Page 23 of Home for the Holidays

“He wishes.” Adrien laughed. “We text daily. He’ssoannoying. He said he was dating someone but wouldn’t give me specifics. And, lo and behold, he brings you home.”

Iris’s anger was second only to her nerves, but she kept her wits about her. She needed to talk to Zac. That was glaringly obvious. “I’msoconfused,” she whispered. “He made it seem like… wow. I guess I wasn’t listening well enough.”

“How long have you two been together? Maybe it’s too new, so he hasn’t opened up yet?” Shaun, bless his heart, was trying to smooth things over.

“Together? Oh, yeah,together.”Crap. “Um, six months.” Iris tilted her head as she locked eyes with Shaun. “Not that new.”

“True, true.” He cleared his throat. “Well, y’all are gonna have to have a conversation then. Because according to Adrien, he’s one hundred percent a mama’s boy.”

Oscar held his mug of coffee up. “And he’s stubborn.”

“And hard-headed,” Adrien added.

“That’s the same thing,” Iris corrected.

“No, I mean he literally has a hard head,” Adrien clarified. “He dented my wall once when we were wrestling.”

Iris couldn’t help but laugh. Thank goodness someone was trying to lighten the mood. “I needed that. Thank you, Adrien.” As they stood there talking and poking fun at Zac, Iris started to feel slightly better. Not completely, of course. Honestly, Heidi being Zac’s mom was perfect. It meant that whatever she was thinking or feeling could go away now. Simple. Like breathing—even if that had been very difficult moments earlier.

No, you can do this, an inner voice cheered her on.You can stop something that has barely started.

Ah, yes, a mental pep talk. Those always work.Idiot.

Washing her hands of someone was usually very easy for her to do. As awful as that sounded, it was the truth, so washing her hands of Heidi shouldn’t be difficult.

Right?

Right. Everything happened for a reason after all.

Riiight?

Of course! Soon, she wouldn’t have to wonder what the hell had happened at the café during that hour of extremely bad decisions ever, ever again.

…right?!

CHAPTERTEN

“Honey,” Heidi said, pulling Zac into her downstairs office. Her mind was racing. Iris was her son’sgirlfriend? Seeing her standing there was like a punch to the gut, leaving her instantly nauseated. One false move, one thought too deep, and she’d have to throw up. She closed the door behind them, the soft sound of it latching loud in the quiet of the room. “Is there a reason you didn’t tell me you were bringing home a girl?”

“I thought you’d be thrilled.” Zac let out a laugh. “Come on, you’ve been dying for me to settle down with a woman.”

Heidi straightened her spine and pulled her shoulders back at his statement. Shehadbeen on him to behonestwith her for quite some time, but to settle down? With a woman? With that woman? It was all astonishing. Especially considering everything that transpired at the café.God, the café.Her stomach rolled again. “True, true, but,” she paused, somehow found her caring and concerned tone of voice underneath the shock and disgust, and said, “Why didn’t you just tell me you were bringing home someone who is more than a friend? I sent you two tickets because I wanted you here, and I figured if you had the option of bringing someone with you, it might work. Maybe you’d bring that new roommate you never talk about or something.” She shook her head. “Y’know what? It doesn’t matter, does it? I’m just glad you’re home.”

Zac huffed as he leaned against the desk and folded his arms across his chest. “Are you?” He raised his brows and stared at her. Moments like these always made Heidi slightly proud. Sure, he was being defiant, but her DNA was definitely the strongest with this one. “Not sure if you’re aware of this, but you don’t make it real easy for people to be honest with you about things.”

Heidi gasped. “What are you talking about? I am very easy to talk to.”

His mouth dropped open. “You’re joking, right?”

“Okay, okay, I am easy to talk tonow.” It didn’t please her to admit that he was right once again. She definitely hadn’t been the most easygoing mom when the boys were growing up, but she had worked her ass off the last ten or so years. She wanted to be the cool mom, the one they could come to with whatever was going on in their lives.

“Ma, seriously?” Zac laughed. “You think you could change?”

“Wow.” She shook her head. “I’m not going to lie, Zac, that one hurt a little.” She held back the emotion in her voice; now was not the time to start crying. She’d save that for later, when she was alone, in her bed, going over the truly ridiculous chain of events from this even more ridiculous day.

His face softened. “I’m sorry. You’re right. I should give you a chance.”

“Thank you,” she said softly. “I’ve had a lot of time to work on myself.”

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