Chapter 22
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
brIANNA
Were flowers overkill? Probably.
But Brianna had never met someone one’s family before. Well, she had met people’s families before. She had lots of friends who took pity on her with their family dinners, but never someone who was as important to her as Audrey. Never someone she loved.
She still couldn’t reconcile that emotion with having not seen Audrey in several days, and she couldn’t tell if she really felt that way, or if it was just her becoming another sapphic stereotype.
After taking a few deep, calming breaths, she rang the doorbell. Thankfully, it appeared to be a normal doorbell, not one of those smart ones, so there was no footage of her earlier long daydream as she stood on the porch way too early.
The door opened, and to Brianna’s surprise, it was Nate who answered.
“Well, well, what do we have here? Are those for me?” he asked, reaching for the flowers.
“Absolutely not.” Brianna pulled the flowers away and stepped inside after him. She kicked off her shoes as he took the flowers from her more seriously as she shrugged off her winter jacket. “These are for your mom.”
“Wow, none for Audrey? Your romance game could use some work, Brianna.”
Brianna’s heart dropped at the words. Shit. Should she have brought flowers for Audrey too? Oh God, she was going to mess this all up, and Audrey would dump her, and then she’d be back—
“Woah, woah.” Nate interrupted Brianna’s anxiety spiral with a supportive hand on her shoulder. “It was a joke. Chill. Audrey already likes you, and you know my family loves you. You have nothing to worry about.”
She really did have a readable face, she supposed. “Thanks, Nate. Just don’t let me mess up in there, okay? This has to go well for me.”
Nate smiled at her. “I won’t let you down.”
With a resolute nod, Brianna followed Nate further into the house.
She found the rest of the Mahoney family in the open concept living room in front of the kitchen, where they seemed to be scrambling to get things ready, or, at least, it looked that way.
Brianna felt relieved to see she wasn’t the only one who seemed nervous.
Audrey glanced up from setting the last set of cutlery, and when they made eye contact, every part of Brianna’s nerves faded. It was just the two of them staring at each other. It felt so right, and Brianna knew then that her earlier feelings hadn’t been exaggerated.
“Hi, babe,” Brianna said, walking over to Audrey. She hadn’t expected to say the nickname in front of Audrey’s whole family, but she didn’t even feel remotely apologetic about it. Audrey was hers, and she didn’t want to ignore it.
“Hi,” Audrey said, nervously glancing at the rest of her family.
Brianna had never seen her this nervous before, and it was adorable.
Thankfully, it seemed Audrey’s father had stepped out with Nathan, because it was just the women left in the kitchen, and Audrey’s mother was near the other side of the kitchen, checking something on the stovetop.
“These are for your mom,” Brianna whispered, looking pointedly at the flowers she still held.
“Good choice. She will like them,” Audrey whispered back.
Brianna nodded and walked closer to the kitchen. “Thank you for having me, Mrs. Mahoney.”
Audrey’s mother turned away from the stovetop and put down her wooden cooking spoon. “Oh, Brianna, how lovely to see you!” She pulled the librarian in for a hug, which she had not expected.
“Thank you, Mrs. Mahoney.”
“Oh, what have I always told you! Just Clara is fine.”
Brianna giggled. “Sorry, I don’t think I will ever get used to that.”
“That’s fine, but you should. You’ll be seeing me more often for these family dinners.”
Brianna wasn’t sure what to say to that, so she just chuckled awkwardly.
It was likely a good sign, but Brianna wasn’t used to having parental figures in her life.
She didn’t know how to act around people like this, and the nerves were starting to kick in.
Thankfully, Audrey stepped in and grabbed Brianna’s hand.
As much as she loved it, Brianna was also secretly scared that somehow, the action would get her kicked out of the Mahoney home.
No such thing happened as Audrey shook her head at her mother. “Stop scaring her, Mom. She just got here. You need to wow her with your cooking before she’ll agree to come every week.”
