My Favorite Mistake(55)

“Ready?”

“As I’ll ever be,” he said, adjusting his bag. He’d also brought his guitar, but had left it in the car.

“Mom?”

“Hey, Kid!” She flew out from the kitchen and pulled me into a hug. “It’s been way too long since you were home. But I see you’ve been occupied. Hello, I’m Blaire Caldwell.” My mom and I were the same height and shared our brown hair. Her face was more oval than mine, and she looked much more sophisticated than I could ever hope to, but that was mostly due to her job.

“Nice to meet you, Mrs. Caldwell.”

“I’m divorced, so that title no longer applies. I will, however, let you call me Blaire.”

Hunter grinned.

“Nice to meet you, Blaire.” He shook her hand, and she gave him the once over. I remembered how I’d felt when Hope had done the same thing.

“Come on in. You can go put your things in Taylor’s room. I’m going to pretend like you’re going to sleep on the floor like a gentleman while Taylor takes the bed, but I’m not naïve.”

“Yes, ma’am.” All of a sudden the Texas accent and manners had come out. He should have tipped his hat as he left the room to take our stuff away.

“He’s cute, Taylor. Well done.” She put her arm around me and led me to the kitchen. “We need to have a little chat, you and I, but not right now.”

“Okay,” I said. There was probably a look of horror on my face, which made her laugh.

“It’s not a sex talk, I swear. It is just surprising, that’s all. Seeing you with a boy.”

“He’s not just a boy.”

“I can tell already. You wouldn’t take up with just anyone. I hope he’s worthy of you,” she said, patting my cheek.

“He is.”

“I hope so.”

Hunter made sure he walked noisily enough that we knew he was coming back in the room.

“Well, Hunter. Tell me about yourself. I’ve heard next to nothing from my daughter.”

There was a bang from the porch and seconds later Tawny barged in. She never entered a room quietly.

“Hey, Kid! Boyfriend. Mom!” She hugged me and Mom and held her fist up for a fist bump from Hunter. He reciprocated.

“So, what’s new in W town?” Tawny said.

“They’re repaving the road next week. I’m going to have to add a ton of time on to my commute,” Mom said.

“Wow, big doings,” Tawny said, rolling her eyes. “I’m starved. Is there anything ready?”

“There’s fruit salad and potato salad and chips. I wasn’t sure what you’d like, Hunter.”

“That all sounds wonderful.”

“Good. Why don’t we go sit down?”

It was a mirror image of meeting Hunter’s family, only it was a shorter walk to the living room and the furniture wasn’t as nice. We also had lemonade instead of iced tea, but at least this time Hunter was under the microscope. I had to put my hand on his knee and hold his hand in an iron grip so he wouldn’t fidget too much. Pretty soon his eye was going to start twitching.

Hunter talked about his major, his family and so forth. The normal stuff. So far, so good, except for calling her ma’am. It was kind of adorable.

“So you’re going to be a lawyer?”

“Yes, ma’am. I plan on having my own practice and working on family cases. Specifically with children.”

“That’s a very good goal for someone your age. What made you choose that?”

I’d had to clamp my teeth down on my tongue so I wouldn’t answer for him and tell her that he was awesome and I loved him and he was awesome.

“Because I think anyone who hurts a child should be brought to justice. Someone has to do it. Why not me?” His voice rang with so much sincerity and passion, I wanted to make out with him right there on the sofa.

“Up top,” Tawny said, holding her hand up for a high five. He slapped her hand and then looked at Mom, to make sure she didn’t think it was weird. She was studying him. Uh oh. I’d had that look before.

“You’re a very interesting young man.”

“Thank you, ma’am.”

I pinched him so he’d stop calling her ma’am. She hated it. I should have mentioned that in the car.

“Well, are you ready to eat?” Mom said.

“Sure.”

“Taylor, can you and Tawny get the plates?” She purposefully left Hunter out. Damn, she was testing him to see if he’d take the plates from me.

