The Secret (Winslow Brothers 3)

Well, I am temporarily tired of them after having them every morning for six days straight, but I’ll die before admitting that. The waffles would hear me, and I’m not willing to tarnish the one good, steady relationship in my life that easily. Food and I, we’re ride or die.

“Whatever you say,” he responds and takes a hesitant sip from his coffee. “Mmm. Americano. Just like I like it.” But when he opens his mouth to say something else, his phone chimes from his lap. He picks it up and reads the screen, a laugh and a sigh leaving his throat at the same time. “I should’ve known this day would come.”

“What day?” I question. Ty holds up his phone toward me, and my eyes scan the text messages that are front and center on his screen.

Mama Winslow: Ty, he is a very nice man. His name is Howard Sulken.

Ty: How did you meet this guy?

Mama Winslow: TapNext. We’ve been chatting over the past few weeks, but this will be the first time we see each other in person. I’m a little nervous, honestly.

I meet his gaze over the screen of his phone. “Your mom online dates?”

He rolls his eyes and shakes his head at the same time. “It’s something new she’s doing.”

“Well, that’s not a bad thing, right? Everyone deserves someone if that’s what brings them happiness. I mean, I wish my father would date. Maybe he’d forget to ride my ass if a woman kept him busy.”

Ty smiles brightly and without judgment, despite the petty sound of my gripe. “He’s never dated?”

“C’mon.” I snort. “You know him. Have you ever seen him doing anything besides work?”

“No, I haven’t.” Ty smirks. “Honestly, it took several years of knowing him for me to know anything about his personal life. He always kept it about literature and my career. Though, I think I needed that more than he did. If he’d made it about himself, I think personal conversations would have been way more frequent. He needed a friend after losing Nadine, but he knew I needed a mentor more.”

For some reason, the information is a shock to my system. Maybe because it feels like Ty’s revealing something about himself and my father at the same time.

“What do you mean?”

“Your dad is one of the reasons I managed to get my shit together,” he explains. “I was kind of a lost cause back in the day. I was wild—uncontrollable almost—but Nate was patient enough with me to see beyond that. He saw potential in my personality and found a way to focus it.”

“Potential,” I gripe. “That’s practically a dirty word as far as I’m concerned. All I’ve ever been told is that I’m not living up to it.”

He shakes his head. “Rachel, he doesn’t say those things because he thinks you’re a lost cause. He says it because he thinks you’re brilliant. Hell, when he asked me if you could be my TA, that’s the word he used to describe you. Someone thinking the world of you isn’t a bad place to start. You just have to find a way to common ground.”

I don’t know what to make of his words, so I just leave them be and turn the conversation back to his mother.

“And when is your mom going on this date of hers?”

He studies me closely for long moments and then gives me my peace, moving on as well. He slides his finger across the screen, scrolling to the bottom of the text chat, and then types out a message, turning the phone to show me after he hits send.

Ty: The nerves are nothing to take seriously, Ma. Everyone feels that way on a first date. But one thing you should take seriously is date SAFETY. Name the time and place, and I’ll be there.

Mama Winslow: How chivalrous, darling. But there’s no way in hell I’m telling you where my date is tonight.

I laugh so hard I snort, turning the phone back to him.

“She knows you well, huh?”

Ty’s fingers move furiously over the screen after he gets a load of her response, and I can’t help but giggle as I watch him. Watching his mom make him squirm might be even more fun than doing it myself.

Ty: It’s tonight??? What the F, Ma???

Mama Winslow: Goodbye, Ty. Enjoy your secret spring break week with Rachel.

He told his mom about our week? That’s…surprising.

“I wanted us to go chaperone, but she refuses to tell me where in the hell they’re going.”

“Ty!” I exclaim on a giggle. “You can’t chaperone your mom’s date.”

“Why the fuck not?” he questions and sets his phone down on the coffee table. “What if this Howard is a lunatic?”

“Don’t be dramatic. Howard screams bingo, not psycho. Your mom deserves to be able to go on a date without one of her sons spying on her.”