Page 5 of Until Now

I regret the words the moment they leave my mouth. Why would I say that?

“What’s his name?”

“You don’t know him.”

“Where did you meet?”

“I have to go. Goodbye, Mother.” I slump back in my chair with a frustrated sigh. What in the hell was I thinking? There isn’t anyone I can bring they wouldn’t recognize and call my bluff immediately.

A knock on the door. Michaela stands with a shy smile.

“Well, look who decided to show up.”

“I said hi when I got in, but you didn’t hear me. Didn’t want to bug you while you were in the zone.” I vaguely remember hearing her when I was finishing the suggestions on her design. She falls into one of the blue velvet chairs across from me. “Eleanor needs to reschedule tomorrow, she said she could be here Monday.”

“I’m thinking you should meet with her instead.”

“She is so excited to see you, I wouldn’t want to disappoint her.” I roll my eyes. Eleanor is a pain in my ass, but she’s a good client who brings me a lot of business. I really shouldn’t complain, but right now, she just wants to meet for coffee and conversation. I don’t have time for coffee and conversation. Between work and now this thing with Mother… “You okay? You’re looking a little more stressed than usual.”

“Ho appena detto a mia madre che stavo portando un ragazzo a Haven.”

“I got something about your mom and Haven, but I have no idea what you just said.”

“I just told my mom I was bringing a guy to Haven.”

“And who, may I ask, would that be?”

“The guy I’ve been seeing the last six months.”

“You’ve been seeing someone?” Michaela’s voice rises two octaves.

“No!”

“Then, why did you—”

“She invited Lee! And to make it ‘less awkward’ for him and Teagan, she wants to set me up with the neighbor kid.”

“You could always hire someone.”

I choke on my coffee. Hire an escort to bring on my family vacation?

“What? People do it in the movies all the time!”

“This isn’t a movie, Michaela. This is my life. I can’t bring an escort to meet my family.”

“I didn’t say escort.”

“Well, what do you call some random guy hired as my boyfriend for the summer?”

“Why don’t you say he got stuck at work? Some guy with a big corporate job, that’s believable. I mean, look at your dad. He misses stuff because of work all the time.”

And, when Daddy goes asking around and finds out this “boyfriend” doesn’t exist… Yeah, I don’t think that’s a good idea.

“You know tons of guys, why don’t you ask one of them?”

“Who do I know, that they don’t know, that I could ask?”

“What about your cute neighbor from the condo?”

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