Page 36 of Rebound With Me
“Oh you are here! I told Dad ‘she’s probably just in the shower,’ didn’t I say that? We’ve been calling and texting and buzzing.”
“Hi.” I glance back towards my bathroom. The door is closed, so Vince most likely can’t hear that I have more guests all of a sudden. I’m not sure what to do in this situation. “What are you doing here?”
They both come in and hug me.
“Well, we did a little switching up of our flights to Miami, so we could come see you, Sweetheart.”
“Surprise,” my Dad says, knowing full well that this wasn’t a good idea, but we’re happy to see each other anyway. He shuts the door and puts the carry-on bags down in the living room, in case someone breaks in. So the burglars can’t reach their luggage right away. Because this is New York.
“Wow, that’s a bold move, you guys.”Apparently all the Parks are busting out of their shells this summer.
“You look good, Nina.” My Mom eyes me like she can see something different is going on. “Did we come at a bad time?”
In answer to her question, my bathroom door opens, and Vince walks out with a towel wrapped tightly around his waist. I am so glad I gave him my biggest towel, because—yeesh it could have been really awkward otherwise!
My mother, being a residential realtor, has probably accidentally walked in on more than one just-showered male in her day. That this is the first time she’s done it in her daughter’s home doesn’t seem to faze her.
When Vince stops in his tracks and looks back and forth between me and my parents, it is my mother who utters the first words. “Ohhh myyy,” she says, in a throaty voice that is usually reserved for my father and Antonio Banderas. “Or did we come at avery goodtime?”
“Mom!”
Vince smiles and holds onto the towel. “Oh hello.” If he’s appalled or nervous, he isn’t showing it at all. All he’s really showing is his astonishing bare torso and tattoos.
“Hello,” my Dad says, growing a couple of inches taller.
“Um. This is Vince. He also lives in Brooklyn. These are my parents, who are stopping by on their way from Indiana to Florida. Vince came to fix a hole. In the wall. He came to patch up and paint my drywall.”
“Oh. Are you a handyman?” My Mom’s eyelashes flutter.
“I used to be, a while ago, I was just doing this as a favor to Nina.”
“Oh, how nice of you. What a good neighbor.”
“It’s very nice to meet you both. I’ll just go get dressed and then come back out and shake your hands.”
“Wonderful.”
“Sounds about right,” says my father, his voice as deep as Darth Vader’s all of a sudden.
“My, um. My clothes are right here, so…” Vince walks past my Mom to pick up his professional clothes, which are laid out neatly on the sofa behind her. “Be right back,” he says, looking at me.
“I’m so sorry!” I mouth to him.
He goes into the bedroom and shuts the door.
I look at my parents. “Have a seat you guys. How much time do you have? Should we go grab lunch?”
“Well…he seems very nice.”
“He really is.”
“Have you known this fellow long?” My parents take a seat on the sofa and I remain standing.
“Not really.” I feel like I need to just rip off the bandage. They surprised me, why not surprise them. “Vince and I had sex today.”
“Jesus H.”
“And then we took a shower. And had sex again and it didn’t kill me—there I said it. We’re all grown-ups here! Look! I’m alive! I’m happy!”
