Page 70 of Spur of the Moment
Making it to their house, I headed inside and found my mom doing dishes in the kitchen, my dad beside her drying off each one she handed him.
“Hi, sweetie,” she said over her shoulder.
“Hey, Mom. Do you happen to know where those light blue napkins are?”
She handed my dad a plate before turning off the sink and facing me. She wiped her hands on a rag, drying them off. “Oh, you’re bringing out the fancy napkins, huh?”
I frowned to hide the smile that tried to creep up on me. “Just need some sort of napkin, Mom.”
My dad set the dish in the upper cabinet and closed it. He faced me, folding the dish towel he’d been using, as my mom dug through a drawer in the corner of the kitchen.
“Finally putting that gazebo to gooduse, I see,” he said.
“What do you mean? I hang out in there all the time,” I defended.
He chuckled. “Drinking beer in the thing ain’t breaking it in, Bailey.”
My mom closed the drawer a little too hard, an obvious smile pulling at her lips despite the look of shock she wore at my dad’s comment. “Eddie Cooper, you didnotjust insinuate that Bailey needs to-”
I held up a hand to stop her. “Please don’t put words to it, Mom. We all know what he was getting at.”
And if I got lucky, that would most definitely be happening tonight.
Hell, I considered myself lucky that she even said yes to a date with me. She probably thought I was too damn dumb to set up a proper date all on my own. She was sure to be surprised when she showed up tonight.
My mom crossed the kitchen, holding the napkins out to me. “Wash them before you return them, please.”
“Yes, ma’am. I’d stay longer, but I have to get back before some coyote decides to dig into a nice steak dinner. Made your recipe for the potatoes.”
She pulled me in for a hug, her head barely reaching my chest. “I always knew you liked that girl. ‘Bout time you admitted it.”
I laughed. “I didn’t admit anything.”
She pulled back, an eyebrow raised. “You may have gotten away with fooling me when you were a kid, but not anymore, Bailey. I know love in your eyes when I see it.”
My mom was good at jumping into people's personal business. She also loved love, so it wasn’t a surprise to me that she was happy that I was finally showing interest in a woman. My eyes had always been on Lettie. I’d just been waiting for her to look at me the same way, too.
I looked over her head at my dad, mouthing, “Help me.”
He chuckled again, shaking his head as he headed toward the living room.
My mom smacked my arm with the dish towel my dad had set on the counter, a big smile on her face.
“Thanks for the napkins.”
“Of course, honey. Let me know how it goes. And bring Lettie by for dinner sometime. I haven’t seen her in forever.”
I bent to kiss my mom’s cheek. “That is if she doesn’t run for the hills after tonight.”
“Ah, you two will be rollin’ around in the hay in no time,” my dad said from the brown leather couch.
“Eddie!” my mom shouted at him in disbelief.
Oh, if only he knew.
I walked back out their front door and headed in the direction of my house, the napkins shoved in the back pocket of my jeans. I’d opted for no hat tonight, solely due to what Lettie had said to me at the bar in Montana.
“Stop covering those eyes.”
