15-05-2021-052358It-Ends-with-Us

question after question at him. He takes it like a champ. He’s very
charming with my mother in all the right ways.
Unexpectedly running into Atlas tonight put such a wrinkle in my
emotions, but by the end of dinner, Ryle has smoothed them back out
again.
My mother takes her napkin and wipes her mouth, then points at
me. “New favorite restaurant,” she says. “Incredible.”
Ryle nods. “I agree. I need to bring Allysa here. She loves trying
new restaurants.”
The food really is good, but the last thing I need is for either of
these two to want to come back here. “It was okay,” I say.
He pays for our meals, of course, and then insists we walk my
mother to her car. I can already tell she’ll be calling me about him
tonight, simply by the prideful look on her face.
Once she’s gone, Ryle walks me to my car.
“I requested an Uber so you wouldn’t have to go out of your way to
take me home. We have approximately.. .” He looks down at his
phone. “One and a half minutes to make out.”
I laugh. He wraps his arms around me and kisses my neck first, and
then my cheek. “I would invite myself over, but I have an early surgery
tomorrow and I’m sure my patient would appreciate it if I didn’t
spend the majority of the night inside you.”
I kiss him back, both disappointed and relieved he’s not coming
over. “I have a grand opening in a few days. I should probably sleep,
too.”
“When’s your next day off?” he says.
“Never. When’s yours?”
“Never.”
I shake my head. “We’re doomed. There’s just too much drive and
success between the two of us.”
“That means the honeymoon phase will last until we’re eighty,” he
says. “I’ll come to your grand opening Friday and then the four of us
will go out and celebrate.” A car pulls up beside us and he wraps his
hand in my hair and kisses me goodbye. “Your mother is wonderful,
by the way. Thank you for letting me come to dinner.”
He backs away and climbs inside the car. I watch as it pulls out of
the parking lot.