Chapter Seven
“I really, really can’t believe she put me in this position.” It was about the fifth time Sawyer had said the line out loud to her empty house, but this time, it was punctuated by the front door opening and her mom walking in.
“I’m here,” she called out, her arms full of two bags from the store. “I was going to bring dinner with me but thought maybe we’d just DoorDash instead. Yeah?”
Sawyer met her and took one of the bags. “If you didn’t bring dinner, what’s all this?”
“Just some stuff I grabbed for you at the store today.” She followed Sawyer to the kitchen and set the second bag on the counter, then shrugged out of her coat.
“Just a few things.” As she left to hang up her coat, Sawyer unloaded the bags.
Apples, toilet paper, cheese, bread, eggs, laundry detergent.
“Mom, I’m almost forty,” she said when her mother returned to the kitchen. “You don’t have to bring me groceries like I’m a starving college kid anymore.” She kissed her cheek. “But thank you. This was very sweet of you.”
It was five forty-five and her mother mentioned they should probably get dinner ordered if they wanted it to arrive by the time Jenna did. Sawyer opened a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc and poured two glasses as her mother placed an order for Chinese on her phone.
“I ordered a bunch of different dishes and figure we can all eat from each of them,” she said as she took the glass Sawyer offered. They sat in the living room on opposite ends of the couch, curling their legs up underneath their butts like mirror images of one another. “How was your day?”
“Not bad. The project I’m working on isn’t exactly exciting, so it was a pretty uneventful day.” Sawyer sipped her wine, the tang of the first taste hitting the side of her tongue like it always did.
“That’s why you have the blog, right?” Her mother glanced at the stack of books on the end table next to Sawyer. “Are those all books you need to review?”
Sawyer turned and took the top one off the pile, a thriller by a debut author. “Yup. I’ve heard good things about this one.”
“Well, you know the rule.”
“I do. If it’s good and not too scary or violent, you get it next.” As she set the book back down, a knock-knock at the door.
“Got it,” her mom said, jumping up like an excited kid welcoming her first guest to her birthday party. “Jenna! Hi!”
Sawyer pushed to her feet and watched the scene unfold.
Jenna was dressed comfortably in soft-looking jeans and a cream-colored sweater, her hair pulled back in a casual ponytail.
As she kicked off her shoes, she handed a bottle of wine to Sawyer’s mom, then looked down at her feet and held up a finger. “You be good.”
Arnold came strolling in as if he was actively containing himself, his tail wagging hard enough to create a slight breeze.
He went right over to Sawyer, and she squatted down to give him some love.
“Well, hello there, sir,” she said, rubbing both sides of his face.
“How are you today? Did you work hard?” When she glanced up, both her mother and Jenna were watching.
She cleared her throat, stood, and waved to Jenna. “Hi. Glad you could make it.”
“Thanks for inviting me,” she turned to look at Sawyer’s mom, “Ally.”
Sawyer’s mom laughed and said, “Come in. Come in. Food should be here any time. I hope Chinese is okay.”
“Perfect,” Jenna said as she wandered into the living room and looked around.
“Can I get you some wine?” Sawyer asked. “We have a Sauvignon Blanc opened. We can open yours if you prefer red. And I have some other options.”
“Sauvignon Blanc sounds great.”
With a nod, Sawyer headed into the kitchen, the click of nails on the hardwood telling her Arnold was coming along to keep her company.
In the kitchen, she braced herself on the counter with both hands.
God, why did Jenna have to be so goddamn attractive?
And she wasn’t even Sawyer’s usual type, which made it even more confusing.
She looked down at Arnold, who was looking up at her with the sweetest brown eyes on the planet.
“Your mommy stresses me out,” she whispered to him.
“And I don’t know why.” She inhaled through her nose, blew it out slowly through her mouth in the hopes of calming her pounding heart and jangling nerves, then poured a glass of wine for her guest.
Back in the living room, her mother and Jenna were already sitting close and laughing about something. It was a strangely domestic picture, and Sawyer felt an odd sense of wonder at it. She handed Jenna the wine, then found her own and took a healthy sip.
“Jenna and I were just discussing your pile of books,” her mom said.
“Not a romance in the bunch,” Jenna said.
“Did you know Jenna owns a bookstore?” her mom asked, clearly excited about that.
“I did,” Sawyer said.
“She bought a book the other day,” Jenna pointed out. “But I don’t see it on the pile here.” She shifted her expectant gaze to Sawyer.
Sawyer turned to look over her shoulder at the dining room table where the Lily Chambers book lay. She hadn’t told her mother what she’d said about Jenna’s shop in her blog before she took it down, and her mom clearly hadn’t seen it, so she braced for Jenna to blow her in.
