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

lower back. Once we reach the table, I begin to pull off my jacket.
“Hey, Mom.”
She looks up from her phone and says, “Oh, hey, honey.” She
drops her phone in her purse and waves her hand around the
restaurant. “I already love it. Look at the lighting,” she says, pointing
up. “The fixtures look like something you’d grow in one of your
gardens.” That’s when she notices Ryle, who is standing patiently next
to me as I slide into the booth. My mother smiles at him and says,
“We’ll take two waters for now, please.”
My eyes dart to Ryle and then back to my mother. “Mom. He’s with
me. He’s not the waiter.”
She looks up at Ryle again with confusion. He just smiles and
reaches out his hand. “Honest mistake, ma’am. I’m Ryle Kincaid.”
She returns the handshake, looking back and forth between us. He
releases her hand and slides into the booth. She looks a little
flustered when she finally says, “Jenny Bloom. Nice to meet you.” She
places her attention back on me and raises an eyebrow. “A friend of
yours, Lily?”
I can’t believe I’m not better prepared for this moment. What in the heck
do I introduce him as? My trial run? I can’t say boyfriend, but I can’t
very well say friend. Prospect seems a little dated.
Ryle notices my pause, so he puts his hand on my knee and
squeezes reassuringly. “My sister works for Lily,” he says. “Have you
met her? Allysa?”
My mother leans forward in her booth and says, “Oh! Yes! Of
course. You two look so much alike now that you mention it,” she says.
“It’s the eyes, I think. And the mouth.”
He nods. “We both favor our mother.”
My mother smiles at me. “People always say they think Lily favors
me.”
“Yes,” he says. “Identical mouths. Uncanny.” Ryle squeezes my knee
under the table again while I try and suppress my laughter. “Ladies, if
you’ll excuse me, I need to head to the gentlemen’s room.” He leans
in and kisses me on the side of the head before standing. “If the
waiter comes, I’ll just take water.”
My mother’s eyes follow Ryle as he walks away, and then she slowly
turns back to me. She points at me and then to his empty seat. “How