“You ingrate,” Clara said, playfully swatting Audrey with the nearby kitchen towel.
It was the kind of playful banter Brianna had seen between Nate and Audrey, and now, she knew where both siblings got their teasing sense of humour.
She smiled, and Audrey caught it. As her mother became distracted by moving whatever she had cooking off the stovetop, Audrey leaned in close to Brianna, their hands still touching.
“See, gorgeous? You’ll fit right in here.” Audrey punctuated her words with a soft kiss to Brianna’s cheek, and it took Brianna way too much mental willpower to not just melt against the floor right then.
“Ew, save the flirting for later,” Nate interrupted with his signature deep-voiced laughter.
Audrey detached herself from Brianna and chased after him while Brianna stood rooted to the spot, shaking her head. Their father came up to her, likely on his way to check on dinner.
“I apologize for my children. They seem to have no house training. Good to see you again,” he said, holding out his hand for a handshake.
It was oddly formal, but Brianna didn’t hate it.
It made the situation feel more…real somehow.
Yes, she had met these people before and known them years ago, but she was here under entirely different circumstances.
She wasn’t the kid their son had rescued from excessive loneliness at home.
She was the woman here to win over their daughter.
And she would make sure to be damn good at it.
She got through their light interrogation fairly successfully, she thought.
She had a nice, steady, stable job and her own apartment.
The topic of her own family didn’t come up, for which she was grateful.
She was sure Nate must’ve warned his parents in advance, and while she wasn’t sure she appreciated him running interference, it was kind of nice to not have to lay out her trauma for everyone to inspect.
Towards dessert, which Brianna was shocked to see being served, Audrey had pulled her chair closer and wrapped an arm around Brianna’s shoulder. She leaned into the touch slowly as everyone around the table listened to Nate’s latest work victory.
“He’s not the only one with good work news,” Audrey said, surprising Brianna. “My sponsorship proposal was approved, pending collaborator agreement.”
“Oh, that’s great,” Mrs. Mahoney said. “What’s it for?”
“Well, I heard this small town in Ontario was working on a romance-only book festival. The demographic there totally overlaps with our ideal customer, so it seems like a no-brainer to sponsor some swag packs and panels. If they’ll have us.
” Audrey turned to Brianna for this last part, only to find she was stunned speechless.
Brianna had to swallow before responding. “Of course, the festival would be interested. I can’t believe you did that…” She trailed off, unsure what else to say. God, she was so in love with this woman.
“You can say thank you,” Audrey whispered. The room around them seemed to be forgotten, and Brianna could only nod.
“Thanks, babe,” she said and kissed Audrey on the cheek.
Nate burst into a light round of applause, which promptly knocked Brianna out of her love bubble.
“This is so cute,” he said once he had calmed down. His father nodded along.
“Truly, so inspiring.”
Brianna had never blushed harder in her life and had to turn into Audrey’s shoulder to hide her reaction, which only made their mother tease her too.
She could not believe how wonderful the evening had gone, and she was still riding the high of somehow landing the most perfect, thoughtful woman in all of Beaver Creek as she followed her down the stairs to the car.
Audrey dumped a gym back into the backseat before holding the passenger door open for Brianna.
“After you, my lady,” she said, and Brianna practically floated into the car.
“I can’t believe how well it went. I can’t believe you,” Brianna said as Audrey started the car and reversed out of the driveway. They rode down the mostly empty streets towards Brianna’s apartment.
“Of course it went well. I had no doubt about it. If I like you, they have no reason not to like you too.”
Brianna nodded. “I know but…you know me.”
“I do,” Audrey said, and that was that. Audrey held out her hand towards Brianna, who took it. She wasn't one for physical touch, but when she was around Audrey, she couldn’t help but want to be touching her at all times. It kept her grounded.
“So, are they expecting you back home tonight?” Brianna asked, trying to be very casual about it as they pulled up to a stop sign.
Audrey turned to her with a wink. “Not at all.”