Not My Type (Enemies to Lovers Contemporary Lesbian Romance #2)

4. Prologue -- Julia

Prologue -- Julia

Four months ago…

“Happy birthday, sweetheart!”

I leaned down to give my father a hug. “Thanks, Dad. Where’s Mom?”

My father shrugged. “I don’t know. She just said she’d be late. I assume she got stuck at work.”

I slid into my seat and inhaled the garlicky smell of my favorite Italian restaurant.

It was one of the few in Seattle that hadn’t fallen prey to becoming artisanal or fusion or some such nonsense.

DeNeo’s served good, unapologetically old-fashioned food.

Pasta dishes that came on platters instead of plates.

A giant bowl of salad available for the table.

Bread delivered still hot from the oven.

I’d been coming here since I was a little girl and it was still exactly the same. That felt comforting.

Dad glanced up and waved. “Oh, here’s you mom.”

I got up to greet my mother, giving her a quick hug. As usual, Mom smelled like lilacs.

She squeezed me tight and said, “I can’t believe my baby is thirty-two already.”

Since she couldn’t see me, I rolled my eyes before pulling back. My mother had been acting like I was over the hill ever since I turned thirty.

As I stepped back, I realized there was someone hovering by our table watching us. Following my gaze, Mom said, “Julia dear, this is April. Her mother works with me at the law office.”

April gave me an awkward little wave. She looked to be about my age, maybe a year or two younger, but she was dressed in a knee length skirt and a sweater set as if she was trying out for the role of 1950s secretary on some TV show.

From the neck down she looked more like someone my mother’s age than my own.

I glanced at my father, trying to figure out if he knew why April was here, but he looked as confused as I was. Not wanting to be rude to my mother’s guest, I sat down, waiting. Mom could never resist talking, so I knew she’d share what was going on soon enough.

We all sat down and looked at the menu, even though we’d been coming here for years.

As soon as the server left from taking our food order Mom turned her attention to me.

I slid my spoon off the table and began tapping it against my thigh where she couldn’t see.

It always annoyed Mom when I stimmed. Or as she called it, ‘fidgeting like a little kid’.

“Julia, April is an accountant. She has a very good job at one of the CPA firms in town. Isn’t that right, April?”

April gave me an uncomfortable look. “Yes, I work at Dulles and Davis.”

I’d never heard of that firm, but I said politely, “That’s great.”

I was scrambling for something to ask this shy and apparently dull dinner companion when my mother started talking again.

“April’s mother, who’s also named April, and I were talking and we thought you two would get along very well, Juia.” She leaned forward and whispered, “April is also a lesbian.”

I spared a glance at our guest, who looked like she wanted to crawl under the table and hide. That’s when it dawned on me what was going on.

“Mom, is this some kind of a fix-up?” I asked with a glare.

April winced. My father made a grumbling noise in his throat, but when I looked over, he was staring at his bread plate like it was the most fascinating thing in the world.

Mom sat up straight in her chair, doing that thing she did when she was trying to make herself intimidating. It would have worked better if she wasn’t just a hair over five feet tall.

“I warned you Julia Angelita Montego that if you didn’t find someone to settle down with by the time you were thirty-two I would intervene.

Well, you’re thirty-two now. You need to find someone to marry and have a family with before it’s too late, so I’ve found you a perfectly nice lesbian to date. ”

Oh. My. God. I didn’t want a girlfriend or a family right now, and even if I did, I wouldn’t want my mother picking out the person. This was mortifying for me and our guest. Poor April’s face was bright red now. I wasn’t sure which one of us I felt more sorry for.

“How did you get suckered into this, April?” I asked, keeping my voice kind.

“My mom invited me to meet her for dinner and when I got here, she told me she had to go, but I needed to keep your mom company as if she was here alone or something.” She gave me an earnest look. “I had no idea this was a fix-up, I swear.”

Then she looked at my mother. “I appreciate your thoughtfulness Mrs. Montego but I actually already have a girlfriend.”

My mom gave her a skeptical look. “Then why does your mother think you’re single?” she demanded.

Poor April was a terrible liar. Fortunately my father intervened.

“April probably wants to keep her mother from interfering in her personal life.” My dad spoke up for the first time since my mother arrived.

April nodded vigorously.

“Now how about we all just have a nice dinner and forget all about matchmaking, Jeannie? After all, it’s our only daughter’s birthday, that’s something to celebrate.”

“Thanks Dad.”

I sent him a grateful look, but my mother was not happy about this turn of events.

“I’m done messing around, young lady,” she said firmly, pointing at me in emphasis. “I want you married and I want a damned grandchild before I’m too old to hold them, and I’ll do whatever it takes to make that happen.”