Page 32 of You Found Me
“Dude, shut up,” I say through clenched teeth. “I talked to her before I moved out and we’re good. I told you that.”
“Hmm,” tapping his chin, he ponders, “I don’t recall that conversation.”
I think I might murder my best friend.
I’ll send his family the nicest condolence flowers I can get my hands on. But I will do a happy little dance on his grave for being one of thebiggestgossips known to man. When I moved to town, I had forgotten that for as mischievous as Mia is, Theo is just as bad.
Beckett isn’t helping either as he actively is trying his best not to laugh at the look of panic on my face.
“Spencer James Hale!” Mom scolds. “What did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything. Theo’s exaggerating.”
“I won’t ask again,” she says with that no nonsense mom voice.
I take a deep breath and say, “It wasn’t something I knew about beforehand, but she set me up with her granddaughter. Maybe half an hour into it there was an emergency with work, and I had to leave.”
I hear a sound come from Theo and I whip my head to him so fast, daring him to say something.
“Oh Spencer, you left a date for work? You’ll never find a girlfriend if you keep putting work first.” She sighs, “Did you at least apologize to the two of them?”
Completely ignoring her dramatics. “Of course I apologized to them. I explained to Heidi right when I got the call and then to Ms. Clara when I saw her again on Sunday. Ms. Clara wasn’t upset with me for leaving the date. She was upset with her granddaughter because before I even left the date, Heidi was texting her ex-boyfriend trying to win him back. I promise I dodged a bullet with this one.”
“I just wanted to make sure you weren’t rude to either of them. I raised you better than that.” I watch as her eyes light up, dreading whatever she’s about to say next. “If I’d known you were open to being set up, I could have helped! I know a couple of lovely young ladies who you’d get along swimmingly with.”
Beckett and Theo lose it, laughing loudly. Dad sighs, shaking his head.
I begin pleading with her, “Mom, no. I promise that if I wanted to have a girlfriend, I could find her on my own. I don’t want or need the women in my life to meddle in my love life. Can we please move on from this?”
“Fine,” she says, clearly annoyed with me. She switches tactics from bulldozing into my life, to Beckett and Theo. “Boys. What about you two? Going to make grandmothers of Lizzie and I?”
Theo laughs. “Lizzie knows that I do eventually want marriage and kids. Same for my sister. She seems content knowing that it’ll happen at some point. I go on dates, here and there. Just no love match yet.”
“I guess that’s good enough. Beckett, what about you? I know you keep things private, but I’d like it if you dropped me a little breadcrumb here and there.”
He puts his fork down, wiping his mouth. “Well, I actually wanted to introduce you to someone I’ve been dating.”
“Really?” Beckett nods and she squeals, clapping her hands together. “Did you hear that Bill? He’s got a girlfriend.” Dad grunts, not bothering to add anything to this whole conversation as he’s too busy eating. “At least one of our boys has a special friend. How long have you been together and when do we get to meet her?”
“Aria and I have been together for about seven and a half months now. I’ll ask her when she’s free and then let you know.”
“I’m so happy. Anytime that works for her will work for us. I’ll make sure of it.”
The rest of the dinner goes off without a hitch. My parents, or I should say my mom, got Edie to bring out a cake, lit up with candles. Edie, however, announced to the whole diner that they were to sing happy birthday to me or else they’d have to deal with her. Totally embarrassing but it made Mom happy. After the cake, Theo took off and my parents decided to head to the Inn to check in and explore.
As everyone takes their leave, I start to think about my life since moving here. I know how lucky I am to have people that love me. I don’t take that for granted. But sometimes I wonder if I made a mistake moving away from home, even if it’s only an hour and a half away.
Family is important to me, but I’d like to think I’m creating an extended family for myself here in Meadow Springs.
***
Friday morning, my mom calls me in a panic, asking if I can come over to help her with the kitchen sink.
Apparently, it started leaking and she can’t figure it out. “Your dad has gone to work, and Beckett worked late last night. I don’t want to be a bother to him this morning.”
“I’m not sure I’ll be able to do much more than turn it off, but I’ll give it a shot. I can be there around noon.”
“That’s perfect,” she says happily. “I’ll make lunch as a thank you.”
