I stare at his text for a moment. He wants to meet my mother? We
aren’t even officially dating. I mean... I don’t care if he meets my
mother. She would love him. But he went from not wanting anything
to do with relationships, to possibly agreeing to test-drive one, to
meeting the parents, all within five days? Good God. I really am a drug.
Me: Sure. Meet us there in half an hour.
I walk out of my office and straight up to Allysa. I hold my phone
in front of her face. “He wants to meet my mother.”
“Who?”
“Ryle.”
“My brother?” she says, looking as shocked as I feel.
I nod. “Your brother. My mother.”
She grabs my phone and looks at the texts. “Huh. That’s so weird.”
I take my phone from her hands. “Thanks for the vote of
confidence.”
She laughs and says, “You know what I mean. It’s Ryle we’re talking
about here. He’s never, in the history of being Ryle Kincaid, met a
girl’s parents.”
Of course hearing her say that makes me smile, but then I wonder
if maybe he’s doing this just to please me. If maybe he’s doing things
he doesn’t really want to do just because he knows I want a
relationship.
And then I smile even bigger, because isn’t that what it’s all about?
Sacrificing for the person you like so that you can see them happy?
“Your brother must really like me,” I say teasingly. I look back up at
Allysa, expecting her to laugh, but there’s a solemn look on her face.
She nods and says, “Yeah. I’m afraid he does.” She grabs her purse
from beneath the counter and says, “I’m gonna head out now. Let me
know how it goes, okay?” She moves past me and I watch her as she
makes her way out the door, and then I just stare at the door for a
long time.
It bothers me that she doesn’t seem excited about the prospect of
me dating Ryle. It makes me wonder if that has more to do with her
feelings toward me or her feelings toward him.
- • •