the next one together.”

* * *

We get into the car,and I pick up Dawsey’s phone, looking at the screen. Sixteen text messages from her while we were visiting my grandmother. Ugh.

He takes the phone from my hand and opens Devin’s contact. “Block this caller. Done,” he says and tosses the phone into a compartment in his car.

“You didn’t have to do that on my account.”

“Yes I did. I can feel your irritation.”

I hadn’t thought of that. “Sorry.”

“No reason for you to be sorry.”

I buckle my seatbelt and grab the to-go plates I set on the dash. “What did you think of Coco?”

“Your grandmother is just as wonderful as you said she was.”

“Yeah, she’s great. But you shouldn’t expect that same kind of warm reception when you meet my mother.” She may initially be dazzled by his good looks, but she’ll come to her senses and turn into the same wicked old witch she always is.

“When should I expect our introduction to happen?”

“Don’t know. I haven’t told her about you yet.” I haven’t seen my mother to tell her. I canceled our Sunday brunch meeting because we were in Cabo. That didn’t go over well.

“I told my family about calling off the engagement.”

“When?”

“This afternoon. My four o’clock was a no-show, so I left the office early and ran by their house. I wanted to tell them in person.”

“And you’re just now telling me?”

“I didn’t want to drop that news on you right before we went to your grandmother’s. It needed to be at a moment when we had time to talk about it.”

“What did they say?”

“They weren’t surprised.”

“Are they upset?”

“Not even a little. They saw the writing on the wall a long time ago.” He looks over at me and then back at the road. “I wasn’t planning to tell them about you, but I couldn’t help myself after I saw how well they took the news.”

Oh wow. They know about me. “They probably think I’m a home-wrecking hoochie.”

“They don’t. My mother is excited to meet you. She wants you to come to dinner one night this week. I told her I needed to check with you first.”

I hope Dawsey’s parents are as kind and thoughtful as he is.

“You’re the first man to take me home to meet his family.” Frank’s parents loved Augustina. I hope to see that same love echoed in my relationship with my in-laws.

“You’re twenty-nine years old. How have you never gone home to meet a guy’s family?”

“My relationships were short-lived. My mother always saw to that.”

“Your mother needs to see a therapist. I might make that recommendation to her when we meet.”

“You can’t be manipulated to see things her way. Lilly Beaumont is going to hate you.”

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