But she didn’t.
“I really hope you’ll read it,” Jenna said instead. “I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.”
“Oh, I love Lily Chambers’s stuff,” Sawyer’s mom said. “I feel like I could run into her characters at CVS or something.”
“Right?” Jenna agreed. “And Lily herself is wonderful. As I told Sawyer, she lives mostly in New York City now, but she’s from here and she does signings at my store. She’s doing one in a few weeks, in fact. You should come.”
Sawyer watched her mom’s face light up. “Oh, that’s fantastic! I’d love to.”
“Give me your details.” Jenna handed her phone to Sawyer’s mom. “I’ll text you with the particulars.”
And as if she was in some weird episode of Black Mirror, Sawyer stood helplessly and watched as her mother typed her number into Jenna’s phone, her mother and her neighbor becoming besties right before her eyes.
There was a knock on the door, which saved Sawyer from her own thoughts, and she opened it to the Dasher with their food.
Ten minutes later, they were seated around the dining room table, all the dishes Sawyer’s mom had ordered spread out so they could help themselves.
Arnold, who was shockingly not under the table waiting for scraps like every other dog Sawyer had ever met, was curled up on a throw rug near the fireplace she’d kicked on.
Wine was topped off, food was plated, and they were actually having a really nice time.
“So, Jenna,” her mom said, chopsticks with lo mein hovering in front of her mouth. “What’s your status? I assume not married?”
Jenna shook her head as she chewed a piece of chicken. “Nope. Not yet. One day, I hope.”
“No men on the horizon?” Sawyer’s mom asked.
“No women, no.” Jenna smiled, clearly showing she took no offense to the assumption.
Sawyer’s mom smacked her own forehead. “Forgive me. You’d think with my having a gay daughter, I’d know better than to assume. I apologize.”
“No need,” Jenna said.
“Are you dating?” Sawyer’s mom asked then.
“Mom,” Sawyer said, a warning tone in her voice.
“What? I’m just asking the girl a question.” Sawyer’s mom looked at her and their gazes held while they had a silent conversation, which Jenna interrupted.
“I’m open to dating, yes, but there isn’t anybody right now. If that’s what you mean.” Jenna scooped some rice into her mouth and looked from one of them to the other and back, her brown eyes wide and innocent. Then she smiled.
She’s enjoying this, Sawyer thought, and it almost made her laugh.
“Well, maybe you two should go out, then,” Sawyer’s mother said, pointing with her chopsticks to Jenna, then to Sawyer.
Sawyer’s wine went down the wrong pipe so she was suddenly coughing like a tuberculosis patient in a period piece.
“My daughter doesn’t have the best track record in that department. ”
“Mom.” Sawyer managed the word between coughs, and she glared at her mother as she took her glasses off to wipe at her eyes.
“What? It’s not like you ever told me anything about that last girl. All I know is she made you very unhappy.” Sawyer’s mom lowered her voice to a whisper and said to Jenna, “I think she was married.”
“Oh my God. Mom. Enough. I’m begging you.” Sawyer looked at Jenna, eyes watering, voice weak from the coughing, and said, “Please kill me now.”
And Jenna, God bless her, burst into laughter. In a moment, all three of them were cracking up. When they finally got themselves together again, Sawyer’s mom took a sip of her wine, then spoke.
“Look at that smile,” she said as she laid a hand against Sawyer’s face. “I just want my daughter to find a nice girl that makes her happy. For the past year or so, she just hasn’t been herself. And it’s been way too rare that I’ve seen this smile.”
They were quiet for a moment. Sawyer slipped her glasses back on, and then Jenna said softly, “That doesn’t seem to be asking for too much.”
“I don’t think so either,” Sawyer’s mom said, looking at Jenna. “And laughter is important.”
“It is. I agree.” Looking down at her plate, she added, “A sense of humor is such a turn-on.”
“Yes. Sawyer’s father makes me laugh every day, I swear.”
Sawyer picked up her own glass. “He’s pretty funny, it’s true.”
“Is your family local, Jenna?” Sawyer’s mom asked.
“They are. I have two big brothers and my parents, and we all live within about fifteen minutes of each other.”
“Fantastic. Family is so important.” Sawyer’s mom set down her chopsticks, clearly done eating.
“I agree,” Jenna said. “And I wish mine was tighter.”
“You’re not?” Sawyer’s mom looked at Jenna intently.
“I’m close to my brothers, but my parents are elderly—I was unexpected—and they—” She cleared her throat, and Sawyer could see her weighing how much to admit. “They’re not great with the gay thing.”