Page 61 of One Little Problem
That confused both Luke and I. “What?”
She took a breath. “I can’t pretend I’m completely comfortable with you being gay—"
“Did you think you were pretending before?” I asked and then winced. My nerves could only handle so much!
“What I mean is, while my views are conservative, I pride myself on my manners and I’ve been treating you terribly. At the very least, you deserved politeness.” The Chambers were generally composed and pleasant, so for them to not act that way towards me, this had really freaked them out. “If I were anyone else than Luke’s mother, you probably wouldn’t want to give me the time of day after how I acted and I wouldn’t blame you.”
I thought about that for a moment. “It’s okay.”
“You don’t have to say that,” Luke and her said at the same time.
“I actually mean it.” I explained before either one of them could protest again. “This hasn’t been fun or anything but if the choices are you smiling and pretending like everything is okay or being honest, I think I choose the mean honesty.” Yeah, it freaked me out, but I was even worse at surprises… that was part of why I had to be at least somewhat informed of what was going on in dad’s life. You can only prepare for the stuff you know about.
“Well,” she paused and thought about that. “I respect that,” she decided. Oh my god, was I having a moment with Luke’s mom? “But it’s no excuse for my behavior,” she continued. “You’re still a person. I should have been treating you like a person. Instead of this problem. Like if I made you go away, Luke would go back to normal.”
“He is normal,” I told her seriously.
“That’s something I’m coming to terms with,” she said with a tight voice, but then she spoke more gently. “I’m starting to get that.” She smiled at Luke and Luke smiled back while I grabbed his thigh under the table because I was happy for him, but we were all getting along, so I didn’t want to do anything too embarrassing like burst into song. “This is a difficult situation. I’m an adult and you’re a teenager and I would expect myself to act better, even in difficult situations. I am sorry.”
We were so having a moment. “Apology accepted.” I smiled and she smiled back and it was awesome.
“Think you’re gonna like him, Mom,” Luke told her.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “We have so much in common.” Oh god, she just said I didn’t have to try so hard and here I was ready to ramble about how much I loved cardigans and raising a family and banking. Pretty sure no one loved banking, it wasn’t a passion or something, even for people like her who worked in that industry. Instead I said, “We both love Luke.”
True, but reminding her of that might not be the best thing and I panicked for one second before she smiled. “That’s a good start,” she said.
Hey, we were having another moment! Then, because I am not the only one in this relationship who is good at being embarrassing, Luke said, “You know his mom’s dead, right?”
It was my turn to put my head in my hands.
Mrs. Chambers shook her head at her son and told him, “If you’re going to play the sympathy card, try to be more subtle about it.”
“Oh, making fun of Luke. Maybe that can be our thing,” I told her.
“I don’t like that!” Luke protested immediately.
Linda smiled. “That sounds good to me.”
* * *
Luke’s mom looked like she didn’t believe us when we said we were going to the library. There was some stuff I wanted to look up and Luke wasn’t working yet. Pretty sure we were going to be glued to each other until I had to leave. And the library wasn’t actually the height of romance, but still, when we went into a study room, I hopped up onto the table and tried to look all enticing. “What are you going to do with me now that you have me alone?”
Luke sent me a dry look. “There’s a window right there.” Yeah, the small room had a viewing window that let others see whether the room was occupied or not.
Still, I didn’t back down. “Come on, Luke! Progress is being had. We had lunch with your mom, Dad and I are figuring things out, we deserve a reward.”
He thought about that. More progress! “And that reward is making out in the library?”
“I once saw the librarian reading Sherlock/John fanfic at her desk, she won’t mind.” There were a lot of closet fangirls in this town.
Now, Luke thought about that. His thoughts? “Jude Law is hot.”
“Not sure that’s the version she’s, wait.” My face sort of had a mind of its own, so I told it to show exaggerated realization and then anger, and I hoped it did something close. “You’re talking about another guy in front of me?” I wasn’t really angry, but I could definitely use this to get my way.
“Don’t you think he’s hot?” He asked innocently, but he would so call me on it if I tried to lie.
Well played. “I can’t answer, since I’m trying to do an indignation thing.”
