Sleeping With Her Enemy(58)

“Light,” his mother said. “Parking ramps should be well-lit. And you want the driving space to be wide if you expect blind old coots driving Buicks not to crash into everything.”

“Good, good.” Nodding vigorously, Amy met his eyes in the mirror again. “Can you write this down?”

Man, she was going full force with this charade. But, ever obedient, he pulled out his phone and opened the notes app.

After they parked and took the elevator down to ground level, Amy took his mother’s arm, leaving him to trail behind them. “Let’s start at the northern edge here.” She walked them to the arterial that banded the cluster of shops and nodded across the street. “Your public library is there, along with a drugstore.”

“They could use a bridge across this street,” his mother said.

Amy nodded. “That would be a city thing, but yes, I agree that would be a great idea.”

She turned around. “I’m writing it down,” he said before she could issue the command.

They turned and started strolling through the complex itself. He had been thinking of this as a potential locale for his parents to move, based mostly on Kat’s testimony. He’d only ever been here himself once, meeting an investor at one of the restaurants. He had to admit, as they strolled the place, that it was a pretty nice spot. Narrow streets and paths crisscrossed through upscale stores, restaurants, and coffee shops. There was even a movie theater.

“Now I know it’s not really your cup of tea,” Amy said, turning his mother to face west and pointing at the ring of high rises that surrounded the retail area. “But imagine you live in one of those buildings. What are your thoughts about what’s here? Just free-associate as we walk.”

He watched his mom observe a group of old men playing cards on a patio outside a tea shop. She didn’t say anything. They peered into store windows and stopped for an iced coffee. Nothing. Took a stroll around the green, where a jazz trio was playing. Still nothing. Passed a gelato place. No verbalization, but his mother’s eyes widened ever so slightly.

Amy was looking increasingly worried, furrowing her brow and gnawing at her lip. She didn’t yet know the ways of the Matriarch. It was actually kind of adorable how invested she was in this little project.

Finally, when they’d meandered all the way down to the far southern corner, his mom shrugged and said, “This place is okay.” Victory! But of course Amy didn’t know that. “It needs a grocery store,” she added.

“It has one!” Amy exclaimed. “There’s a Metro just around the corner!”

His mom made a dismissive-sounding sigh. “Metro is too expensive. I shop at Food Basics.”

Nothing more was said. But the seed was planted. They walked back to the parking garage in silence. He held the car door for his mom, then seized on the fact that Amy, who was standing behind the car digging for her keys, had not yet gotten in the car. Coming up behind her, he bent down to whisper in her ear, “You can’t tell, but that was actually a spectacular triumph.” He was glad there was no time for a reply, and that he’d only had to whisper, because about two words in, he got a noseful of that goddamned strawberry perfume and every intention he’d had to play it cool, to respect her need for distance, melted like a blob of gelato in the summer sun.

“You two come in for dinner,” his mother said when Amy pulled into the driveway.

“Can’t,” he said, before Amy could open her mouth. “We’re going to a movie.”

Amy shot him a quizzical look in the rearview mirror. He didn’t care. He was done respecting her space. He needed this girl underneath him again. Or on top of him. Or whatever.

His mom turned around in her seat, took off her sunglasses, and stared at him for what felt like an extremely long moment. Jesus. Enough with the feminine scrutiny from the front seat.

“Okay,” his mom said, opening her door. He hopped out, too. That was it? No arguing? He’d expected to have to make a federal case for why they needed to go to a movie and not come in to dinner. Or at least name the movie and theater so she could cross-check it against the newspaper listings later and bust his ass when she learned she’d been conned.

But no. She just leaned in, offering her cheek for him to kiss. Amy had gotten out of the car, too, and she stuck out her hand for his mother to shake. He bit back a laugh as his mother looked at her hand like it was a poisonous snake. “See you next week, same time. We’ll go look at another place.”

Amy nodded warily, but his mother had already turned and made for the front door. So he just got into the Fiat, folding himself into the little toy car’s front seat, which was only marginally more comfortable than the back. After a moment’s hesitation, she followed. He didn’t say anything as she started the car and backed out of the driveway.