Chapter 8
Eight
“ Y ou have one?” Grace asked, shocked that her mother had just said she had a boyfriend. But… Why hadn’t anyone told her about it?
“We just recently became official,” her mother said, and Grace narrowed her eyes at the unfamiliar language coming out of her mother’s mouth.
“You’ve become official?”
“You know. Facebook official?”
“You’re Facebook official?”
“No. I’m not on Facebook, but if we were, it would be Facebook official.”
“I’m confused.”
Any rational person in her position would have been confused. What in the world was her mother saying?
“Anyway, he’s coming over for lunch, and he’s bringing his slow-cooker pepper jack cauliflower.
I was hoping that we could make sandwiches to go along with it.
” Her mother looked a little bit ashamed.
“You. I was hoping that you could make sandwiches. I can get up, but I’m not supposed to be on my feet that long. ”
“And I wouldn’t want you to be. Of course I can make sandwiches for your…boyfriend.” She stumbled over the word “boyfriend.” Stumbled badly.
Her mother with a boyfriend?
But wasn’t she just thinking yesterday that she wanted her to have someone?
She didn’t want her mother spending the rest of her life alone.
Of course she didn’t. But…this was shocking.
She supposed she hadn’t put enough thought into how that was actually going to feel.
How it was going to look. How it was going to affect her.
Her mother…with a boyfriend. That sounded so… weird.
“You’re going to love him. And maybe you should make a couple of extra sandwiches because his son is moving in with him, and he might be coming along for lunch.”
“His son? Do I know him?”
“Oh, I don’t know. When they get here, you’ll figure out whether you do or not.”
That sounded odd. Why didn’t her mom just tell her whether she knew him or not?
Which would mean whether or not they grew up in Raspberry Ridge.
If they lived there, Grace knew them. It was as simple as that.
Unless they’d moved in after she moved out.
But Raspberry Ridge was a kind of town where everyone knew everyone else.
Her mother was acting strange for sure.
Maybe she was a little bit embarrassed because she had a boyfriend. A boyfriend, her mother. It was so…strange.
She went to the kitchen and put the sandwiches together, shaking her head and trying to process the idea of her mother with someone the whole time.
She tried to focus on whether she should cut them in some kind of fancy way, or whether this was just a casual lunch with her…
boyfriend. Her mother had gone into the bathroom, and it occurred to Grace that she might be fixing her hair and making herself look cute for her…
boyfriend. Wow, as much as she was happy for Mom, and excited too, it was such a weird thing. Her mom with a boyfriend.
Once her mom came out of the bathroom, she would demand to know who they were. After all, she might want to skip out. There weren’t a whole lot of people in town that she didn’t get along with, but…no one was coming to mind that she wouldn’t want to eat lunch with, except Trevor .
And that wasn’t because she didn’t like him.
It was because…why? She felt uncomfortable?
He brought back memories she would rather not think about?
Or was she afraid that her feelings for him had never really died?
That if she spent too much time around him, she’d end up chasing him and begging him to take her back?
She’d apologized for what she’d done to him. She could at least think of that and be somewhat happy, even though she was greatly ashamed at the way that she treated him.
She could have, and should have, done a lot better by him.
“What time are they—” She didn’t get the question out before there was a knock on the door.
She put the last sandwich down on a tray and left it on the kitchen counter before she walked into the living room to answer the door.
She almost closed the door the second she opened it. Trevor and his dad stood there looking at her. Trevor looked distinctly uncomfortable.
“You’re my mom’s new boyfriend?”
“New?” Trevor said before his dad could utter a word. He looked at his dad. “You told me you guys have been together for a while.”
“Well, it’s kind of ambiguous. When you get to be our age, I think new can also mean a while.”
Grace narrowed her eyes. “My mom said this was new.”
“It is,” Don said, nodding his head, as though the faster he nodded, the more true his statement became.
“But you told me a while.”
“That’s right,” Gita said from behind Grace.
Grace narrowed her eyes even further. “Is your father dealing with Alzheimer’s?” she asked, lifting her brows at Trevor. It seemed that Don and Gita couldn’t get their story straight, and one of them could be dealing with the mental issues that came with age.
“I’m perfectly fine.”