“I’ll do that,” Hunter said, slipping in front of me and going to the cabinet. “Which ones?”

“The ones with the blue flowers.” They were my grandmother’s, and we only used them for special occasions. The real plates we used didn’t match and were mostly from yard sales. Tawny made sure to grab the good cups and not the Disney Collector’s Edition glasses.

Hunter set our small dining table, which was covered with a tablecloth I was sure Mom had bought yesterday, since it still had creases from being folded in the package.

“Good call on the plates,” I said.

“I figured that was an opening for me to be a gentleman.”

“Exactly. Just a little note, don’t call her ma’am. She hates it.”

“Was I?” He seemed to genuinely not know.

I laughed and put my arm around his waist. “Yes, Mr. Zaccadelli. Just keep the Texas in check, okay? You’re in Yankee country.”

“I’ll try.”

I touched his arm. “Hey, you’re doing great.”

“If you say so.” He put a plate down and it clanged a little. God, he was nervous.

“Be careful, that’s my Gram’s china.”

“I’ll try.”

He set the places more carefully, and I followed behind him with the silverware and napkins. Tawny and Mom brought in the meal, which consisted of a spinach, walnut and strawberry salad for me, grilled chicken for everyone else, potato salad, and fruit salad and a cheesecake for desert.

Hunter loaded up on the non-meat things, which Mom noticed.

“Are you a vegetarian?”

“Not really, but I’ve been cutting back on meat since I met Taylor.”

I passed him the balsamic dressing, and he poured it over his salad. He always used way too much dressing.

“You’re not just doing that to impress her, are you?”

“Everything I do is to impress her. It’s my mission in life,” he said with a completely serious face, while he squeezed my knee under the table.

Mom burst out laughing.

“I like him,” she said.

“Me too. I think I’ll keep him,” I said, taking his hand and twisting my fingers with his.

“Good,” he said, giving my hand a squeeze.





*****





The tension eased a little as we sat in the living room making small talk. Hunter seemed a lot more comfortable and stopped twitching so much. He even laughed, albeit nervously. Tawny was being so mean to him, and I had to keep shooting her dirty looks.

I thought Hunter was going to die when Mom grilled him about the ring, which I’d forgotten to take off. My hand didn’t look like my hand without it anymore.

“What did you do, rob a bank?” Tawny said, as she gaped at it.

“It was my mother’s. I inherited it and I thought, what better place to keep it safe?” Okay, so he didn’t inherit the ring, but he inherited the money for it, so I figured it was close enough.

“Your mother had really good taste,” Mom said, holding my hand so she could get a better look at it.

“She did.”

“You’re awfully young to have lost both parents.”

“I was eleven when they died, but my mother’s sister and husband took me in.”

“I’m sorry about your family.”

“Thank you.”

“Mom? I think I’m going to show Hunter around town.”

“Be sure you show him the telephone pole you crashed into during your driving test.”

“What?” Hunter said, looking at me.

“We’re leaving now,” I said, getting up and yanking Hunter to his feet. Any moment the naked baby pictures were going to come out, and there were a lot. I’d had a no-clothes phase for several months, and there was plenty of evidence. Not that Hunter hadn’t seen everything there was to see, but still.

“You crashed into a telephone pole? Missy, why don’t you let me drive?” Hunter said.

“Shut up,” I said as I got in the driver’s side. “You don’t know this town like I do. So I’m in charge.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said, tipping an imaginary hat.

“Do you own a cowboy hat?”

“I have one in my closet at Hope and John’s. Why?”

“Oh, no reason.” I turned on the car, picturing Hunter in a cowboy hat and nothing else. Yum.

“So, where to?”

“The library. Duh.”

“Of course.” He turned on my CD, skipping to a song he liked. “By the way, you need to bring that little red dress back to school with you.”

“Was that what took you so long in my room?”

“I was just checking things out,” he said.

“Sure you were. You were looking for skeletons. Or at least embarrassing photos of me with braces.”

“I bet you were cute with braces.”

“Yeah, cute was the word for it.”