How the hell was a woman meant to breathe during a time like that? The answer to that would be: only if she had balls of steel and was hella secure with her man, and as I didn’t have either of those I was at an impasse. Basically, I was screwed.
Her eyes scanned my face as I thought this, and then her face softened. “Katy, I’ve only just met you, but I’m thinking that you’re perfect for him. If I had to dream up a woman for him, it would be everything I see sitting in front of me right now.”
Holy shit. Holy fucking shit. Holy, holy fucking shit.
“I…” I started and then shook my head. “I don’t know what to say.”
Seeing that I was having an internal freak out – although I wasn’t sure I wasn’t having an external one, too – she relaxed into her seat. “Say ok and then we’ll get to know each other. I’ll start by telling you about me and my husband. What do you know about Jamaica?” she asked, changing the subject so quickly it felt like I had whiplash.
“Um, it’s in the Caribbean?”
Throwing her hands in the air and making the row of bangles she had on her wrist tinkle, she launched into a story that by the end of it had me thinking about when I could next take a break and head to Jamaica.
Holy shit again.
JarrodHow I got home without crashing was a miracle, and it wasn’t until I pulled into my driveway and got out to go to Katy’s that I realized I should have just called one of them on the way. Instead, I’d spent the last twenty minutes imagining Mom putting her through a gamut of tests and trials, like an ‘are you fit to date my son’ assault course.
My mom was awesome, but she was fiercely protective of us.
Hurdling the fence between our gardens was now something I was used to, so I cleared it easily and was in front of her door in seconds. Then I was knocking, praying to the man Maude kept talking to all the time that Mom hadn’t ruined the fragile something that Katy and I had. I had a lot of explaining to do, and for someone who’d never had to do that and wasn’t good with words, this was a big problem. Add on trying to repair any damage Mom had done… I was freaking out.
I was just about to knock again when the door opened and Katy was looking up at me wide eyed, and then Duke was excitedly head butting my thighs.
With our differences in height, I had a clear shot of Mom sitting on the couch with Elodie, watching me with a smile on her face.
“Ma…”
Not mistaking my tone – not that anyone could seeing as how I was frustrated as hell and struggling to hide it – she just shot me a grin back. “Nice to see you, Jarrod. I was just telling your Katy all about Port Royal.”
Port Royal – where her family was from in Jamaica. Was I fooled that that’s all she’d spoken about? No. She’d definitely said more before she’d moved onto home.
Looking down, I tried to read Katy’s current mood, but she was just watching me like she was waiting for something. “Are you ok, baby?”
A hiccupy sigh came from the couch and Mom muttered to Elodie, “He calls her baby.”
Fuck my life.
Fortunately, Mom’s dramatic reaction made one corner of Katy’s mouth tip up in a grin. “Your mom’s a trip,” she snickered, and then sobered. “She can never meet Maude, though.”
That wasn’t something that I hadn’t realized the second I’d met Maude… Those two together would be a huge mistake for the entire world.
“Who’s Maude?” Mom asked, not even hiding that she was listening in now.
Moving out of the door so that I could get in, Katy threw over her shoulder, “My grandmother. She’s a walking holiday, but she’s totally crazy.”
Mom’s head jerked slightly, and she looked up at me in shock. “You’ve met her grandmother?”
Shit.
“Yeah,” I sighed, resigning myself to the fact that I really was screwed now. “And the rest of Katy’s family.” It was only a small exaggeration given that I’d met her parents and sister for all of ten seconds the night before, but I’d met her brothers for slightly longer so it was the truth and lying to Mom about it was just shitty.
A determined look replaced the shock, and she clapped her hands together. “Well, then we’ll have dinner at ours. No, no, no lip,” she snapped, holding her palm out to me when I went to interrupt. “Call your family and tell them they’re coming to ours. You said you wanted to try the food I was telling you about, so that’s what I’ll make,” she told Katy, getting up and looping her purse over her shoulder. “How many of you are there?”