“He’s perfectly fine,” Gita said.
Meanwhile, Trevor shrugged his shoulders. “He could be. This has been…very sudden.” He closed his mouth, and then he said under his breath, “To say the least.”
“We just didn’t want to tell everyone right away,” Gita said, walking forward and hugging Don, who, unless Grace missed her guess, looked surprised and then excited. He enthusiastically hugged her back.
Grace looked at Trevor. Trevor raised his brows and looked right back at her. They needed to talk.
“Why don’t you two come in, and you can get settled at the table.” She noticed that Trevor was holding a crockpot, which must have been the cauliflower her mom had been talking about.
“How about you follow me into the kitchen, Trevor, and we’ll deal with the cauliflower.” And whatever else we need to deal with concerning our parents , she added silently, but Trevor was going to hear it as soon as they were alone.
Don and Gita looked at each other like they had just won the lottery and were super excited and couldn’t figure out exactly what they wanted to do with all their money.
That confused Grace even more. After all, if they really wanted to be alone, it wasn’t like they had chaperones and they couldn’t be. She couldn’t figure out why else they’d be excited for her and Trevor to leave them alone while they went into the kitchen.
As soon as Trevor stepped through the door, she closed it behind him and then turned on him.
“What is going on?” She put her hands on her hips and then realized that she was attacking him, when he looked as confused as she did. He turned around and gazed at her.
He set the crockpot on the counter and then lifted his hands in the air in innocence. “I have no idea. My dad blindsided me with this about five minutes ago. It was almost like he was afraid to tell me.” He sighed. “I don’t feel like I’m that scary.”
She scoffed. “I know it’s taken me a little bit to get used to the idea…
Who am I kidding? I’m not used to the idea, and my mom dropped this bombshell on me about thirty minutes ago.
” She crossed her hands over her chest. “I didn’t mean to sound like I was attacking you.
I just…am totally surprised. Although I can’t say I’m upset.
I’ve been thinking for a while how nice it would be for my mom to find someone.
Back when we were younger, my sisters and I tried to ask her why she wasn’t dating or trying to find someone after Dad died.
And she just wasn’t interested. So, on the one hand, I’m really happy, but on the other, I wasn’t expe cting this.
Like a fully formed relationship sprung on me. I mean, they hug each other.”
“Yeah. I was afraid he was going to smack her on the lips, and I wanted to get out of there as fast as I could. This is going to take a little bit of…time for me to get used to the idea of my dad kissing someone other than my mom.”
“I remember my mom and dad kissing. And at the time, it was embarrassing. Looking back, I think it was sweet, but now…her kissing someone else? That’s weird. Even if it is your dad. No offense.”
“None taken. I’m the same way. Kissing my mom, yes, and I understand why he does not want to be kissing my mom anymore, considering that she left him. So that’s not hard either. But what’s tough is the idea of someone else. Just not sure how I feel about that.”
“I feel good about it, but it makes me uncomfortable and I feel a little off-balance. My mom is a rock. She’s happy, and positive, and always making sure to do the right thing.
I can depend on her. But this is new. It’s different, and it feels slightly disorienting.
” She didn’t know how else to explain it, but Trevor looked like he understood exactly what she was saying.
He nodded. “We just have to get used to this.”
“In the meantime, we can get that cauliflower out and put it in a bowl and take it to the table.”
“Can I help with anything?”
“There’s iced tea in the fridge. Maybe you can get it out and take it to the table.”
“Sure,” he said.
It didn’t take long for her to scoop the cauliflower out of the crockpot and put it in a serving bowl. She carried it to the table and saw everyone else was already sitting down waiting for her.
“Shall we say grace?” Don asked, sounding confident and in charge, even as he exchanged a shy glance with her mother.
Grace couldn’t help it, her eyes met Trevor’s, and they exchanged a look before she bowed her head and said her own silent prayer, that her mother wasn’t going crazy. After all, this was really fast.
“So,” her mom said after they had passed the cauliflower around and everyone had gotten a sandwich.
“Donnie and I have been talking, and we were hoping that the two of you would agree to be our chaperones. We want to set a good example for our families and for the town, and we don’t want to do anything inappropriate.
But we’d like to take our relationship to the next level. ”