Page 71 of Win Some Love Some
She blinked, utterly unreadable in the moonlight. Was she offended? Was she complimented? Was she considering a friends with benefits situation? Was I?
There was only one way to put things right with us.
“Do you want to be mad at me here, or would you rather be mad at me over a milkshake at Pappas?”
She stared at me like I’d suggested we trade heads.
“I think maybe you should just take me home,” she said.
14
Nora
“Hi honey. You’re home early.”
Mom was on the couch when I walked through the front door. It was after ten so my dad was in bed, which was for the best. My dad always knew when something was bothering me even when I was trying to hide it.
And tonight, I was very bothered.
And definitely trying to hide it.
That moment on the dance floor. We’d nearly kissed. Right there in front of everybody. Like we were just two random people at a wedding, when we had history. Heartbreak.
We were star-crossed and he acted like it was no big deal.
He broke my heart so badly it changed the trajectory of my life, and now he wanted to make out on the dance floor at Terry and Tom’s wedding like we were drunk strangers?
I was getting mad again just thinking about it.
“Oh. Am I?” I said. “It feels like it was a long night.”
Mom patted the cushions next to her. “Come sit and tell me everything. I love a good wedding story. Did she make a run for it?”
It was the first question my mother always asked, because once upon a time, she had made a run from her own wedding.
Not the one to Dad, but her first wedding, to some asshole her parents picked out for her.
Statistically, Mom was one in a million. Most brides don’t run. But she was always on the lookout for a kindred soul.
I kicked off my shoes and plopped myself down next to her. “She did not make a run for it. She looked beautiful and very happy.”
“And Nick?”
I stiffened. “What about Nick?”
“Was he a good date?”
“Mom,” I protested, like Charlie when she was given a curfew. “It was not a date. I told you that. He just went to the wedding with me…out of pity.”
“Hardly that. Nick, of all people, would never pity you, Nora.”
“Well, it wasn’t a date. That would be…crazy.”
Mom cocked her head and tucked herself up against me. She smelled like dinner and the mango hand lotion she kept on the window sill over the kitchen sink. Mom. She smelled like Mom. “Why would that be crazy?”
“Are you kidding?” I asked and she gave me a blank look. “If Nick and I went on a date. An actual date. Everybody would lose their minds. Dad especially. He’s…he’s Nick. He’s twelve years older than me. He’s…he’s Nick.”
Mom nodded. “Your father would go a little crazy. That’s true. But your father goes a little crazy anytime he thinks you’re serious about someone. Always afraid he’s going to lose his little girl. But I don’t thinkeveryonewould care. In fact, I think…” she looked at me carefully. “I think everyone would think it wasabout time.” She ducked to look into my eyes. “Did something happen at the wedding?”
