Page 89 of Definitely Not a Thing

“Did you forget about my visit?” she questioned, putting down the knife she’d been using to slice cucumbers at my counter.

“So… yesandno,” I admitted. “Like, I knew, and even told people about it, but it wasn’t like… top of mind. Yesterday was a lot,” I sighed, referring to the app outage that had felt like the end of the world.

“I know baby,” she said, cupping my face in her hands. “So I’m glad I was already coming. I’m going to make you some fresh pickles.”

“Ooooh,” I mused, glancing around the kitchen at all her supplies – things I’d clearly tuned out breezing to the bathroom earlier. “You lugged all this stuff up here by yourself instead of calling me?” I fussed. “Also… actually… how did you even get this in here without letting me know you’d made it in?”

She smirked, stepping away to peek into the pot boiling on the stove. “A very,veryhandsome young man, with large arms let me in.”

“A…what? I…what?”

Was… this what dying felt like?

This explode-implode-freezing-burning-overwhelming tightness, jelly-legs, staticky sensation.

I was transitioning to the other side.

“Don’t start stuttering now,” Mama laughed, moving back to slicing the mountain of cucumbers on the counter. “He was very well-mannered – can tell his Mama raised him right. Not like that Hunter boy. Sawhimtoo.”

Oh.

Okay.

Thisfeeling, where it felt like my skin was turning inside out.

Thiswas the end.

“He just froze – didn’t say nothing until I spoke to him. He mumbled something and ran off – didn’t even hold the door open for me. Can you believe that?!” he fussed.

“He probably just didn’t know how to react, Mama – he thought really highly of you,” I assured her. “It’s just awkward. These are the cucumbers you were supposed to be bringing to him, right?”

She sucked her teeth. “He can have a jar of pickles – that’s all the cucumbers he gets out of me,” she said. “And to be clear -- that young man coming out your door right when I was about to knock –thatwas awkward,” she corrected, bringing a fresh round of heat to my face. “But he recovered well – straight into gentleman mode. Told me he sees where you get your beauty from,” she bragged, and I shook my head.

Because, of course he’d charmed my mother.

He was very, very good at saying the all right things – anddoingall the right things.

Like showing up at my door the night before.

If he’d mentioned it, I would have surely encouraged him to stay in Blackwood, to rest up from his day.

Butmanwas I glad he’d just popped up.

The comfort of his arms, the humor of his commentary, and… the distraction of sex were exactly what I’d needed to wake up optimistic this morning.

I just hadn’t expected to walk into…this.

“So when were you going to tell me about this young man?” Mama asked. “Was it supposed to be a secret?”

“No,” I immediately refuted. “Not… exactly. It’s just not like… official yet?”

“Why not? Something wrong with him?”

I chuckled. “No, actually. Everything so far is… pretty right. It’s just really soon after Hunter, and… I don’t know. I don’t want to move too fast.”

“Very understandable,” she nodded. “Sit down – talk to me about it. Or what, you got something else going on?”

“Nothing that can’t wait,” I answered. “Let me text Shia real quick though, catch her before she leaves to meet me at the coffee house.”