“Oh.” I frowned. “Can I see him?”
“Sure.” Ty stood up, taking Eli with him. Following behind, we walked into the room. My eye scanned the space looking for the dog and found him laying down in the corner, his paw bandaged up, and a bowl of half eaten food next to him.
Going straight over, I leant down and stroked his head. A lump formed in my throat, for some reason I felt sad at not being able to see him again. I’d only found him at the side of the road a couple of hours ago but that didn’t stop the connection that I felt with him.
“He’ll be right as rain in no time,” a soft voice said from behind me.
Standing up, I spun around and faced the voice. “He will?” I asked.
“Is he your dog, hon?”
“No,” I said shaking my head. “We found him at the side of the road.”
She walked forward, her chocolate brown eyes looked so familiar. She was dressed in a white coat with scrubs underneath. She pulled the hair tie out of her light brown hair, the silky strands flowing down her back.
“I think he likes you.” She nodded over to the dog and smiled. “Elena,” she said, holding her hand out to me.
I placed my hand in hers and replied, “Kaylee.”
“Ah.” She turned to Ty and then back to me. “You’re the infamous Kaylee”
“I... erm…” I looked to Ty for some kind of sign as to what to say.
His eyes flicked to her, “Ma,” he huffed.
“What?” she asked, letting go of my hand as she smiled wide.
“Kay, this is my ma.” He rolled his eyes and placed Eli on the floor.
His ma? He brought me here, knowing that we’d see her? Dammit, he should have prepared me. I twisted my hands together and shuffled my feet on the spot, feeling the nerves flow through me.
“You’ve made her nervous now,” he said to Elena, walking toward me.
“Ah, hush now, boy. I’ve been asking you to bring her around for ages.” Turning back to me, she said. “It was about time we met.”
“I…” Clearing my throat, I closed my eyes trying to get myself together. “Nice to meet you.” I finally said.
“It’s okay, sweetheart. Just breathe.” Ty’s hand rubbed circles on my back, in what I think was an attempt to be soothing but him touching me had the opposite effect. Especially in front of his mother.
“Nice to meet you too, hon.” She walked past me and Ty, straight to where Eli was sat stroking the dog.
“Monty,” he said looking at each of us in turn. “Can we call him Monty?”
“I don’t know if you can name a dog that you’re not going to keep, sweetie,” I said.
He frowned and turned back to Monty then started to talk with Elena.
Nudging Ty in the ribs, I tilted my head to the door and walked out, feeling him behind me.
“What’s up?” he asked when we were alone in the corridor.
“What’s up?” I huffed. “You could have told me.” I said pointing back to the room.
This wasn’t how I wanted to meet his mother, I wanted to impress her the first time I met her. Maybe bake her a pie and bring her some flowers. Not turn up at her place of work, not having a clue who she was and covered in dog hair.
Way to make a first impression.
“If I would have told you,” he said, stepping forward and framing my face with his hands. “You would have freaked out.”